#CommDev18 Community Development Society - 49th International Conference

Community development educators will share their dreams and plan a common future to strengthen international collaboration about pedagogy, learning tools and how to exchange ideas, intellectual products, students and educators. The workshop is building on the development of the Global Community Development Exchange (GCDEX), the beta version of which was launched when at the 2016 CDS conference in Minneapolis St Paul. This workshop also builds on a 2017 community development summit in New Zealand. Participants will learn about the latest iteration of Indigenous Approaches and other resources to the GDEX and will be engaged in a structured discussion about global collaboration among colleges and universities. The workshop is also structured to produce a work plan for global collaboration.

This session draws Young Professionals together to: exchange ideas for community development programs and projects; explore strategies for drawing younger people into local community development functions; facilitate interaction among students, young practitioners, and faculty; draw students into the community development profession; and encourage involvement in the CDS.

The recent European migration crisis has turned into a complex, international pandemic, speaking to the heightened severity of migration worldwide. This roundtable therefore seeks to address this priority by bringing community development researchers and practitioners to the table to develop further understanding of how to strengthen communities of migrant populations.

Community resilience is a framework for understanding the capacity to absorb, mitigate, and transform shocks and stresses. Building and enhancing these capacities, accounting for local context, is essential to sustainable equitable development. This roundtable will review community resilience research and engage participants to provide input for connecting scholarship and practice.

Brainstorm and explore ways to move beyond our normal procedures and strategies for evaluation in community development. In this mutual learning environment, we will develop promising, new and innovative ways of planning for, implementing, integrating and communicating the process and results of community development in various contexts.

Institutions of higher learning have a long history of doing things to and for communities, but are less experienced in working with communities. This session will explore the relational challenges and power dynamics found in engaging communities as we unlearn habits of paternalistic expertise and learn power sharing, participatory skills.

Publishing and Getting Involved with the Community Development journal!