Community Development
Community development is fundamentally based on the values of human rights, social justice, equality, and respect for diversity. It is a process where agencies support community members to identify and take collective action on important issues. If you want to play a part, Penn State Extension can help you learn how to apply for funding and help your community.
What Is Community Development?
Community development is a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems. It seeks to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect change within their communities.
The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development is an agency created to enhance opportunities for businesses to improve the quality of life for residents. It also provides grant funding to community groups for projects such as revitalizing “Main Street” infrastructure, enhancing low-income housing availability, or improving access to technology.
Community Development Strategies
It is increasingly important for local residents to participate in community development programs. Without the engagement and action of local people, community development throughout Pennsylvania would be very challenging.
Engaging community members, however, is not always easy. Engagement has massive potential for solving or resolving many community challenges. One way to engage local people is to keep them informed of the issues and latest programs. One such program is the Well Connected Communities program.
Problems with community development often arise because people have a markedly different definition of community. The culture of a community can also shape debate and action significantly. A lack of collaboration between non-profit organizations can hamper community development.
Community Projects Best Practices
For a community project to be successful, the first step is building a foundation of trust. Effective community engagement requires two-way communication. Communication is not just face-to-face, either. Community social media groups have become important virtual gathering places and viewed as belonging to those who live in the community.
When a community is engaged, it can be very effective. It provides opportunities to build local networks, enhance relationships, leverage assets and resources, identify concerns and values, increase participation, improve decision making, and avoid conflict.
Best practices also come into play when developing and implementing community projects. For projects and plans to reach their full potential, they have to be continually monitored. Surveys effectively get an unbiased and accurate picture of a community’s perspectives and priorities.
There are some excellent examples of community projects in Pennsylvania that have employed best practices; for example:
- Community Forests: A community forest is much the same as a rural forest but has more people and built structures. Trees in a community forest are often a mixture of native and foreign or “exotic” species. People play an essential part in their care, and they don’t happen without thoughtful planning and effort.
- Community Supported Agriculture: This is a concept designed to encourage relationships between growers and consumers. It is estimated that today between 30,000 and 50,000 US consumers belong to a CSA. CSAs can be small operations with just a few members or larger CSAs with hundreds of members or subscribers.
- Community Natural Gas Task Force: Approximately 20 counties in Pennsylvania have formed local task forces to address gas exploration and development issues in their communities.
- Enterpreneurial Communities: An entrepreneurial community is a community that intentionally acts to cultivate and support entrepreneurs. An “Innovation District” is on the cards for downtown Erie, for example. The Pennovation Works is a distinctive blend of offices, labs, and production space developed by the University of Pennsylvania.
- Land Use Planning: Members of the public can play an essential role in aiding the decision-making process. Land use planning and regulations should not and cannot occur without opportunities for public input.
Community Development Grants
Anyone looking for funding for a community project can approach the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. DCED manages a variety of programs that might help.
If you’re thinking of applying for funding, there are things you can do to increase your chance of success. Your grant can be won or lost on the writing of the grant proposal. Numerous guides are available to help you write a grant proposal. One example is a grant writing program supplement that enables you to make the most of your grant writing efforts.
Grant writing involves many elements, including understanding and applying various components of information that the funder has deemed essential and necessary. Understanding how outputs and outcomes differ, for example, allows you to collect the most applicable information to include in your application.
In this section, find more information and advice on community development projects, community grants, funding, and more.
