In July 2020, Extension’s Dean’s Leadership Team approved the Call to Action along with the strategic initiatives outlined below. These initiatives supplement the specific efforts already being taken by Extension’s Institutes and Areas. Many of the Call to Action’s initiatives include the creation of an ad hoc support structure (e.g. work group, steering committee, task force). This presents Extension colleagues with opportunities to be engaged in the work and contribute meaningfully to shaping the goals, outcomes, action items, and accountability measures that are appropriate for each initiative and its objectives. Each initiative also lists an organizational lead who will determine an appropriate timeline needed to accomplish the objectives and tasks for each initiative. The Interim Director of the Office of Access, Inclusion, and Compliance (OAIC) will provide an initial charge for each support structure and provide additional guidance as needed. Efforts of support structures will be accountable to the Dean’s Leadership Team. Organizational leads, along with the input from the support structure members, will update members of the Dean’s Leadership Team on the progress and completion of each initiative. Questions related to Extension’s Call to Action can be directed to: oaic@extension.wisc.edu.

Name	Expanded understandings of the Land-Grant System history in the U.S. and in Wisconsin
Core purpose/objective	To provide new Extension colleagues, as well as current colleagues, with an expanded perspective of the Land-Grant System history in the U.S. and in Wisconsin. This will include greater attention to how part of the current U.S. Land-Grant system (1862s, 1890s, and 1994s) was founded upon ideas that perpetuate institutionalized forms of racism and settler colonialism.
Initiative launch date	August 2020
Organizational lead(s)	Kandi O’Neil (NCO), Aaron Bird Bear (NCO), Teresa Curtis (OAIC), and Ariana Thao (OAIC)
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Steering committee
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 1 Local and Statewide Presence, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

12/01/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

12/11/2020 Organizational leads held an initial meeting with steering committee members

01/12/2021 Steering committee members have established monthly meetings for the initiative

03/15/2021 The steering committee has created three subcommittees for members (external learning, internal learning, and a resource library) that will meet on a regular basis.

08/10/2021 Organizational leads met with the Native American Task Force for review and evaluative feedback on initiative project ideas.

Name	Learning community for inclusive organizational citizenship
Core purpose/objective	To establish an organization-wide, cohort-based, learning and training platform for Extension colleagues, with specific attention to deepening understandings of power and privilege, racialized Identity, intersectionality, Whiteness, anti-Blackness, inclusive leadership practices, and other issues.
Initiative launch date	August 2020
Organizational lead(s)	Shelly Vils-Havel (HR), Caitlin Yunis (OAIC)
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Steering committee
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 4 Workforce, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/01/2020 Extension has hired a lead for this initiative. She will help architect the platform and curriculum for this initiative.

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

10/20/2020 Organizational leads held an initial meeting with steering committee members

03/01/2020 Curriculum has been completed. The aim of the Learning Community is to develop a sustained and ongoing cohort-based learning experience in which Extension staff can build their self-awareness, specifically related to their experiences of race and racism, power and privilege, and socialization. In the long term, we hope that while our curriculum can be housed on Canvas, it can be primarily delivered in-person. It’s possible that our first cohort will need to experience most of the course virtually. 

03/26/2021 The curriculum team will move forward with facilitating the curriculum.

07/19/2021 Application for cohort participants opens for colleagues across the organization.

08/20/2021 Application for cohort participants closes.

09/16/2021 Cohort 1 begins facilitation.

09/21/2021 Cohort 2 begins facilitation.

10/01/2021 A student was hired as a part of the facilitation team.

Name	Inclusive Excellence Mini Grant Project
Core purpose/objective	In addition to existing opportunities available from within Institutes, this initiative would create a platform and process for allocating resources from the Dean’s Office to fund educational initiatives and research projects. This would include, but not be limited to, efforts that focus on countering the systemic effects of racism and bigotry.
Initiative launch date	January 2021
Organizational lead(s)	Patrick Robinson (Associate Dean), JulieAnn Stawicki (Associate Dean)
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Work group
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 1 Local and Statewide Presence, VP 3 National Leader, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

January 2021 Upon consulting OAIC Interim Director, Dean Martin made the decision to include addressing disparities as one of the priority issues for considering innovation grant proposals. This is the first time this particular priority has been included for consideration.

March 2021 OAIC Interim Director decided to indefinitely pause work on this initiative. This decision was made based on the inherent advantages of leveraging Extension’s Innovation Grant platform. The Innovation Grant initiative allows us to strategically align institutional funds, and to do so with the specific purpose of addressing issues of equity in Extension programming and research.

Explore the following link for an article about how the Extension Innovation Grants have worked to address issues of equity: https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/news/2021/07/19/extension-innovation-projects-target-educational-outreach-racial-equity/

Name	Statewide anti-racism and anti-bigotry resource library
Core purpose/objective	To develop a comprehensive set of educational resources that are available to Extension colleagues for self-directed learning opportunities
Initiative launch date	July 2020
Organizational lead(s)	OAIC staff
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 2 Scholarship, VP 4 Workforce, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

08/15/2020 The Office of Access, Inclusion, and Compliance started work on creating a resource library.

