Publications

Blueprints for Your Community's Future: Creating a Strategic Plan for Local Economic Development (PDF format)-Mike D. Woods, Extension Rural Development Specialist; V. Jack Frye, Extension Rural Development Specialist; and Stanley R. Ralstin, Extension Rural Development Specialist, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University

Blueprints for Your Community's Future: A Targeted Economic Development Approach Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, February 2001

Community Strategic Planning (Action Newsletter)-The Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Fall 1999

Guiding Questions for Data Collection and Analysis MDC, Inc. June, 1998

Moving from Vision to Action: A Planning Guide for the Rural Community College Initiative- (PDF format) MDC, Inc. June 1998.

The Role of Strategic Planning in Community Decision Making on Environmental Issues-Mitch Renkow, Leon E. Danielson, and L. Steven Smutko, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Applied Resource Economics and Policy Group-North Carolina Cooperative Extension, April 1994

Preparing for the Future: A Guide to Community Based Planning (PDF format) SRDC 2007

Rural Colleges as Catalysts for Community Change: The RCCI Experience-published in the USDA journal Rural America, this article promotes community colleges as effective institutions in rural development efforts, including leadership development and facilitating regional dialogue on the region's future. MDC, Inc.

Setting Community Economic Goals-Distributed in Mississippi by Dr. Joe F. Schmidt and Dr. Albert E. Myles, Community Development Specialists, Mississippi State Extension Service. Adapted from a publication by David L. Darling, Jr., Cooperative Extension Service, Kansas State University; Mississippi State University publication #1644

Strategic Planning (slide text)-North Carolina State Cooperative Extension Service

Strategic Planning (slide show)-North Carolina State Cooperative Extension Service

Strategic Planning for Economic Development in Rural Areas & Small Towns of Oklahoma (PDF format)-Mike D. Woods, Associate Professor and Extension Economist, and Gordon Sloggett, Research Associate, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University

Strategic Planning for Rural Community Economic Development-Prepared by Mitch Renkow, Extension Economics Specialist, and Simon K. Garber, Specialist-in-Charge, Extension Sociology, North Carolina State Cooperative Extension Service

Strategic Planning Principles (slide show)-University of Kentucky

Strategies for Economic Development-Distributed in Mississippi by Dr. Joe F. Schmidt and Dr. Albert E. Myles, Community Development Specialists, Mississippi State Extension Service. Adapted from a publication by David L. Darling, Jr., Cooperative Extension Service, Kansas State University; Mississippi State University publication #1645

Vision to Action: Take Charge Too (RRD 182)
North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, 2001

Volunteers and Community Economic Development (PDF format)-Mike D. Woods, Professor and Extension Economist, and Andrea Freeman, Student Assistant, Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University

Research Reports

Conducting A Community Needs Assessment:Primary Data Collection Techniques (PDF Format)-Keith A. Carter and Lionel J. Beaulieu, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, June 1992

Coping with Growth: Community Needs Assessment Techniques (PDF format)-Lorna Michael Butler, Extension Community Development Specialist, and Robert E. Howell, Extension Sociologist, Washington State University-Western Rural Development Center, October 1980, reprinted July 1993

Identifying Needs Using Secondary Data Sources-Lionel J. Beaulieu, Professor, Rural Sociology, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, June 1992

Related Websites

Needs Assessment-North Carolina State Cooperative Extension Service

Training Curricula

Mapping the Assets of Your Community: A Key Component for Building Local Capacity-SRDC Series #227, June 2002

Leadership Development and Civic Engagement
MDC, Inc.

RCCI: Planting the Seeds of Change
MDC, Inc.

Conferences/Trainings

Community Development Society "Community as Place"
July 19-23, 2003
Ithaca, New York

Smart Growth in the Rural South
May 13-14, 2003
Lexington, Kentucky

Southern Institute for Rural Development (SIRD)
November 5-8, 2001
Athens, Georgia

Southern Region Community Development Institute
June 12-16, 2000
Canton, Mississippi

Southern Region Community Development Institute
May 14-18, 2001
New Braunfels, Texas

Southern Region Community Development Institute
September 23-27, 2002
Talladega, Alabama