I can’t believe it has been three months since our conference in Big Sky! What an exciting event. It was great to see the fellowship and engagement among colleagues and friends within the field of Community Development. As part of the synergy, there were many initiatives and partnerships formed as well as great practices and research shared. Yet, as I reflect on the past few months, it seems the energy often wains after the conference. While this is normal in professional organizations, I still ask, “Why doesn’t the energy continue throughout the year?”

Friends, I am excited to tell you that it can. With the implementation and continued development of our current website, we can connect to work on new and existing projects, share best practices and relay exciting research findings, further enhancing our field. As stated last month, I have started a discussion pertaining to the proposed definition of Community Development. I encourage your insight and discussion regarding the discussion as it will only help strengthen our society. You can provide your comments by logging into the CDS website http://www.comm-dev.org/ then click on the CDS Connect link.

I would also encourage you to join and provide your input in our CDS Groups. These are thematic groups that focus on community development practices and topics within specific contexts. You can chat with members from across the world about topics relevant to you and your community. Lastly, I ask, “Where is the future of Community Development?” I would love to hear your insight regarding our profession’s future.

Please log into http://www.comm-dev.org/ and provide your input. This will help the synergy be year-round rather than seasonally. Also, please let us know if there are parts of the website that could be improved or enhanced.

All the best,

Bryan

Linked is a thank you note in response to colleagues who reached out to inquire about the well-being of staff and faculty at Texas Southern University as well to offer assistance.  Please share our appreciation for their concern in the manner most appropriate.

Sincerely, 

Sheri L. Smith, Ph.D., AICP
Interim Department Chair & Associate Professor
Urban Planning and Environmental Policy
Texas Southern University

Even though I have a graduate degree in leadership studies, I still struggle at times to understand leadership. Even though I have facilitated community development initiatives for nearly two decades, I still struggle at times with building the bonds to strengthen community. For me, knowing what to do, when, and how to do it still seems to require an equal part of skillful practice and magic. Community development work is filled with contradictory interests and can be an enigma. But who better to explore community development with than members of the Community Development Society?

This fall, CDS has selected a group of individuals to participate in an experiment. Working together, a group of participants in the 2017 CDS Institutional Capacity Development grant will be assisting each other in an exploration of what makes communities work. Through a shared exploration and peer mentoring, the participants are going to take on initiatives to improve aspects of communities or groups they are involved with. Throughout the process, we would like to invite YOU to teach us and learn with us as we tackle and explore the processes of community development.

We begin the conversation this month with the first meeting of the fellows and a discussion on “what IS community?” as we recognize that communities of place, interest, and practice may share elements in common while fulfilling different purposes. Watch the CDS blogsite, Vanguard, and Facebook for opportunities to participate in this applied learning experience! I hope you will come along for an enjoyable discussion and discovery!

This iniative is being led by Dan Kahl and Kris Hains working through the Community Innovation Lab at the University of Kentucky, Community and Leadership Development Department.

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This past year CDS members engaged in several deep and thoughtful conversations. A primary theme for discussion was that of the society adopting a working definition of community development. This conversation was prompted during the 2016 joint Community Development Society/International Association for Community Development (IACD) meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota when IACD adopted the following definition:

“Community development is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings.”

The movement to professionally define our field continued this past July at the 2017 joint Community Development Society/National Association for Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) meeting. During this meeting, NACDEP members further solidified the field by adopting the same definition.

This professional movement begs the questions, “What does it mean to define a field?” and “What could this mean for members of the Community Development Society?” It can be argued that Community Development, as both a profession and academic discipline, is growing rapidly. However, many scholars in the field contend that rapid growth within a non-defined profession can lead to professional confusion both internally and externally. It is from this perspective one could reason the profession is at a pivotal developmental stage and is ripe for a collective definition.

As such, the CDS Board and I encourage your insight regarding this professional movement. Within the next few weeks, we will be posting the definition on our website and open it up for member discussion. Please log in and provide your opinion as your input is greatly appreciated and will assist us in further developing the future of Community Development.

Old industrial sites, including pottery factories, glass factories, and abandoned mine lands, dot the landscape of much of the country. In Appalachia, these sites which were once the economic engines of communities can feel like symbols of a region in need of new economic strategies.

