Emerging Opportunities for Cooperative Extension to bring Community Learning through Data-driven Discovery (CLD3) to Our Communities

Community Learning through Data-driven Discovery (CLD3) is a bold new approach for Extension professionals and Regional Rural Development Centers to use data in new and innovative ways not previously conceivable. To address increasingly complex issues of our communities. CLD3 is a collaborative approach among Extension professionals, university researchers, and local communities to use data, including local data, to inform and guide community level decision-making. Virginia Tech (VT) and Iowa State University (ISU) have an exciting partnership to implement CLD3 in their states, with the goal to rapidly expand CLD3 to other states. One example of CLD3 in action is ISU and VT’s work with Marshalltown, Iowa, where the multicultural population has increased from less than 1% in the early 1990s to over 25% today. Through the CLD3 cycle the government officials are gaining a data-driven understanding of how public transportation is meeting the needs of this demographically changing population, how current fee structures governing access to and use of parks and recreation programs might be adjusted to increase use by all, and what strategies might help in maintaining the quality of the neighborhoods through improvement projects. To learn more about CLD3, see "Helping Communities Use Data to Make Better Decisions", just released in the National Academy of Sciences Issues in Science and Technology Spring edition. Sourced from ECOP Monday Minute