09/01/2020 The website was launched and is hosted here: https://blogs.extension.wisc.edu/oaic/anti-racism-resource-library/

10/01/2020 With the exception of ongoing maintenance to the library, this initiative is complete.

Name	Develop additional Extension staffing capacity that is focused on teaching, learning, and culturally responsive practices and pedagogies (CRP)
Core purpose/objective	To leverage disciplinary expertise that supports the cohesive and consistent design and delivery of culturally responsive curricula and educational programming
Initiative launch date	January 2021
Organizational lead(s)	Dominic Ledesma (OAIC), Teresa Curtis (OAIC), Patrick Robinson (Associate Dean), JulieAnn Stawicki (Associate Dean)
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 4 Workforce, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

9/22/2021 This initiative will be paused until further notice.

Name	Bias & hate reporting platform
Core purpose/objective	In alignment with the objectives of UW-Madison’s Bias & Hate Incident Form, the Bias & Hate Incident Reporting Platform has a two-fold purpose. First, it provides Extension employees with a formal mechanism to report issues that undermine our Division’s commitment to promoting a safe and inclusive environment for all employees, volunteers, and participants. Second, it is intended assure employees that all issues reported through the platform will be addressed in a timely manner that is appropriate for each situation or circumstances.
Initiative launch date	August 2020
Organizational lead(s)	Jamie O’Donnell (HR), Greg Johl (ETS), Dominic Ledesma
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Work Group
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 4 Workforce, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

November 2020 Organizational leads held an initial meeting with steering committee members, exploring examples of bias & reporting platforms

January 2021 A prototype was created with testing occurring afterwards

February 2021 The committee met with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Office of Compliance for alignment with their reporting systems

March 2021 Language is being drafted to establish parameters around the reporting system

 

Name	Institutional position statement
Core purpose/objective	To develop an institutional statement that clarifies and underscores Extension’s position and commitment to inclusivity and engaging in anti-racism work.
Initiative launch date	August 2020
Organizational lead(s)	Matthew Call (Communications and Stakeholder Engagement)
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Work group
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 3 National Leader, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

10/12/2020 Organizational leads held an initial meeting with workgroup members.

08/1/2021 Initiative members have drafted an institutional position statement. This initiative has also drafted a toolkit on how to use the position statement.

Name	Task force for inclusive recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies
Core purpose/objective	In alignment with a recommendation from a recent HR report on racial and ethnic disparities in Extension’s employee base, this task force will support efforts for improving and expanding strategies that attract, build, and sustain a more diverse workforce.
Initiative launch date	September 2020
Organizational lead(s)	Marc Serrett (HR), Nathaniel Shay (Dean’s Office)
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Task force
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 4 Workforce, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

10/16/2020 Organizational leads held an initial meeting with task force members.

10/30/2020 The committee identified subgroups each with a specific focus: Recruitment, Retention, and Communications.

11/20/2020 Subgroup leads were identified, meetings were rescheduled to incorporate subgroups, document structure was defined

12/4/2020 Breakout meetings were planned regularly, review of recommendations template, deliverables review for each subgroup, timeline reviewed

12/18/2020 High level timelines were submitted

01/08/2021 Dominic reviewed each subgroups recommendations

01/22/2021 Handoff to HR director

03/05/2021 Updates about drafted recommendations

03/19/2021 Subgroups will present their recommendations to the group, AAERG in attendance, LERG in attendance, Dominic Ledesma in attendance

April 2021-August 2021 Each groups’ recommendations will be consolidated into an issue brief format and spreadsheet, Extension HR will review all recommendations to determine list to present to DLT, Extension HR will prepare recommendations to present to DLT, next steps to be determined

Name	Steering committee for the Wisconsin Idea Internship Program (WIIP)
Core purpose/objective	The WIIP was canceled for summer 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This steering committee will help build upon the initial momentum and expand opportunities that cultivate a more diverse talent pool of summer interns for summer 2021
Initiative launch date	November 2020
Organizational lead(s)	Shelly Vils-Havel (HR), Dominic Ledesma (OAIC)
Recommended support structure for this initiative	Steering committee
Alignment with Dean’s Vision Points	VP 4 Workforce, VP 5 Diversity

Updates:

09/28/2020 Organizational leads attended an orientation for their roles.

February 2021 The WIIP has been postponed till summer 2022. However, the committee will be meeting on a quarterly basis.

03/09/2021 The WIIP Steering Committee had its initial meeting.

September 2021 The WIIP Steering Committee has been meeting monthly and has updated the RFP which will be sent on October 30. A WIIP policy and procedure handbook is being created, and an evaluation/assessment framework is in development.