Cornell and CCE Deliver National curriculum on Social Justice and Military Families

by Keith Tidball, PhD

SR. Ext. Assoc .Dept. of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University

Asst. Director, Cornell Cooperative Extension

I am sharing exciting and important news regarding high-level contributions to the national Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility discourse by Cornell faculty and CCE administration and educators.

Cornell CALS/DNRE faculty member and CCE Assistant Director Keith Tidball is the PI for the Community Capacity Building concentration area, within the Department of Defense and US Department of Agriculture jointly funded Cooperative Agreement called OneOp (formerly the Military Families Learning Network). Keith called upon Cornell Cooperative Extension Assistant Director Eduardo Gonzalez to assist him in developing the Social Justice and Military Families curriculum, part of the annual Military Families Readiness Academy that reaches social workers and practitioners at DoD installations across the US and abroad. Eduardo enlisted colleague Julika von Stackelberg from CCE Orange County, and the team worked well together to produce the following Military Families Readiness Academy (MFRA) interactive educational resources:

1. Military OneSource Podcast

2. MFRA asynchronous Social Justice and Military Families course (course 3)

3. MFRA Social Justice and Military Families Panel Discussion

We feel that it's important to share with our CALS, CHE and CCE colleagues, as well as university-wide, the work being done with this unique audience. Though this work is National in scope, it’s important to keep in mind that New York State is home to approximately 30,000 active-duty military personnel and around 30,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel. New York is also home to nearly 900,000 Veterans.

Please share this widely and feel free to reach out with any questions. This is an excellent example of a “campus to county” connection in the spirit of the great traditions of land grant universities. We are proud of this work and hope you are, too.