Want to learn how to makea difference in your community but don’t know where to start?
The University of Missouri’s Community Development Academy is currently open for registration for two courses, Building Communities From the Grassroots and Creating Capacity For Dynamic Communities, September 24-28, 2012 in Excelsior Springs, MO.
Who should attend? Community leaders, community planners, faith-based professionals, volunteers, non-profit organization members, Chamber of Commerce members, neighborhood association members, extension and outreach professionals, planning council and city council members, utility and electric coop members, Main Street programs designers, developing leaders, school teachers, administrators, government personnel, anyone else who is out to make a difference in their community!
The Community Development Academy is an intensive, experiential, five-day course offered by the University of Missouri Extension Community Development Program. Our three courses combine leading edge thinking with practical applications. We enhance the capacity of people to work effectively with a broad range of community issues. The Community Development Academy provides a conceptual base and develops the skills necessary to successfully bring people (often with diverse views and opinions) together around common issues. Course participants learn how to deal collectively with their issues of concern and give purposeful direction to their own futures.
Course 1: Building Communities From the Grassroots includes sessions on: 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, and Developing local leadership.
Course 3: Creating Capacity For Dynamic Communitiesincludes: 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 intervention, Community development in perspective and Citizen power, influence, authority, and participation. Course 1 is a prerequisite for Course 3 or instructor’s permission.
Limited scholarships for registration fees are available. Contact Tracie Vangel at 573-882-8393 or vangelt@missouri.edu for more information. These courses qualify for continuing education credits, undergraduate credit or graduate credit.