These brownfields – properties whose redevelopment is hindered by real or perceived contamination – also offer new opportunities for community and economic development. A regional conference will bring together stakeholders from across Appalachia to explore those opportunities. The second annual Central Appalachian Regional Brownfields Summit on September 12-14 in Morgantown, WV will bring brownfield and redevelopment stakeholders together to learn from agencies, environmental professionals, funders, and peers on the many resources and approaches to brownfield redevelopment being implemented across Central Appalachia. The Summit is being held in conjunction with the 2017 #WVBrownfields Conference and will feature sessions covering all aspects of brownfield redevelopment, including renewables on abandoned mine lands, place-based economic development, and creative financing for new development.

Central Appalachia consists of parts of several states and is divided among three administrative regions of the US Environmental Protection Agency. As a result of these administrative divisions, practitioners and stakeholders from these states are not often given the opportunity to share experiences in addressing and redeveloping brownfield sites. The Summit is expected to attract stakeholders from Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, including economic development professionals, real estate developers, lawyers, federal, state and local officials, environmental professionals, entrepreneurs, planners, bankers, investors, and community redevelopment professionals.

The Central Appalachian Regional Brownfields Summit is a great opportunity to learn more about brownfield redevelopment, to connect with agency and community partners across Appalachia, and explore new opportunities for community development. For more information, visit www.wvbrownfields.org or contact Carrie Staton at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Detroit Edition!

In honor of the upcoming 2018 conference in Detroit, let's take a look at some interesting data viz about the city.

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Thank you to all the loyal followers of Vanguard. As you may know, the Community Development Society has recently changed management companies. With that comes many changes to things we use on a regular basis, such as email and support programs. To ensure that you, the member, are kept fully up to date and never miss any of the vital communications from our organization, I encourage you to add This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to your address book. These are two main email addresses that our management team will use to send you information about upcoming events and engagement opportunities in CDS. If you use Gmail, you can simply drag the next issue of Vanguard from your "Promotions" tab into your "Primary" inbox. Gmail will then remember that you want to see Vanguard there and you won't miss a beat! 

Additonally, I want to apologize for the late publication of July's Vanguard. With all of these changes and with the many personal and professional responsibilities I have as an independent consultant and mom of littles, I simply was not able to get Vanguard out mid-month as usual. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused and I appreciate your understanding and support. I love being the Vanguard Editor and sharing with all of you the exciting updates of our members and organization. Thanks for subscribing!

If there is any way that you see to improve Vanguard, please let me know by sending me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I'm listening to your feedback and am planning on updating the format of Vanguard in the near future so that it is more mobile friendly. I'd love to hear from you!

As I write this update, I can’t tell you how excited I am for the Community Development Society and its members this next year. It started with an amazing joint conference in Big Sky, Montana. I want to sincerely thank Paul LaChapelle (Chair, Local Host Committee) and the Local Host Committee for their extensive commitment and efforts to pull off such a great conference. I also want to thank Trudy Rice (President, NACDEP), and the Conference Steering Committee for their insight and leadership. Lastly, I would like to thank all CDS and NACDEP members and conference speakers for their wonderful presentations, posters and discussion which made the conference come alive. You all are amazing!

As we look to the future, I am equally elated to be working with an excellent team of officers and board members who will continue to guide the society to excellence. Even currently, our team is exploring ways to further engage all members so that collaboratively, we can enhance our society and profession.

Our new CDS leadership team includes:

Executive Officers

Bryan Hains - President

Cindy Banyai - Vice President, Programs

Craig Talmage – Vice President, Operations

Caitlin Bletscher – Secretary

Eric Trevan – Treasurer

Julie White – Business Office

Board Members

Publication Editors

Community Development Journal:

Co-Editors - Leanne Avery and John Sipple

Community Development Practice:

Editor - Craig Talmage
Vanguard:

Editor - Cindy Banyai

Committee Chairs:

Finance Committee:

Chair, Michael Fortunato

Scholarship Committee

Chair, Jane Leonard

Awards & Recognition Committee

Co-Chairs, Carrie Staton & Michael Dougherty

Communications & Publications Committee

Co-Chairs: Wilson Majee & Cindy Banyai

International Committee

Co-Chairs: Jim Cavaye & Gary Goreham

Marketing & Membership Committee
Co-Chairs: Dan Kahl & Bryan Hains

Program Committee:

Chair, Cindy Banyai

Nominations Committee:

Chair, Kyle Patrick Williams

Conference Committee:

Chair, Cindy Banyai

Site Selection Committee:

Chair, Craig Talmage

As you can see, we have a strong leadership team who will provide several opportunities for members to engage in a meaningful and purposeful way. I highly encourage each of you to reach out and connect with a committee of your interest and become more involved with our expanding society. Our emails and contact information is located on our website. Please contact any member of the leadership team and express your ideas, concerns, or programs. Stay tuned for great things to come!

Respectfully,

Bryan

Community Development Society, International Committee
Board Meeting June 10, 2017
Jim Cavaye and Gary Goreham, Co-Chairs

The committee holds a bi-monthly ZOOM meeting (rotates 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Central US to accommodate as many members as possible) with an average of 6-12 attendees.

The ZOOM meeting addresses CDS Business meeting and hosts a discussion of key topics. Some of the key topics include: the rise of nationalism and polarization; immigration and refugees; globalization/localism and CD; participatory approaches to CD; CD education.

Discussion about the business of the annual CDS meeting includes: reaffirmation of holding the meeting in a hub North American city every three years; aids for travel and lodging; translators if needed; and ways to attract more international guests. We don’t offer travel/registration fellowships. We have a table each meeting. We hope to display of our international members’ books, articles, and other works this year.

Another topic of discussion is CDS’ relationship with the IACD and other international CD organizations.

This years’ output includes: definition of “community development”; the Statement on Social Inclusion; eight international case studies posted on the CDS website; and creation of the International Community Development Award.

Goals for next year:
• 25 case studies, beginning analysis of “best development practices”
• Re-engage the CDS Principles of Good Practice with greater specificity from an international perspective
• 25 international guests at the Detroit CDS meetings
• Continue bi-monthly ZOOM meetings with an average of 10-15 participants
• Increase submissions for the International Community Development Award
• Offer two new Statements

Ever been involved in an organization or community that struggles to fully engage their membership? CDS and the Community Innovation Lab (CIL) at the University of Kentucky may be able to help with those struggles!  We are currently seeking interested participants for a grand community development experiment! Over the next year, a group of selected representatives will participate in an initiative to learn from each other, consult researchers and other practitioners, and experiment with community strengthening activities. Project funding of up to $2500 per team will be available through the 2017 CDS Institutional Capacity Grant to test community strengthening activities. Participants will develop and implement strategies and share their learning through CDS.

If you are a part of an organization or group that would benefit from consulting with Community Development professionals and some funds to test strategies to improve that community, contact us!

For more information and/or an application, contact Dan Kahl at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Applications will be collected through July 15, 2017.

The E-Discovery Challenge team is honored to accept the CDS Innovative Program Award.  This honor also belongs to the Appalachian teachers who have been so willing to take training to add the curricula to their already busy classrooms.  And, most of all we are grateful for over 1,500 students who have worked in teams and launched new businesses and developed an entrepreneurial mindset.  We are eager to expand this entrepreneurial initiative to other places in North America and across the globe.

With gratitude,

Melony Denham

Ann DeSpain

Annette Walters

Ron Hustedde, PhD

This has been a challenging, yet fruitful year for Site Selection for future conference locations at the Community Development Society. Due to unforseen circumstances, the planned location for the 2018 fell through. In order to conduct an international conference for CDS in 2018 an RFP was released in the fall of 2016. Although there were no formal proposals from the RFP process, several contracts were made for future conferences. Detroit has been proposed as  a conference location for 2018 and is currently still under develoment. The tentative schedule for future conferences can be seen below. A shared document with contact information and themes was created and put into the CDS shared Google Drive. Pre-proposals will be created and pursued further by the incoming Vice President of Operations. We are happy to have planned locations through 2027.

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CDS Membership and Marketing Report

June 10, 2017

Overview of 2016-17

CDS Membership and Marketing members 2016-2017:

Dan Kahl, Rani Battacharyya, Paul LaChapelle, Chris Marco, Chris Cotton, Joanna Reed Adams, Cindi Banyai, Sharon Gulick, Norm Walzer, Gary Goreham, KP Williams, Michael Fortunato, Kenny Sherin, and Lisa Kirr.

The Printable CDS brochure (to support new members) was updated in the Fall of 2016.

Annual Membership in CDS was put on a rolling annual schedule. This means that members have a one-year membership from the time they join before their membership expires. Tracking this annual membership required membership updates and improved tracking services.

A letter (email) was created that is scheduled to be sent one month prior to the expiration of the annual membership. The formal email is now in the system to be sent to members whose membership is about to expire.

The membership web pages now indicate the term of membership and a reminder notice was also programmed to appear when peoples membership is nearing expiration.

The web page for becoming and renewing membership was redone.

The web page that details benefits of membership was created.

Testimonials from CDS members were solicited and placed on the web site.

The membership pages were analyzed and adjusted to be more user friendly.

