2010 begins a series of community training opportunities for citizens wishing to improve their community. The Community Development Academy is a participant-centered workshop that engages volunteer teams in the development of community improvement strategies.

No prior planning or community development experience is required, just the willingness to invest in community betterment. Interested participants are asked to put together a cohort of people (a team of 5 is ideal) from their community to participate in the workshop. During the training, teams will meet one to two days per week over a three week period. Between sessions, they will be given homework. During this three week experience, community teams will be guided through a process that asks them to:

• Assess their community assets

• Devise a public engagement plan

• Make initial contacts for a community-wide effort

• Devise a draft community development process plan

• Identify needed resources

• Meet resource providers

Upon completion of the workshop, the community team will have a characterization of their community, will have identified community involvement plans, and will have identified possible resources to help them in the process of reaching their goals.

Why is this important?

Often, community conversations revolve around what is wrong with the world. It isn’t until someone takes the initiative to begin the conversation about where the community is, where the community wants to be, and what can be done – that positive change can happen. By involving a leadership team from your community, and by working with the people, skills, resources and information provided through this Academy, your community will be on the right track for planning for a better future. Not only is this important for positive change, it also is imperative to funding agencies to know that your community has organized, assessed, planned, and acted collectively to craft your future.

Registration for the three academy sessions is available online. This is an excellent opportunity for PRIDE communities to organize for broad community assessment and project planning! For more information, visit: www.ksu.edu/cecd/cda.

The Academy is hosted by a collaborative of resource providers including: Kansas Department of Commerce, USDA Rural Development, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka, the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, K-State Research and Extension, PRIDE, and the KSU Center for Engagement and Community Development.

Please take a minute to view this video that highlights three Kansas PRIDE Communities: Kinsley, Courtland, Melvern and includes photos from Park City and Wilson.

As we approach our 40^th year of community improvement work in Kansas, we want to tell your story, the PRIDE story. When PRIDE is working, community members are pulling in the same direction. What communities choose to do is as unique as the community itself. Over the past 40 years, communities have organized to support local schools, supported area museums, hosted medical clinics, built fire stations, managed food pantries, established libraries - in fact, if there is something to be done in rural communities, there is a good chance that a PRIDE group has done it!  What all of these projects have in common is that each community builds on the assets or strengths of their people, local history, resources, or culture to create projects that are valuable and important to their quality of life.

To access Enrollment, Resolution, and Quarterly Report Forms CLICK HERE

To contact PRIDE Staff, CLICK HERE

To view the PRIDE Newsletter, CLICK HERE

To view Community Resources, CLICK HERE

To access the Healthy Ecosystems/Healthy Communities Sustainability information site, CLICK HERE

To access PRIDE Day 2009 Images, CLICK HERE.