The challenges facing Extension demand that we become more effective in working with and through extenders.This is true for all program areas and all National Initiatives, I believe.The home economics program in California provides an excellent case to explore the implications of working with extenders.About five years ago, the Extension home economics program in California took stock of a frustrating situation.In the entire state of some 27 million citizens, we had fewer than 40 countybased home economists, most of whom were only partially assigned to the home economics program.A majority of these were located in densely populated urban areas in which Cooperative Extension wasn't a well-recognized institution.How could so few serve the educational needs of so many?It was a situation fraught with frustration.
Susan Laughlin (Mon,) studied this question.