Sponsored by: Community Development Program; Division of Applied Social Sciences; College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources and University of Missouri Extension in cooperation with the MU Conference Office

Community Development Academy

The University of Missouri Extension Community Development Program offers a series
of three courses called the Community Development Academy. Each of the three courses is an intensive, experiential, five-day course that explores ideas and develops practical skills.

The three courses combine leading edge thinking with practical application to enhance the capacity of people to work effectively with a broad range of community issues. The Community Development Academy courses provide a conceptual base and develop 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.

The Academy

• Offers a state-of-the-art, three course, community-based development curriculum
  
• Utilizes interactive, hands-on learning experiences
  
• Provides a forum for learning and sharing with a diversity of people
  
• Shares methods for involving people at the local level of a community/neighborhood
  
• Develops the knowledge and skills necessary for empowering people tobuild their own futures
  
• Establishes a valuable resource network for those working in communities

The Academy is designed for those working in:

• Not-for-profit organizations
  
• Urban/rural development
  
• Regional planning councils
  
• Extension and outreach programs
  
• Utilities, telephone and electric cooperatives
  
• Chambers of commerce
  
• Local, state, and federal government
  
• Community art/cultural affairs agencies
  
• Community betterment and Main Street programs
  
• Neighborhood associations (housing programs and departments)
  
• Local health, social services and youth development agencies
  
• Churches and faith-based organizations
  

Through this dynamic, results-oriented curriculum, learn how to:

• Use the tools needed to sustain communities
  
• Focus on capacities of communities/neighborhoods
  
• Promote responsibility and involvement of the entire community
  
• Develop a holistic community focus
  
• Harness the community’s expertise to determine needs, vision and actions