Every county Extension agent has responsibility for working with one or more parts of the county Extension Program Council, groups that guide agents in program development. Agents should be familiar with possible Council structures, functions of specific units within the Council (the executive board and program committees), membership qualifications, purposes and timetable for meetings, duties of officers and members, and resources available to provide support to the Council. See pages 47-50 for the urban county Council framework.
The specific functions of program development are carried out in the work of the executive board and program committees as they analyze various county situations and seek to understand the scope of Extension's program possibilities. Together all the Council components generate and support a total Extension program.
Cooperation and local support are essential for a successful county program development operation. The purpose and functions of the total Extension Program Council must be explained to and understood by its members and key leaders, such as commissioners courts, legislators, civic leaders and community organizations.
The Council's work will not duplicate efforts of other organizations functioning in the county. However, in many instances, it can be advantageous for groups and agencies to work together on mutual concerns. It is essential that this be understood by all who assist in the Council operations. [37]
The executive board is comprised of officers, chairpersons of program area and issue committees, and additional members as determined by varying interests in the county situation. The officers of the Extension Program Council are the officers of the executive board.
Each program area committee is a standing committee which functions as a specialized program interest group. It will usually represent one of Extension's major areas of mandated responsibility, such as a defined base program area in the Cooperative Extension System framework.
Specialized issues committees or task forces may be formed to assume program leadership related to some issue, particularly a priority program initiative defined within the Long-Range Extension Program.
A task force may take one of several types of structure. In one structure, part of a program area committee becomes a temporary group for perhaps one or two years to plan and implement an issue-based educational program for a targeted audience; this group reports to the executive board through the program area committee. In another structure, the executive board may appoint a small group of individuals from the community and parts of the Council; this task force reports directly to the executive board.
In either case, task forces disband upon completion of their original programming assignment. The executive board can establish a new program area or issue committee to continue the work started by a task force.
Although the executive board and various program committees are the Council's two major components, special sub-committees may occasionally be formed to do specific, short-term organizational assignments. These tasks may be program related (as when the Council sponsors a special project or educational activity) or related to organizational maintenance (such as nominating a slate of officers or planning the annual meeting). Membership may come from any part of the Council - the executive board or program committees. The executive board should dissolve special committees promptly upon completion of their tasks.
Council Meetings. The Council meets as a whole once or twice a year, but the board and committees meet more frequently for their unique responsibilities toward program development. The Council's annual meeting recognizes total program accomplishments and significant contributions or service by individuals. It can be a motivational or an educational event for its members and invited guests. The information day serves to interpret the Extension program and the Council's work to different audiences each year. It may focus on recent programming in an area of wide public concern or present information about a specialized interest of the invited group, or even introduce Extension faculty to a segment of the community.
Reviewing the Council's Organization. An especially appropriate time to review the total Council's structure and composition is the year the Long-Range Extension Program is developed. As newer program needs and changes in priority are identified, the Council is in a position to establish new groups, consolidate the work of others, and discontinue any whose initiatives have declined in programmatic interest. The Council is also in a good position to expand representation or shift membership to meet key population segments in relation to critical issues.
Reorganizing an Extension Program Council. In counties where agents are faced with a need to reorganize or form a new Council, they may begin with a temporary steering committee. The steering committee will be charged with defining its own general and specific purposes with guidelines presented in this handbook. [Also see page 68.]
In most cases, however, a Council and various committees will have been established according to a previous understanding of concerns and interests. Board members and agents should study county situations and determine the structure and resources needed currently for Extension program development.
The executive board usually has from 12 to 20 members, including Extension Program Council officers, chairpersons of all program area committees, representatives from issue-based program groups, and other key leaders to provide needed representation for geographic, racial/ethnic and organizational segments of the county. [38]
Meetings. The executive board should schedule meetings as needed to carry out its responsibilities. It is anticipated that this will require at least three or four meetings each year to carry out its functions and oversee Extension programming. The board calls the whole Extension Program Council together once a year for officer election, evaluation of program direction, and recognition of achievements by program committees and others.
Functions. Leadership for the whole Council organization rests with the Board, whose major functions are to lead and coordinate the planning, implementation and evaluation of the county Extension educational program. To carry out the program development, the board must perform several specific leadership tasks. The most important task is to coordinate and support the work of program area and issue committees and task forces, and this is accomplished through the representative type of structure and membership on the executive board. The board may also form task forces to address current issues for a one- or two-year period.
The tasks below, some of which may require continuous attention, are essential to the success of the Council. [39]
Some programmatic concerns are short-term in nature and require a more short-term or even temporary group to address a problem or issue through special programming. For these, issue committees/task forces will identify themselves as planning/advisory groups for a specific program initiative.
The number of program area/issue committees and nature of their assignments are governed by the scope of the county's Extension program and may change over time. Decisions about which committees should exist are made only after thorough analysis of county situations, particularly in relation to the published Long-Range Extension Program, and action by the executive board. Each program committee will operate within the Council's authority/function, not as an independent group with no linkage or accountability to the Council.
Committees usually range in size from 8 to 12 members, although committees handling many interests may need a larger and more diverse membership. Committee members should represent the concerns and interests related to the group's assignment. Criteria for selecting individual members are explained on pages 65-66.
A task force may be part of a regular program area committee or act as a unit of its own. Its chairperson may serve on the executive board, depending on whether the task force is independent as an issue committee would be, or part of a standing program committee.
Chairpersons of program committees are members of the county Extension Program Council's executive board. A chairperson is selected either by appointment by the executive board or election by members of the committee itself, according to provisions in the "standing rules." [40]
Functions of Program Committees. As program groups, their roles relate to planning, implementing, evaluating and interpreting (reporting) the educational program of work in a specific subject or issue area. [41] Primary responsibilities of the program committees are to:
In the six urban counties, the Extension Program Council organizational structure consists of two distinct components that function independently of each other: an Extension Board of Advisors and various program area and/or issue committees. The components have unique roles in program development and the urban county Extension faculty serve as connecting links to facilitate communication within and between these components.
The Advisory Board provides overall leadership and direction to the urban Extension educational program and members may or may not serve on other Extension committees. The County Extension Director is responsible for working with the Board.
Functions. Four functions are primary to this group -
Officers. Officers include a chair and other officers, as needed, who are elected or appointed from the Board's current membership.
Meetings. Meetings will occur as needed to carry out responsibilities; at least two meetings per year are anticipated for this leadership role.
The number of committees and their areas of work are determined by the Extension faculty, based on program priority recommendations from the Extension Council's Board of Advisors. The committees are composed of action-oriented leaders who are knowledgeable and interested in helping solve problems of mutual concern to themselves and other citizens.
Functions. The functions and activities of issue and program area committees are similar to those described previously for program committees [See pages 46-47 ]:
Agent Roles. Urban county Extension faculty are responsible for working with the program groups; agents (not chairpersons) serve as liaison between committees and the Extension Program Council's Board of Advisors. In their committee management role, agents are responsible for the following actions: