Cline, Lauren L.Campbell, Joshua T.2025-01-222025-01-222024-07https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14446/345797The United States continues to experience rapid urbanization and demographic changes leading to diverse urban communities representing more than 80% of the nation’s population. This has led to an increasing urban influence in the United States and to conversation among Cooperative Extension professionals regarding what its engagement in urban settings should look like, and how it will prepare its workforce to serve the unique needs of urban settings. This study aimed to identify urban Extension educators' competencies and training needs to understand the challenges they face and inform personnel development efforts. The study followed a three-study format, each addressing different research questions. Study 1 used a modified Delphi technique to gather insights from Extension administrators on the challenges and essential competencies for urban Extension. Study 2 employed the Borich needs assessment model to identify competency gaps and training needs among urban Extension professionals. Study 3 involved semi-structured interviews to explore the perspectives of urban Extension professionals. This research contributes to understanding urban Extension's future challenges and the training needs of urban Extension professionals. It offers new insights into effective personnel development strategies for urban Extension personnel and emphasizes the importance of adaptability, communication, and community engagement for urban Extension professionals. The findings underscore the importance of preparing Extension professionals for urban contexts by developing training specifically targeted to the needs of those serving urban clientele and emphasizing non-technical skills and process-oriented leadership approaches such as adaptive leadership. The study confirms much of what is known in the literature regarding the issues of importance for Extension in urban settings and provides new information and actionable recommendations for Extension systems as they recruit, train, and support a high-performing urban workforce.application/pdfCopyright is held by the author who has granted the Oklahoma State University Library the non-exclusive right to share this material in its institutional repository. Contact Digital Library Services at lib-dls@okstate.edu or 405-744-9161 for the permission policy on the use, reproduction or distribution of this material.Dissertationadaptive leadershipextension competenciesextension personnel developmenttraining needs of extension educatorsurban extension