A review of past membership lists was conducted to identify past members who have let their membership lapse. These members were contacted with an invitation to rejoin.

New Membership Drive

In February, CDS hosted a membership drive. The initiative incentivized members to invite new members to join. CDS members who secured new members received two free months of membership. New members received three free months added to their first year of membership. It was a heavily incentivized approach to gaining new members. Overall, however, it only resulted in a few new members. We would like to try the appeal again later this year.

The Conference marketing team (working with NACDEP) put together a series of emails and social media postings that were shared to promote the conference. Conference information was shared on CDS and NACDEP Facebook sites, Regional Centers for Rural Development, and shared with IACD and through other professional networks. Notices of call for proposals, scholarship deadlines, registration deadlines and reminders were scheduled monthly.

Engaging Membership.

Members have repeatedly told us that an important aspect of membership is ongoing engagement. Aside from the news and publications, CDS M & M have launched a proposal for 2017 -18 that will intentionally invite and engage people in project centered on line work through the CDS membership pages. We will continue to work on developing creative and meaningful ways to draw people into the CDS site to increase our networking, resource sharing, and collaboration.

While all the members of the Marketing and Membership Committee are appreciated, a special word of appreciation needs to go to Lisa Kirr (association offices) for making things happen. Also, Stephen Jeanetta was incredibly active in connecting with Ogy Nicholic at Ogysense – our web designer and marketing consultant.

Submitted by Dan Kahl, June 9, 2017

Hello Community Development Colleagues,

This is the last CDS President Update before our Community Development Society (CDS) and National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) Annual International Conference: Big Skies, Bold Partnerships--Moving Mountains Together in Big Sky, Montana June 11 - 14, 2017.  If you have not registered and made travel and lodging arrangements yet, please do so as this will be a great event featuring unique and inspiring speakers about culture and activism, including Hip Hop, and Standing Rock, and a diverse array of sessions regarding education and practice in community development--and of course networking and lots of fun with colleagues and friends!  For more information and to register for the conference please go to http://www.comm-dev.org/networking/2017-conference.  Also, please make sure to renew your CDS membership as you need to do this separate from the conference registration this year.  We really need to maintain our membership to be a strong and vibrant organization in the future.  You can easily renew your membership online by going to:  http://www.comm-dev.org/membership.  Please participate on CDS Committees as that is how we conduct our business and we need your participation.  I encourage you to run for a leadership position on the CDS Board as we are looking for new leadership to bring our field of community development and CDS into the future--and that is you!  Also in the future, please nominate people for awards as this is something we need to bolster and recognize the great work of our colleagues in the field of community development.  In reflecting upon the year, when I took on the role of CDS President I identified four priorities to focus on:  sustaining change, cultivating new leadership, improving processes, and adapting new technologies for social connectivity.  CDS has made progress in all of these areas this year.  Regarding sustaining change and new leadership, CDS is in a time of transition with more people who have come to CDS in the last five 5 - 10 years who will be taking on leadership for the organization, while retaining folks who continue to be invovled with CDS for 10 to nearly 50 years!  We will have a new Board following the conference including relativey newer people with great passion, capabilities, and new ideas.  We are engaging in dialogue about how to maintain continuity between the old and new aspects of CDS, how to further engage our membership, develop activities between conferences, and expand our membership.  We are looking to have these conversations at our conference and welcome your ideas and participation in the future of CDS.  Regarding improving processes, over the past two years our Board has reviewed our Policies and Operating Guidelines (POG) and this year made some improvements to refine processes to function better as a Board, and society.  Indeed, our new leadership has taken the POG to heart and will continue to refine our policies and procedures to adapt to a changning society, while maintaining our traditions, integrity, structure, and overall processes to conduct business.  We are also soliciting interest from management companies to take on managment and staff responsibilities this next year.  While these changes bring challenges, they also bring opportunities to think about what we need as an organization, how to focus on priorities and conduct business, and take more ownership in determining our future.  Regarding adapting new techologies, we have revamped our website, increased online outreach and interactive capabilities, including "CDS Connect", and utilized a conference planning software program to better manage conference planning this year--which has worked great!  CDS is moving into a new age, and our leadership is adapting to online technology to increase connectivity, streamline processes, and better manage information.  We are also finalzing arrangements for a new editor partnership which has taken great effort this year.  Special thanks to John Green for serving as editor and his role in supporting the transition, and CDS Board member Leanne Avery for her leadership in this effort.  Thanks to the current CDS Board and Officers, particularly Vice President of Programs and incoming CDS President, Bryan Hains, who spearheaded the conference in partnership with NACDEP with a fantastic job; Cindy Banyai, Vice President of Operations for her innovative spirit, support in managing processes, social media, Vanguard, and even this blog; Steve Jeanetta, Treasurer, for his steadfast diligence in managing our money, guidance on all business matters for CDS, and in particular work on the website, and; Abbie Gaffey, Secretary, for her diligence in recordkeeping and particularly for her great work in the editorial transition.  Special thanks to Paul Lachapelle with Montana State University (MSU) for leading the local host committee for the conference, and Trudy Rice with NACDEP for her leadership and partnership with the conference.  In closing, I have worked hard to maintain a collaborative, inclusive, and positive culture within CDS, adapting to change, and fostering balance to address challenges this year.  I hope the legacy I leave continues to promote collaboration to effectively manage transitions, to think and act boldly--and thoughtfully, and to recognize the value of what we all bring to the field of community development as partners.  Serving as President of CDS is an honor and truly inspiring.  I am proud to lead such a rich, passionate, and capable group and organization and hope my service has helped facilitate a positive future for CDS, our members, and folks involved with education and practiice to pursue new horizons in community development!  I look forward to seeing you at our conference in Big Sky to strengthen partnerships and inspire us to achieve greatness next month.  Thank you for your participation, your good work in community development, and your support through CDS.

