Principles of Community Development
We value innovation and entrepreneurship in seeking new ways to respond to the challenges of distressed communities. We are dedicated to a set of principles that:
- Promote active and representative citizen participation so that community members can meaningfully influence decisions that affect their situation.
- Engage community members in problem diagnosis so that those affected may adequately understand the causes of their situation.
- Help community members understand the economic, social, political, environmental, and psychological impact associated with alternative solutions to the problem.
- Assist community members in designing and implementing a plan to solve agreed upon problems by emphasizing shared leadership and active citizen participation.
- Seek alternatives to any effort that is likely to adversely affect the disadvantaged segments of a community.
- Actively work to increase leadership capacity, skills, confidence, and aspirations in the community development process.
The following represents the essential elements of the Center for Community and Economic Development:
Step 1:Identify ProblemBoth formal and informal methods may be used to identify community issues, capacities and needs. Step 2: Identify StakeholdersEngage the community/organizational stakeholders. Involve citizens who are experiencing the problem/issue. Step 3: Identify StrategiesEngage community in discussion of issues, and identify possible alternatives to address concerns research alternatives Step 4: Identify ResourcesSelect appropriate strategy. Identify local in-kind and cash resources to link with other resources to implement a specific program strategy with the community. Step 5: ImplementIn cooperation with the community implement the strategy with an emphasis on shared leadership and collaboration. Step 6: EvaluateThrough formative and summative evaluations assess the program impacts on the target audience and others to determine if the stated goals and objectives are met. |
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Based on the findings modify steps 1-6 to produce the desired outcomes.