Background: The Southern Region Extension Program Leaders Network (SRPLN) identified the lack of community and economic professional development opportunities as an important need in the Southern Region at an annual gathering in 2017. The Southern Region Community Resource Development (CRD) Program leaders with the supportive leadership of Dan Kahl and Alison Davis from the University of Kentucky, documented that need by creating and distributing a follow-up survey to define specific CED education needs by university and state. Building off the priorities identified from the 117 responses from 13 states, a team was formed to design and deliver a professional development workshop to expand community and economic development knowledge and competencies.

Purpose:  Many Universities in the Southern Region have limited Extension faculty specialists in the field of CED and have expressed the need for expanded CED content and skills. A team of Extension program leaders (from the SRPLN) recognized the need for expanded development and embraced the task of devising and offering a professional development training opportunity. The training, Community Development 101, was developed to assist Extension professionals in states with limited CRD faculty or resources. Built from the priority issues identified in the survey, the workshop was designed to share CED resources and information, and to build skills and networks to enhance community and economic development capacity for Extension professionals in states with limited CED training opportunities.

Teamwork:  The CD 101 workshop required considerable planning and investment.  Under the guiding leadership of Dan Kahl, University of Kentucky, a volunteer team of community development specialists from 8 Southern land-grant Universities stepped up to contribute time, resources and expertise in order to plan, advertise and host this training.  

Outcomes: Eighteen Extension community development participants gathered in Plano, Texas on the first week of November 2019 at the Texas A&M Ag. Life Center.  In the CD 101 workshop, Dr. Kahl helped participants explore community systems, and community power dynamics. Participants also learned about local governance, economic structure and methods for finding community data. While only 1½ days in length, the workshop included presentations, small group work, panel discussions with elected officials, and a community immersion/assessment experience in McKinney, Texas.  The workshop evaluation indicated program success. All of the participants reported “a deeper understanding of community development practice”, and ability to “assess the power dynamics and context for working in a community”.  In addition, when asked about the most beneficial aspects of the community development workshop, participant comments included:

•             Understanding power dynamics, community assessment, capstone project

•             Learning of the different data methods and where to find them

•             Theories and data to support our work

•             Understanding systems and the impacts of community development

•             McKinney Assessment helped with hands on experience with learned knowledge

•             Learning how to engage and approach elected officials.

•             Understanding complexity of communities

Impact Indicator:

The team hosting this workshop were recognized with the 2020 Excellence in Teamwork Award by the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) Southern Region for their development and delivery of Community Development 101 Workshop for Extension CED professional development.