Finding New Ways to Reach Clients During A Pandemic
Virginia Cooperative Extension at VSU Still Extending Knowledge
The coronavirus pandemic is changing the landscape of how the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) at Virginia State University (VSU) is delivering programs and services to our clients.
While the need to keep social distancing is critical to stopping the spread of the virus, our mandate to extend knowledge is still our primary mission. We know that despite the unprecedented challenges and changes that confront us and our world, our clients still need information. Our Extension specialists and Small Farm Outreach Program agents are rising to the challenges and looking to technology to help them reach our clients in new ways to extend this needed knowledge.
Since Va. Gov. Ralph Northam’s Stay at Home Executive Order 53 was issued March 30th in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to cancel face-to-face programming, but our staff and faculty are hard at work developing virtual programming for our clients at a time when information is needed the most.
We are still here answering your questions on gardening in a pandemic, protecting crops from a rollercoaster weather pattern and partnering with farmers to help figure out how the “new normal” will look in terms of agriculture production in the Commonwealth.
Here are some ways we adapted what we do to better serve our clients.
Several of our VSU College of Agriculture specialists have taken to Zoom and Facebook Live to deliver their programs during this time of social distancing.
Dr. Reza Rafie kicked off our Facebook Live programming with his Blueberry Field Walk on March 26. More than 2,200 people have viewed the program on Facebook (as of May 14).
Dr. Dahlia O'Brien teamed up with a specialist from Fort Valley State University to do a live Zoom workshop on FAMACHA© training on April 9 that attracted 130 participants from all across the U.S., as well as other countries around the world, including Pakistan.
Extension specialist Chris Mullins was the first guest speaker on the all new Facebook Live weekly series, Get Gardening!, which is sponsored by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program. The first show reached more 3,800 people (as of May 14).
Dr. Leonard Githinji, who talked about how to create and maintain a raised bed garden, was the second guest speaker on Get Gardening! on Facebook Live, which reached more 6,100 people (as of May 14).
Drs. Zelalem Mersha, Reza Rafie and Carlin Rafie (of Virginia Tech) did a Facebook Live program on growing and using ginger in your diet on April 16. Each of them presented from different locations and attracted 1,600 viewers (as of May 14).
Dr. Marcus Comer, who talked about gardening options that don't require a backyard, was also a guest speaker on Get Gardening! on Facebook Live, which reached more 3,400 people (as of May 14).
The Facebook Live events are viewable on the VSU College of Agriculture Facebook page. View here.
Additionally, Comer and Extension specialist Debra S. Jones, who have developed partnerships with the City of Petersburg, have assisted in distributing food to people who face food insecurity during the pandemic.
The VCE Small Farm Outreach Program at VSU has made adaptions too. It employs approximately 15 part-time agricultural management agents to work one-on-one with small farmers across Virginia, either in organized workshops or at individual farms, as needed. COVID-19 ended these workshops and significantly reduced, if not eliminated, face-to-face interactions with farmers. But farmers’ need for SFOP information did not diminish. To remedy this situation, the SFOP developed two tools to keep farmers informed. The first is a one-page SFOP Alert publication template, provided to each agent to fill out with timely information as needed, and the second is a quarterly SFOP newsletter. Both publications will be emailed, mailed and eventually handed to farmers. The newsletter will feature general farm business news, as well as, timely tips and information on growing, producing and marketing.
While social distancing has kept people physically apart, it has done the opposite in strengthening existing partnerships and fostering new collaborations. During this pandemic, we’ve been able to reach more people than we would have reached with face-to-face programming.
The pandemic has improved our crises responsiveness and strengthened our partnership with our sister land-grant institution, Virginia Tech. In many ways, the Virginia Cooperative Extension at VSU and VT are working hard to find solutions together to help our clients now and long after this crisis has ended. We are grateful that this bond has been strengthened.
We are looking for more ways to be of service and encourage our clients to continue to reach out to Extension professionals for technical assistance via email and phone. We are here, and we will get through this together.
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to rapidly evolve, our goal is to assist you in protecting the health and safety of your families, friends, businesses and community. To that end, until further notice all Virginia Cooperative Extension programs through VSU are cancelled. We also offer the following resources to help you make the best of this unprecedented situation.
Virginia Cooperative Extension web-based COVID-19 online resource
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