The Nebraska Extension serves 93 counties of various sizes, from cities and towns to villages. The counties are divided into 12 Zones, and several University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) specialists and educators serve in each zone. Not all counties have large populations or big cities, but each one has people who care about the vitality and growth of their communities.
“Even small communities can be quite vibrant and meaningful for the people in the area,” said Dr. Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, UNL Professor and Extension Specialist at Rural Prosperity Nebraska, located at the Panhandle Research Extension and Education Center in Scottsbluff. “Not everything has to be big to be important, to have a lot of fun, and to do good things.”
Burkhart-Kriesel is one of the few Rural Prosperity professors located off the UNL campus. She enjoys her role because it immerses her in the real world with the smaller communities she serves. Rural Prosperity Nebraska offers various services to communities, from helping people brainstorm on community issues or challenges to hosting open forums and reviewing data through surveys or other collected data.
“We also have ready-to-use programs that have been adopted over time and seem to fit the needs of a variety of situations,” Burkhart-Kriesel said. The “Red Carpet Service” program is for frontline employees to hone their service skills, and it is held in the spring by communities. “Quite often, it's done during tourism week, which is a great way to add some punch to that week, and it's a fun opportunity to get people together and really talk. What are those things that we can promote in our community?”
Another program called “Marketing Hometown America” allows community members to examine their hometown through the eyes of a new resident. The participants honed in on the town or city's assets and learned how to market the community. The program is grounded in discussing assets and data. Then, the community decides what direction it wants to pursue.
A new program, “Public Participation and Engagement,” is an online community course recently developed by Burkhart-Kriesel and Marilyn Schlake, an Extension Educator with UNL’s Rural Prosperity Nebraska.
“A colleague and I were really focusing on doing what we would call a badge,” Burkhart-Kriesel said. “It involves thinking about community engagement, with planning and tools to help the participant facilitate meetings on tourism and economic development.”
The course is an opportunity for participants to join Burkhart-Kriesel and Schlake, who will walk them through the participation and engagement process step-by-step. It also covers material for nonprofit leaders, such as those working with civic groups, parks and recreation, event coordinators, and youth and church group coordinators. The 10-week program begins at the end of February.
Burkhart-Kriesel has been helping communities for many years, but she still enjoys seeing how they grow and face challenges. “I really like helping people and their communities. It's a positive thing because it's not about the number of communities you have. It's about the vitality and the growth and what those communities do for the area that's important.”
