ABSTRACT

The field of community development has grown substantially over the past few decades. This is characterized by an increased demand for professionals who can engage in community development efforts and assist in establishing impactful solutions to community issues. This increased demand has created a need for robust Community Development Education programs in higher education to educate community development practitioners. However, due to the minimal interaction between community development educators, historically there has been very little consensus about the fundamental skills, knowledge and pedagogy necessary for the development of community change agents. Therefore, a foundational national study was undertaken to document undergraduate and graduate community development programs in higher education across the United States. Results identified 107 Community Development Education programs and outlined baseline program demographics. Future directions and implications for the field are also provided.

摘要

在过去的几十年里，社区发展领域取得了长足的发展。其特点是对能够参与社区发展工作并协助为社区问题建立有影响力的解决方案的专业人员的需求增加。这种不断增长的需求催生了在高等教育中实施强有力的社区发展教育计划来教育社区发展从业者的需求。然而，由于社区发展教育者之间的互动很少，历史上对于社区变革推动者发展所需的基本技能、知识和教学法几乎没有达成共识。因此，进行了一项基础性的全国性研究，以记录美国高等教育中的本科生和研究生社区发展计划。结果确定了 107 个社区发展教育计划并概述了基线计划人口统计数据。还提供了该领域的未来方向和影响。