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

Introducing Flood Insurance Literacy: An Educational Resource for Extension and Community Outreach
Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 1:00 pm ET

Join us for an introduction to Flood Insurance Literacy, an NFIP educational resource designed to improve public understanding of flood risk and flood insurance. Participants will learn how the resource can be used for homeowner education and community outreach and will experience a demonstration of one section of the training. This session is designed for Extension professionals, educators, emergency managers, and others working to build flood resilience in their communities.

Speaker: Pam Lewandowski, M.Ed., serves as Manager of Training for the LSU AgCenter’s LaHouse Research and Education Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has over two decades of experience in education, workforce development, curriculum design, and program management. Pam leads the development and delivery of training programs focused on building science, energy efficiency, healthy homes, ventilation, weatherization, lead-safe renovation, flood insurance literacy, resilient construction, and indoor air quality.

A certified building science professional, she holds multiple Building Performance Institute (BPI) certifications, including Building Analyst Professional, Energy Auditor, and Infiltration and Duct Leakage credentials. Her work emphasizes building a skilled workforce through industry-focused education that supports homeowners, contractors, inspectors, utility programs, and public agencies. She is passionate about helping learners understand the relationship between housing, health, energy, and resilience through practical, hands-on training experiences.

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.