Food Protection Trends - May/June 2022 - 212

faced several challenges. In this section, we address significant
challenges CES educators currently face, including
increased workload and job responsibilities, limited public
awareness of CES, restricted financial resources, and changed
education needs.
" Overextension " of Extension educators
CES educators, including panelists and CES-affiliated
session attendees, shared their experiences and overall feelings
of being " spread thin " within their occupations. Speakers
raised specific financial concerns (e.g., reduced funding, hiring
freezes) that ultimately reduced programming. Consequently,
CES educators are increasingly required to take on multiple
responsibilities (often referred to as " wearing many hats " ) to
support their stakeholders in pursuit of meeting benchmarks.
Furthermore, with increasing changes to food safety regulations,
CES educators often find themselves overwhelmed by
increased training needs from constituents. This phenomenon
has led to a shift from in-person programming to regional and
online programming. Although regional and online programming
can expand stakeholder access, such programming limits
rapport between CES educators and individual stakeholders.
CES programs also have responded and adapted to increased
needs by engaging with community members to develop and
manage programs such as Master Food Volunteer and Master
Gardener programs (45, 46). This style of programming
involves recruiting volunteers already immersed within their
communities and has been shown to have advantages such as
reaching stakeholders that CES educators may otherwise have
had difficulty reaching.
CES educators expressed concerns over the transition of
CES to requiring educators to have multiple responsibilities
that may be outside one's area of expertise. During the roundtable,
panelists reflected upon the shrinking numbers of CES
educators with expertise in a specific subject area (e.g., Agriculture
and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences,
4-H Youth Development) paired with the increased necessity
to be a generalist. Panelists discussed " struggl[ing] " to
prioritize work and programming when also requested to work
outside of their original job description/title, with little or no
funding. This issue is coupled with the increasing number of
nontenured CES professionals and faculty who also may need
to partially or fully self-support financial aspects (e.g., through
grant funding, industry partnerships, community relations/
fundraising, and/or food entrepreneurship initiatives) of their
program and programming.
In addition to the activities and programs being implemented
in-person, there is an increased " emphasis to have an online
presence. " Although the rise of the Internet has enabled stakeholders
to access information easily, and for CES educators to
engage with a broader range of stakeholders, these initiatives
increase the job responsibilities of CES personnel. In the session,
panelists discussed distributing and disseminating food
safety information via different mechanisms, including online.
212 Food Protection Trends May/June
Panelists described how, over time, dissemination methods
have evolved as has their understanding of online pedagogy
for diverse audiences. An online presence is essential in our
hyperconnected world to increase accessibility, reach varied
audiences, and manage the demands of multiple programs;
to be " relevant " CES educators also must be proficient with
all media trends. To better use online resources, panelists frequently
self-taught themselves content creation, including Drs.
Crist, Rock, and Fisk, who have both self-taught and sought
out professional development opportunities to develop skills
such as photography, website building, blogging, and running
social media campaigns.
Panelists explored solutions to increase their support of
food safety programs in response to being overextended.
The importance of interdisciplinary food safety teams was
emphasized; Dr. Cutter shared Penn State's CES model of
grounding Extension activities in interdisciplinary program
teams through the Product Development Process in which
needs assessments of clientele are conducted. All panelists
agreed that being a CES professional was akin to being a small
business owner, requiring leveraging of partnerships with
public and private businesses, educational institutions, and
government regulators.
Increasing awareness of CES
As CES needs have changed, so, too, has awareness of
CES offerings to local communities. Panelists described the
necessity of increasing CES presence with varying stakeholders
and documenting impact to non-Extension faculty and grantmaking
agencies.
Information created and distributed by CES is for everyone;
however, because of the historical associations of CES with
agriculture, people outside of agriculture may not seek CES
services because they may not believe they are the primary
audience. To address this discrepancy, CES programs are
designed with the intent of connecting educators with
audiences to evaluate their needs and subsequently adapt
programs. Panelists and attendees suggested working with
their institution's communications teams to transition from
using email listservs as a primary method of communication
to also using media platforms (e.g., local news, Facebook,
Instagram) and online promotions to magnify reach. Media
platforms are more interactive; they allow CES professionals
to convey enthusiasm, share upcoming programs, and inform
participants of available opportunities. However, panelists
noted that program marketing is an additional responsibility
for which they are not typically trained.
Panelists described the importance of " get[ting] the story
out there " to express the value and impact of programs
(like 4-H's impact on youth development and agricultural
career preparation), which results in more engagement with
their communities. Panelists also discussed the value of
" networking " with state departments of agriculture and health
to communicate available services. Coordinated relationship
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