President's Update - President's Update - Paddling Along

By Cindy Banyai

As summer winds down, I find myself reflecting on the adventures I've shared with my family this year - visiting Detroit, camping in Northern Michigan, and all the memories we made together. Spending time with my children and parents also brought back summer memories from years past. One summer, when I was a teenager, my parents took us whitewater rafting. It sounded so exciting and I was certain that we were going to have the adventure of a lifetime, and I suppose we did, except, not the way I anticipated. Rather than facing the rapid together and triumphantly making it through the course as I envisioned, we crumbled. I accidentally knocked my dad out of the boat, we argued, my brother became disengaged, and at one point we weren't going anywhere because each of us were paddling in opposite directions. We did eventually make it to the end, together and in one piece, but it took us putting aside our squabbles to communicate and collaborate.  As your pilot, I've worked with our staff and leadership to land the CDS plane to get us through an enriching and engaging Detroit conference. Now, I'm feeling like we are in a boat on a river, all paddling in different directions. Through this coming year, a year of celebration of our 50 years as an organization, I pledge to continue to work together with our leadership and staff to ensure that we are all paddling in the same direction...

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New CD Practice Journal - Issue 22: The Pursuit of the Future of Community Development
Does the future happen or do we bring it about? As Community Development Society's 50th Anniversary approaches, we as community development professionals must address how we bring about better futures for our communities. In today's communities, there remain great opportunities to be discovered and great opportunities to be created by community development professionals. We must pursue the future, not wait for it to come to us.

This twenty-second issue of Community Development Practice provides approaches, insights, and tools that can help us bring about better futures for our communities. It is easy for us to be divided, to turn on each other, and to hoard resources. The articles in this issue challenge us to come together and invite others into our community development work. As a community of community development professionals, we need to come together and invite others into our work. Diversity, inclusion, innovation, and entrepreneurialism are needed as we, together, pursue the future of community development.

I hope you enjoy this issue, and please consider submitting your future work to Community Development Practice. I wish you all a productive and community-filled summer.

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Meet the Board: KP Williams, Vice President for Operations

By  KP Williams

The 2018 annual international conference of the Community Development Society in Detroit, Michigan, USA, was an opportunity to celebrate the past 49 years of scholarly and practical advances across the spectrum of community development, the friendships forged and sustained, and the tangible changes made in the many communities of which we are a part. The conference served as both a reflection on the challenges and achievements we have experienced over the years and an opportunity to envision what our continued success will look like over the next 50 years. Kyle Patrick (KP) Williams, who began his term as CDS Vice President for Operations at the end of the conference, is especially excited about the future work of CDS members and the impact it will have on the communities where we build, create, educate, engage, live, serve, work, and worship. KP joined CDS in 2013...

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