Community Planning Major

Overview: The CPCS Community Planning major is one of very few undergraduate planning programs in the United States. The program focuses on participatory approaches to planning with, and for, communities and groups that have been ignored or harmed by prevailing planning and decision-making practices. The major in this area is designed for people interested or already involved in careers as managers, planners and organizers in public and community services.

Community planning competencies address skills and knowledge in planning and management which can be applied to many different areas. They emphasize direct, first-hand work in community and agency situations. Students develop and demonstrate technical skills as well as the ability to analyze the political aspects and social values implicit in different approaches to community planning and management.

Community planning practitioners work interactively with groups of people to determine need, to specify desired outcomes, to develop and implement strategies for achieving these outcomes, and to evaluate the results. Students in this major develop the ability to compare and contrast different theories and methods of planning, and to determine the social, physical and economic impact of development projects.

CPCS graduates who have focused their work in planning are employed in a wide variety of positions in community-based service agencies, grassroots community organizations, local governments and state agencies. They are developing and managing programs and organizations that serve many different populations--geographic neighborhoods, women, elderly, youth, differently abled, specific racial/ethnic groups, gay men, lesbians and bisexuals, workers, etc. Some go on to graduate school in planning, public policy, management, law and related fields.


Community Planning Requirements

All Community Planning majors must complete:
Community Needs and Resource Analysis
Planning Models and Theories
Community Impact Assessment
Strategy & Proposal Development I & II (double competency)
Program Evaluation

To complete the major students may select one of the following concentrations:
Community Media and Technology
Community Studies
Legal Advocacy
Management
Organizing
Youth Work