Midway through her term leading an association dedicated to supporting community development Cooperative Extension professionals and programs, Michelle Eley, Ph.D., sees visibility and partnership at the core of her mission.

Eley holds her 2024 Trailblazer Award from the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals at their 2024 conference in Houston. At right is M. Ray McKinnie, Ph.D., associate dean and administrator of Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T.

“We’re much more effective and powerful because of the things that we do as a collective unit,” said Eley, board president of the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP). A community and economic development specialist with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, Eley was elected to the position last spring.

NACDEP, which has about 450 members, hosts an annual conference in June, NACDEP New Year — a virtual event in January, webinars and access to best-practice community development programming. It also has a “buddy program,” where seasoned professionals can mentor those new to field.

“One of the things that I have been working this year is looking at opportunities for us to partner with groups that didn't know about us,” Eley said. Developing relationships with nonprofits and other entities that share common goals can be mutually beneficial, as well as raise awareness of Extension programs.

“But I feel like our goal is to encourage Extension professionals —people who have not been a part of NACDEP — to look at look at us, to consider us,” said Eley. “Being a member of the 1890 (land-grant university) system, whatever I can do to help elevate and promote NACDEP to my 1890 peers has been a focus of mine.

“Professional development is big for me,” said Eley, who has a doctorate in human and community development and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in agricultural economics, the latter from N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University. “We cannot assume that people always have all the tools and resources they need to do their job. Our currency, as a membership, is to provide that … to cultivate that.

“It helps us when we can call someone in another state who is doing some similar work and say, ‘Hey, how did you do this and what did you learn in this moment that I can glean from to help me serve this group or this entity or this clientele?’ ” Eley said. “I mean, that's powerful.”

Eley also received association’s 2024 Trailblazer Award and was part of the Southern Rural Development Center team at Mississippi State University given the 2024 NACDEP Diversity Award.

In a profession focused on helping communities develop resources to tackle such complex issues as health care access, economic restructuring and food insecurity, the Bertie County native is fulfilling her own personal goal, one she set as an undergrad at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in 1996.

“One of the things that I remember saying is that whatever I do professionally, I want to make sure that I'm empowering people. Then, I'm making a difference,” said Eley. “I want to use my knowledge to help others.”