Sincerely,

Chris Marko

CDS President

Dear CDS Members,

We are pleased to announce to you the winners of this year’s scholarships and awards. We had an amazing group of applicants for both scholarships and awards; however, we were limited in how many of each that we could give out in particular categories and some awards categories did not receive nominations this year. More information on these amazing winners and how to get even more applicants for categories unfilled this year will be provided at (and after) this year’s conference in Big Sky, Montana.

Scholarship Winners

Nette Nelson Travel Scholarship – Clare MacGillivray

CD Scholarship Fund – Alan Twelvetrees

Ted Bradshaw Travel Scholarship – Ganga Dutta Acharya

George Nickolaus CD Graduate Student Award – Celina Tchida

Award Winners

Current Research Award – Ben Winchester

International Community Development Practice Award – Cornelia (Cornel) Hart

Outstanding Community Development Educator Award – Margaret Stout

Innovative Program Award (Two Winners) – E-Discovery and the FutureMakers Coalition

Outstanding Program Award – Island Institute

Joint NACDEP-CDS Award (Two Winners)* – Ripple Effects Mapping and Michael Dougherty

Unfilled Categories

Six awards were not given this year due to lack of nominations: (1) Community Development Achievement Award, (2) Donald W. Littrell New Professional Award, (3) Duane Gibson Distinguished Service Award, (4) Ted Bradshaw Outstanding Research Award, (5) Student Recognition Award, and (6) Friend of Community Development Award. The committee believes that this remains part of a larger trend we noted last year regarding decreased engagement in the individual person awards. We are considering options for future years to make the awards more attractive and competitive. Please send us your feedback regarding garnering more interest and excitement around these awards. Please also reach out to us in the coming year if you are interested in nominating individuals for these awards. We, as a committee, are here to help you!

Cordially,

Craig Talmage

CDS Awards and Recognition Co-Chair

*Two award winners were selected for the one-time only joint award with NACDEP. The committee chairs from both NACDEP and CDS recused themselves from the discussion, but awards committees from NACDEP and CDS met and decided on having two award winners.

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Volunteers are needed to help with the 2017 NACDEP/CDS Conference, “Big Skies: Bold Partnerships – Moving Mountains Together,” on June 11-14 in Big Sky, MT. The conference is set to highlight the synergistic energy between two professional community development organizations, the Community Development Society (CDS) and the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP). Conference highlights will include thought provoking speakers and artists, experiencing Montana community development initiatives first hand through mobile learning tours, and networking opportunities with professionals nationally and internationally.

Your skills and expertise are needed to help make this event a success for everyone! We are seeking volunteers to moderate sessions, work registration, assist with mobile and pre-conference workshops, and more. Volunteering offers faculty the opportunity to log service hours and for all volunteers to network with even more colleagues! For more information or to volunteer, contact Carrie Staton at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow the links below to sign up to volunteer!

· Session Moderators (Help direct questions and discussion!)

· Registration Table (What better way to learn everyone’s names?)

· Silent & Live Auction (Get a first look at all the goodies up for grabs!)

· Poster Judges (Channel your inner Simon Cowell!) – Contact Anne Silvis at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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