- Articles
2024 Lehigh Valley Open Gate Farm Tours
Agricultural operations in Lehigh and Northampton counties will be "opening their gates" to the public for education and fun! More information coming the beginning of September. - Workshops
Free
Pennsylvania AgForum: Taking Action Together for our Agricultural Community
When 03/19/2025Length 6 hoursEvent Format In-PersonPenn State Extension invites stakeholders from various sectors to identify collective actions to address the challenges confronting Pennsylvania's farming community. - News
Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers to Meet
Date Posted 7/11/2024The Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers (ACMF) will meet to consider USDA programs and policies and their impacts on minority farmers. - Articles
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Los líderes comunitarios son un mecanismo eficaz para fomentar e implementar el apoyo comunitario, especialmente en tiempos difíciles. Este artículo contiene estrategias para que los líderes comunitarios gestionen la incertidumbre en sus comunidades. - Articles
One Community - Many Generations Guidebook
Outline providing details on the "One Community—Many Generations" intergenerational community engagement guide and online community assessment tool developed in partnership with AARP. - Articles
One Community - Many Generations
"One Community-Many Generations" is an interactive community-assessment tool and planning process to build age-inclusive, livable communities and initiate community action plans. - Articles
How to Decide Whether to Apply for a Grant
Upfront planning can save time and resources and lead to a better grant proposal and project. This article reviews factors to consider before writing a grant proposal. - Videos
Agriculture: Working for You
Learn more about the essential role agriculture plays in bringing food, fiber, and more to your lives! - Articles
Identifying Local Power Structures to Facilitate Community Development
This paper is part of a series that will include specialized papers on civic engagement, community action, and other topics important to the development of community throughout Pennsylvania. - Articles
Empowering Your Community, Stage 1: Initiation
This paper is part of a series that will include specialized papers on civic engagement, community action, and other topics important to the development of community throughout Pennsylvania. - Online Courses
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Gender in Agricultural Programs: Filling the GAP
Sections 3Length 3 hoursLearn how to increase your awareness of gender issues in agriculture to help bring growth and productivity into agricultural programming and policies. - Articles
Building Trust with Ecosystem Stakeholders (Part 3)
In this final article of our three-part series on stakeholder engagement, we discuss the role of building trust when working with natural resource and environmental stakeholders. - Articles
Aligning Motivations in Ecosystem Stakeholder Engagement (Part 2)
In this second article of our three-part series on stakeholder engagement, we discuss aligning motivations when working with ecosystem stakeholders. - Articles
Creating Space for Ecosystem Stakeholder Engagement (Part 1)
In this first article of our three-part series on stakeholder engagement, we discuss how to create space for knowledge coproduction for stakeholder engagement in ecosystem services. - Articles
Best Practices for Managing and Moderating Community Social Media Groups
This article discusses reasons people join local community social media groups and provides best practices for those who manage and moderate those groups. - Articles
Elements of a Strategic Plan to Revisit During Challenging Times
For the strategic plan to fulfill its full potential, it needs to be continually monitored for items such as relevancy and progress on recommended actions. - Articles
Pathways to Supporting Youth Leaders in the Community
This article discusses how to support youth leaders in taking action in their communities. - Articles
Revitalizing a Community Garden in Lebanon County
Lebanon County is the newest Pennsylvania community to be awarded funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of the Well-Connected Communities (WCC) project. - Articles
On the Road: Urban Agriculture in Philadelphia
The Extension On the Road crew traveled to Philadelphia to meet farmers and their community partners and get a look at how farming is used to build community, as educational spaces, and to produce food in urban areas. - Articles
En el Camino: Agricultura Urbana en Philadelphia
Ayer viajamos a Philadelphia para visitar fincas urbanas. - Articles
Importance of Local Community Action in Shaping Development
This paper is part of a series that will include specialized papers on civic engagement, community action, and other topics important to the development of community throughout Pennsylvania. - Articles
Mindfulness Training for 4-H Volunteers
This article describes why mindfulness training may be beneficial for 4-H volunteers and strategies to help implement mindfulness into 4-H volunteer programming. - Articles
Positive Youth Development / Strategies for Creating a 4-H Welcoming Environment
This article will use various frameworks to describe positive youth development and provide strategies and tips to create a more welcoming environment for parents and youth involved in 4-H clubs. - Articles
Involucrando a los padres de 4-H
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Cómo Incorporar la Práctica de Mindfulness en los Contextos de 4-H
Cómo incorporar la práctica de mindfulness en los contextos de 4-H