Inside this Issue
COVID 19 - could it unite us?
Professional Development
Call for Abstracts - Business Retention
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Jane's Jottings - a Chair's Update
by Jane Leonard
CDS Elections
I hope everyone is doing all right in the midst of COVID-19. CDS is in the midst of the annual elections (electronically) for the CDS Board of Directors. I would encourage and advise you to cast your ballots soon, as the election closes on May 29. Your CDS membership must be up-to-date to be able to vote (meaning you have paid your annual dues). If you haven't received a ballot by email, please let me know at
jane@growthandjustice.org
and we will check the membership rolls.
We have a good crew of candidates! Please read their responses to the candidate questions, make your selections, and support them with your vote!
Annual Business Meeting
And along those election lines, new board members will take office immediately after the annual business meeting, which will be held online this summer now that our annual conference has been postponed until July of 2021.
The business meeting would have been held on July 14 had the Fargo conference been able to be held this year. So stay tuned for the new date/time/and instructions for joining into the Annual Business Meeting, once we figure out the method to host over 200 members on Zoom or Go-To Meeting or via semaphores (ha-ha), and that we can ensure that all voting attendees are bonafide members. The general public is also welcome to attend but cannot cast votes on CDS business.
Okay, enough of the business of CDS. My CDS friends, I hope you are doing well, and taking care of one another. I'm always available for ideas, concerns, and/or a welcome chat!
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Uniting Us as a Global Community
Submitted by Cornel Hart, CDS Board Director
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When I agreed to write a post with an international theme for the Vanguard issue, I had no idea that it would be in the middle of the COVID-19 global pandemic – a virus attack which, in one way or another, is uniting us as a Global Community. Dealing with it asks us all for innovative thinking, ideas and approaches on the meaning and purpose of Community Development Practice (CDP), and on our roles and responsibilities as Community Development Practitioners (CDPs).
COVID-19 is challenging all of us in our commitment to each and every one of the principles for which we stand, both as practitioners and as members of a family, community, society and nation. Each one of us now in our social isolation has had, however reluctantly, to realize our vulnerability – not just as a citizen, family, and community member, but also as a species. Many of us were at first positively hopeful that this pandemic would soon pass, and that everything would go back to normal again. Now we are realizing that it is not passing quickly, and that it is increasingly likely that nothing will ever be quite the same again. The new ‘normal’ will differ from the ‘normal’ we thought we knew.
How will this shift impact us?
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Call for Abstracts -
Retaining Businesses in
a New Environment
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Changing demographics in the next decade and beyond will bring significant population declines especially in many non-metro areas. Population aging will increase the numbers of elderly residents including many long-time owners of essential local businesses.
Many heirs of owners have moved away or are not interested in managing the business. Also, population declines, combined with sluggish economies, make it harder to find investors or capital to continue the establishments. These trends necessitate changes in the game plan with new approaches by local leaders to transition local businesses that contribute greatly to the attractiveness and, or even viability, as a place to live and work.
Are you doing work in this area? Please consider submitting an abstract for a research volume edited by
Norman Walzer, Northern Illinois University, John Bennett, U of MN, and Jennifer Hawkins, U of MN,
on innovative strategies used to successfully transition businesses. Submission deadline July 15, 2020.
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Community Development in Practice:
Add to your toolbox
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Are you looking for professional development with practitioner presentations that address real community issues? Do you want to hear and discuss implications of COVID-19 on the future of communities?
Join the National Association of Extension Development Professionals for 4-days of discussion (spaced for Zooming comfort!), energizing talks, and actionable ideas.
May 29 – June 3, 2020.
Special virtual professional development fee of $105 USD.
Use discount code: “Extension” or “Professional” and register today
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tay informed. Review the latest notes from our Board of Directors.
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Community Development Society
2601 South 5th Street ~ Springfield, IL 62703
888-873-7380 or 217-529-6503 ext 100
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