Cooperative Extension seeking public input on local needs

What are the most important aspects of your community and where could improvements be made?

This is the question posed by the University of Nevada, Reno Cooperative Extension in its current Southern Nye County Needs Assessment, a survey that is open now through the end of January. In addition to being able to share their thoughts and opinions, participants will also be entered for a chance to win a $50 gift card as thanks for their time and attention to the survey.

“To better serve the residents of Nevada, UNR Extension would like to hear from you about the needs of your community. Feedback from this survey will be used to help guide future programming offered by your local extension office,” a news release detailed.

Available in both English and Spanish, the survey begins with a question regarding what people feel is the most important need in their community, with rankings for: children, youth and families; health and nutrition; natural environment; and community and economic development. Participants will then be asked how important they feel specific aspects of each of these are. For example, how important do survey-takers feel subjects such as addiction, public health and health care, internet access, tourism, housing affordability, wildlife, renewable energy, family support programs, workforce readiness and more are for the community.

The survey goes on to ask how familiar participants are with the UNR Extension and its services, as well as what could help make those programs more accessible for the survey-takers and their community and what program formats they prefer. It then wraps up with questions about the participant themselves, such as how long they have lived in Nye County, their estimated household income, employment status and gender identity, all of which can be skipped if desired.

“The mission of the UNR Extension has always been to ‘build local relationships and collaborative partnerships in order to help people put scientific knowledge to work through learning experiences that improve economic, environmental and social well-being’,” the survey explains. “Participation in the survey is completely voluntary… This data will be kept confidential and only available to the lead scientist.”

Participants must be at least 18 years of age and a resident of Nevada. The survey closes January 31, 2026 and can be accessed at tinyurl.com/9akvk3az

For questions about the survey, contact Audrey Omar at AOmar@UNR.edu

For more information, contact Hayley Maio at HMaio@UNR.edu or call 775-727-5532.

The UNR Cooperative Extension is located at 1651 E. Calvada Blvd.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com