Back in January, I discussed definitions of community development under the banner What is Community Development?  That post actually followed one on how Community Development Precedes Economic Development.

If you still have questions about what Extension Community Development looks like, Greg Taylor, Craig Carpenter, Jamie Rae Walker, and I have updated the What is Community Development? Extension fact sheet, available at here, at https://communities.tamu.edu/selected-publications/,  or at the AgriLife Bookstore.

The publication primarily targets Extension faculty and presents how various aspects of community development overlap with other traditional areas of Extension programming: Youth, Family, and Natural Resources. Cross-program collaboration provides numerous opportunities to address local community development needs while simultaneously addressing needs within one or more of the other program areas. For example, agri- or eco-tourism may respond to both economic and natural resource opportunities. Similarly, entrepreneurship programs can provide exciting opportunities to introduce youth to business–and to the the possibility of starting or growing a business in the local community.

Areas of collaboration correspond to the Flora and Flora Community Capitals. The capitals framework is familiar to many community development specialists as well as participants in Extension economic development programs, including the Stronger Economies Together (SET) program.

Dr. Taylor drafted the original publication in 2009. He retired in 2010. The concepts he described remain relevant a decade later. With his permission, current Community Resources and Economic Development faculty included recent updates to national definitions. Web links to external resources change frequently and will be continuously updated at the http://communities.tamu.edu website rather than in the publication.