Events

NECI holds a variety of virtual events to connect Extension professionals across the country. Together, we learn, share experiences, and strategize how to advance climate action at the local, state, and federal levels.

Professional Development Webinars

This one-hour meeting has the following framework: brief updates and an introduction from one of our NECI Executive Committee members (5 minutes), a featured speaker sharing about climate change science, research, and/or communication for Extension educators (40 minutes), and a question/answer and discussion session (15 minutes). Learn more and see recordings of previous webinars.

Upcoming Webinar

Mobilizing Climate Capacity Through Systemic Knotworking and Infrastructuring
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 1 pm ET

Frank Niepold will discuss how the concept of “knotworking” applies increasingly to our climate work. The term refers to a fluid, improvisational form of collaboration in which the focus is on the interaction itself rather than a fixed organizational structure or central authority.

Speaker: Frank Niepold is the Senior Climate Education Program Manager at NOAA’s Climate Program Office in Silver Spring, Maryland. He co-manages the NOAA CPO Communication, Education, and Engagement Division and co-leads the Climate Ready Workforce program. Frank served as a co-chair of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Climate Engagement and Capacity Building Interagency Working Group, co-led the development of the 2024 Climate Literacy: Essential Principles for Understanding and Addressing Climate Change (3rd Edition) and the initial work that led to the Transformative Skills Guide: Expanding the Definition of Climate Literacy. Internationally, he was a key figure in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), previously serving as the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) National Focal Point for the United States and the lead for Article 6 of the UNFCCC treaties chapter on Education, Training and Public Access in the United States National Communications from 2006 to 2025. At NOAA, he led the “Teaching Climate” section for the Climate.gov portal, providing educators rigorously reviewed resources to integrate climate science and workforce skills into their curricula. He was also a founding member and past co-chair of the CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network) Leadership Board.

Climate and Communities Webinars

In spring 2025, the NECI Curriculum Working Group hosted a webinar series on the third Wednesday of each month. These Climate and Communities Webinars featured speakers from across the country who work on topics such as civic engagement, state-level climate policy, environmental justice, and more. Learn more and see recordings of the webinars.

Member Engagement Meetings

This one-hour meeting is intended to serve as a safe space to share ideas, obstacles, and solutions to advance climate change outreach in Extension through casual, facilitated discussion. We also use this space to share updates and discuss progress on our Extension Climate Change Action Items and work from the Working Groups. These meetings are NOT recorded. We begin with a reflection on the last Professional Development meeting and member ideas for how to incorporate content into our Extension programming, followed by member sharing of ideas, obstacles, and solutions to advance climate change outreach in Extension.

This meeting is on the first Tuesday of every month at 2:30 pm ET via Microsoft Teams. If you are on our listserv, you should have received a calendar invitation for spring 2026 at the end of February. Contact Paul Lachapelle with any questions.

Executive Committee Meetings

The NECI Executive Committee is tasked with oversight of the Initiative, and its meetings are open to any participant of the NECI network.

The Executive Committee meets for 1.5 hours every month on the second Wednesday at 3:00 PM ET. If you are interested in attending an Executive Committee meeting, email nat.ext.climate.initiative@gmail.com.

Advancing Climate Action Across the Extension System

Alongside the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy’s Climate Priority Action Team and the Extension Foundation, we held three online events in summer 2025 as a climate action convening for Extension professionals across the country. The intent was to further actions put forth in the 2024 National Extension Climate Change White Paper. This free series was made possible with support from the New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) program.