Even though a large part of Extension serves rural areas, Cooperative Extension works in urban areas as well.  As part of my Kentucky: By The Numbers program, I have worked in several capacities to support the Urban Extension program.  For example, to assist with the grant proposal to replicate the Healthy in Harlem program in Louisville, I identified tract level data and created tables and maps for data on poverty, income, and food access levels in West Louisville.

To support the Urban Extension program both in Kentucky and in the southern region, I was asked to develop and provide presentations on finding and using data in an urban context.   The first presentation was for the Urban Extension program in Kentucky and was on the different official definitions of urban that are used in data, some useful online data sources, and an introduction to how to look at data within a county using places and census tracts.   Based on a poll of agents on the webinar, 99% requested additional training on finding and using census tract data.  As a result, I developed a specialized training on how to identify census tracts within their counties, how to access data and create maps for tracts from online data sources, and how to understand the margins of error that accompany the data.   

I was then asked to develop and provide a similar presentation on census tract data to the National Urban Extension Leaders Southern Region group.  For this presentation, I used tract examples from across the southern region but outside Kentucky for use in Urban Extension programs beyond the state.   In both cases, the training on census tract data was configured so that the PowerPoint slides could be used as step-by-step instructions after the presentation.