Community Development Academy
The Community Development Academy is a three-course series available to professionals and volunteers in community work. Each intensive, experiential, five-day course deals with concepts and practical skills for effectively involving and empowering local citizens and leaders in community-based efforts.
The courses are held in a retreat setting that allows the student to build support networks of faculty and participants. They are sequential, with each course building on the content of the prior academy courses. For each course successfully completed, participants receive 4.0 CEUs or 3.0 semester hours of undergraduate or graduate credit.
The purpose of the Community Development Academy is to provide the educational opportunity for professionals and volunteers from organizations and communities to learn cutting-edge community development concepts, procedures and methods and how to apply them "back home." The academy provides participants with the tools to give leadership to building effective and higher quality communities.
For information about dates, course sites ( St. Louis or Kansas City), fees (additional fees for food and lodging), etc., and to reserve a space in a CDA course, call 573-882-8320, or visit the Conference Office.
ENROLLMENT FOR GRADUATE OR UNDERGRADUATE CREDIT WILL OCCUR ON-SITE DURING THE COURSE.
Course One: RU_SOC 4341/7341: Building Communities from the Grassroots. Topics include areas such as:
- Community-based Development Principles and Concepts
- Complexity and Polarization of Communities
- Group Process, Group Dynamics, Team Building
- Dealing with Differences
- Accurately Assessing the Community
- Practicing Community Inclusion
- The Action Planning Process
- Evaluation and Monitoring
- Developing Community Indicators and Measuring Impact
- Developing Local Leadership
Course Two: RU_SOC 4342/7342: Empowering Communities for the Future. Topics include areas such as:
- Keys to Sustaining the Future of Communities
- Grounding Development in Community
- Understanding the Local Economy and Economic Development
- Role of Local Government in the Local Economy
- Participatory Action Research
- Working Together: Networks, Partnerships, Coalitions and Collaboration
- Building Effective Community Organizations
- Governance and Civil Society
- The Environment and Sustaining the Future of Communities
- Practicing Self-Reflection
Course 1 is a prerequisite for Course 2 or instructor's permission.
Course Three: RU_SOC 4343/7343: Creating Capacity for Dynamic Communities.
- Topics Change, Ethics and Sustainability
- Preparing Communities for Effective Organizing
- Small Group Processes
- Whole Systems Processes for Development and Change
- Getting Unpoor: More Than Tinkering at the Edges
- Community Conflict Resolution
- Community Development in Perspective
- Citizen Power, Influence, Authority, and Participation