The importance of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service as perceived by local governing bodies in Louisiana

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the importance of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (CES) as perceived by members of local governing bodies in Louisiana. The fundamental objective of the CES is the development of people by means of educational programs. Local governing body members (defined as Police Jury/Council Members) throughout the state of Louisiana were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the importance of the Cooperative Extension Service regarding awareness, attendance of programs/events, use of information and if the needs of local residents were being met by the LCES programs and services. Results of the study revealed that the local governing body members were more aware of 4-H than any other program or service offered by the LCES. Higher levels of awareness and effectiveness of programs and services correlated with higher levels of perceived importance. Also, the local governing body members thought 4-H was very important to the development of young people in Louisiana. Higher levels of awareness and effectiveness of programs and services correlated with higher levels of perceived importance. Local governing body members who perceive the importance of LCES programs and services also see the LCES as effectively meeting the needs of local residents. The perceived effectiveness in meeting the needs of parish residents of programs and services offered by the LCES was examined for a relationship with the perceived importance of the programs and services. The correlation between measures was (r = .58, p\u3c .001). The nature of this association was such that local governing body members that reported higher levels of effectiveness of the programs in meeting the needs of parish residents tended to place higher levels of importance on the programs and services. The researcher recommends that 4-H agents could invite local governing body members to 4-H events more often in order to increase the role of the local governing body member concerning 4-H programming efforts. With more local governing body members having a positive perception of the 4-H program, this may very well have a positive effect on how local governing body members perceive the LCES as a whole