Health Extension: Community-Based Healthcare and the Future of Cooperative Extension

Health Extension: Community-Based Healthcare and the Future of Cooperative Extension explores innovation in extension health programs, engaged scholarship promoting research-based information in communities, and the evaluation and documentation of community programs and their impacts. This volume provides land-grant and university-based colleagues up-to-date information on using the Cooperative Extension System (CES) for community engagement in healthcare while also familiarizing those outside CES and the academy with a roadmap for improvement. The contributions of a diverse array of scholars challenge the status quo in extension programs by characterizing the introspection, understanding, creativity, partnerships, and leadership that will be required to improve lives and communities in the twenty-first century. This perspective underscores the role of CES as foundational to the future of Health Extension and offers an alternative to approaches that utilize the CES as a model without the accompanying advantages of history, community embeddedness, and sustainability.

Cheryl L. Eschbach is director of Michigan State University Extension’s Health and Nutrition Institute, where she provides leadership for community-based health, food safety, and nutrition education.

Elizabeth H. Weybright is associate professor in the Department of Human Development, adolescent extension specialist in the Youth and Families Program Unit, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University.

Jeffrey W. Dwyer is professor emeritus of Michigan State University, and director emeritus of MSU Extension.