Released November 12, 2009
HYATTSVILLE, Maryland -- Dr. Rajiv Shah, Research, Education, and Economics Under Secretary at USDA, announced an expanded effort between USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Department of Defense. The agencies as partners will serve military families in three areas: community capacity building in support of military families, workforce development, and strengthening family, child care, and youth development programs.
The USDA has more 20 years experience partnering with the military providing educational programs and support to youth and families on bases and installations and in local communities.
eXtension and Cooperative Extension, which are part of USDA, will work on the new military families effort. The announcement was made at the National Leadership Summit on Military Families Nov. 9-10 in Maryland hosted by the Department of Defense, USDA and the University of Maryland. Dan Cotton, Director, represented eXtension.
Shah commented on the new partnership in a USDA blog post: Serving Those Who Serve America, http://www.usda.gov/blog/usda/entry/serving_those_who_serve_america.
For more information on eXtension's role in the USDA - Department of Defense Military Community and Family Policy program contact Dan Cotton, dcotton@extension.org.
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Sources: Dan Cotton, dcotton@eXtension.org
Terry Meisenbach, terry.meisenbach@eXtension.org
Editor: Lynette Spicer, lynette.spicer@eXtension.org
