Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts in Community Development & Planning, BA/MA

Overview

The Community Development and Planning (CDP) program provides up-and-coming community development practitioners with a strong foundation–based on theory, skill development, and practice–to take on the challenges of urban neighborhood revitalization. Through course work, field work, and internships, the CDP program also enables students to better understand the complex linkages between local action and the processes of policymaking at a variety of levels. Students learn to critically examine the roles and effectiveness of informal neighborhood organizations, banks, private developers, local nonprofits, and government agencies in community development. CDP graduates gain the expertise to channel private and public community development funds and programs to address local needs.

The program offers concrete skills and hands-on training in areas such as geographic information systems, environmental impact assessment, census data analysis, community development finance, nonprofit management, project analysis and evaluation.

The CDP program offers courses in Community Development and Planning Theory, Community Development Finance, Planning and Zoning for Community Developers, History and Strategy of Community Organizing, Youth and Community Development, Non-Profit Management, Research and Project Evaluation Methods, and Fundraising and Grant Writing for Non-Profits. In addition, CDP students participate in field research and internships that allow them to learn directly from community members about their needs, resources, and priorities and how best to mobilize local action to improve neighborhood quality of life.

Students gain practical skills through the following four activities:
 

1. Individual student research on issues of interest to local organizations,
2. Graduate student internships that assist local organizations in ongoing work and projects,
3. The semester-long CDP Practicum, in which a team of graduate students, guided by a faculty member, work with a local organization to design and implement a project of interest to that organization, and
4. Ongoing independent research on local issues, conducted by CDP students and faculty. For instance, CDP graduate student work on the Worcester Education Partnership, a multi-year project funded by a Carnegie grant to implement systemic education reform in the city’s secondary schools.

Students benefit from a unique interdisciplinary approach to community development that integrates the perspectives of the other IDCE programs: Environmental Science and Policy, Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment, and International Development and Social Change.  

Departmental Eligibility Requirements

With careful planning, qualified Clark undergraduates may apply to the Accelerated Degree Program with the fifth year tuition free. To be considered for admission, students must first meet the University’s requirements (see guidelines from the Graduate School) and have demonstrated before senior year an interest in community development by taking four courses that are central to the CDP Program, such as Urban Development and Social Change courses: one at 100-level and three at 200-level.

Program of Study

The master’s degree in Community Development and Planning requires a minimum of 12 graduate course units. These include five core courses in community development and two skills courses. CDP B.A./M.A. students are required to take two internship credits. The CDP program culminates in a final research paper or consultancy paper.

CDP Required Core Courses (5)

UDSC 141 - Research Design and Methods in Geography  -covers problem definition, research strategies, measurement, sampling, data collection, and proposal writing.

CDP Skill Courses (2)

A sampling:

B.A./M.A. Timetable for Community Development & Planning

• In the senior year, student take two 200-level or 300-level courses approved by the Community Development and Planning Coordinator. These courses must be eligible for CDP graduate credit and will be credited as two of the 12 courses required for an M.A. degree.
• Two credits are earned for year-long internships or approved research projects (post-B.A.).
• In the graduate year, Accelerated Degree students take eight additional courses, including the five required courses: IDCE 314 - Research Proposal Writing in Geography  ,
  IDCE 344 - Going Local: Community Development and Planning
    ,
  IDCE 30289 - Community Development Finance
    ,
  IDCE 30218 - Community Development Decision Making & Negotiations
    ; and
  IDCE 346 - Practicum in Community Development and Planning
   

Also required are three electives, such as conflict negotiation, particpatory research methods, qualitative research design and methods, community development finance, environmental and social impacts assessment; gender and development, or GIS.

Program Advisor

(Signature Required on Application: Part 1)
Professor Laurie Ross
IDCE Department
10 Hawthorne Street
lross@clarku.edu
508-793-7642