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What Is CADS?

CADS will offer many tremendous opportunities...

  • For Extension professionals, the opportunity to add to professional skill set and provide needed services for communities and organizations supported by peers across the state.
  • For local Extension offices, the opportunity to enhance relationships with local government, business and organizations, bringing in revenue in the process.
  • For university faculty and staff, the opportunity to utilize a statewide system of professionals trained in applied research methods.
  • For University of Illinois Extension, the opportunity to meet local needs around the state in ways that reflect well on the entire organization and connect to other Extension programs.

Communities and organizations throughout Illinois require access to reliable and affordable information to be effective in identifying assets and finding solutions to meet needs. CADS will serve these communities and organizations by providing specialized information and services. This will be accomplished by Extension staff who focus on providing reliable data, offer assessment and evaluation services, and provide training and information for decision-makers.

Currently, information is gathered in various ways depending on services and resources available within the community or area. It is not uncommon for outside private consultants -- experts -- to be brought in at great expense to provide these services. CADS could serve a wide variety of clients. In addition to units of government -- counties, municipalities, school districts -- and other taxing authorities, CADS assistance could benefit business associations, Main Street programs, watersheds, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, specialty crop producers; child care providers, and on and on. The preceding list is obviously incomplete as the potential for applying consistent applied research methodology is limited only by the imagination of those in the field.

CADS will provide a more mobile cadre of trained staff with skills, expertise and resources to provide a consistently high quality product.