By ChaNaé Bradley, Fort Valley State University
The 1890-Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) Advisory Group (AG) met in Portland, Maine, on October 20, 2025, a day before the annual EDEN Conference to conduct its annual face-to-face meeting.
Noel M. Estwick, Ph.D., project principal investigator (PI) and assistant professor of agribusiness and research scientist for the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at Prairie View A & M University, focused the meeting on planning and projecting priorities for the AG to engage its stakeholders.
The 2025 full-day meeting was entitled, “Charting the Course: Shaping the Future of 1890-EDEN.” During the meeting, the AG discussed how to leverage resources across the 1890 network. They also discussed how to work with collaborators, and with EDEN and its partners to foster research-driven disaster capacity.
Topics discussed included the upcoming spring 2026 Farmer Bootcamp, engagement with 1994-Tribal Colleges, partnerships across sub-committees, responses to requests for proposals and EDEN webinars.
Furthermore, the AG uses the face-to-face meeting to conduct training and strategic planning. At its inception, AG members created an action plan which served as the roadmap for AG initiatives. Part of the plan included presenting webinars and delivering presentations at conferences and professional meetings.
The group also discussed current and completed projects to include two Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants.
Discussions focused on the successes and next steps for the funded grant proposal, “Mobilizing Against Threats to Community Health (MATCH4).” Estwick serves as the PI for this project.
Likewise, the group discussed the progress of another SARE funded grant, “Developing a Training Program on Surviving Disasters through Risk Management Preparation and Best Management Practices for Agricultural Producers.” Michelle Eley, PhD., community and economic development specialist for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University Extension serves as the PI for this project.
“It is critical that we pause to assess progress toward the AGs overarching goal to facilitate oversight and re-engagement of 1890 institutions in national EDEN,” Estwick said. As a result, this led the AG to discuss how to leverage resources across the 1890 network, among its collaborators and within EDEN and its partners.
The 1890 EDEN AG is a collaboration of 1890 Land-grant Universities and EDEN institutions that function within the national EDEN. The 1890 Land-grant Universities are the 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities located primarily in the southern region of the United States. The group meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month by Zoom.
For more information about the 1890 EDEN AG, contact Noel M. Estwick at ude.umavp@kciwtsemn or 936-261-2526.
