Jones reinforces the need for planning to start at the grassroots. However, when clientele are involved and have ownership in the process, they also expect, as a result of their efforts, something will happen. I believe that as an organization our greatest weakness is communicating our accomplishments at the grassroots. We falsely assume these are the people we're closest to and they should know what we're doing. In the future, Extension will be addressing issues that make us uncomfortable, go beyond our areas of expertise, and are controversial.
Issues are complex by their very nature, but can be divided into a series of problems.
We can address problems we can solve, farm out those we can't, and as Jones states, build bridges and share ownership with other organizations. I'm not as optimistic as Jones about our future. Too many in our organization resist change or bury their heads in the sand, hoping that this too will go away. They've forgotten that Cooperative Extension isn't my organization or theirs-it belongs to our clientele. Only if the people at the grassroots have a pride of ownership will we successfully achieve our vision for this organization.