It was great to reconnect with friends and colleagues in Omaha at the 2024 Annual Conference of the Community Development Society. We had a nice venue, excellent plenaries and engaging sessions. The conference is where I get my batteries recharged and reconnect with friends and colleagues. I hope others did as well. Even though we’re a little over a week removed from the 2024 conference, it’s not too early to start planning for the 2025 conference. The 2025 conference will be on the finger lakes at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva New York, July 6 through 9, 2025. It’s a little earlier than we normally meet, so be sure to circle the dates on your calendar and make plans to join us in western New York.
The CDS conference marks the transition in leadership for CDS. I want to thank Margaret Stout whose leadership over the past three years helped guide CDS through some challenging times as we emerged from the pandemic and positioned us well for the future. I am looking forward to serving as the chair over the next year and building on the work we have done the past few years. My goal as the chair this year is to engage as many members as we can in the work of the organization. There are many things we can do for each other and advance the field. I think CDS is at its best when our members are engaged and excited about the work. We are always looking for members to get involved in the work of the organization. If you would like to get involved this year please send me, Tammy or one of the board members a note. We are happy to listen to your ideas and help you figure out how you can become more involved in CDS.
We are regularly asked to post positions for organizations who are trying to get their opportunities in front of people like us who work with communities and understand how to effectively engage with communities around their development issues. We have simply not had a good way to provide that kind of resource to our members and others in the field that is accessible to both those who are looking to hire people in CD and those in CD who want to explore those opportunities. We have purchased software that will reside on our website that can effectively manage a job board for CDS. Our executive director, Tammy Baxter, has been working on this resource for a couple of months and is very close to having a draft that we can pilot.
To make this work we need your help. We need positions in our field we can post on the job board to make this a resource people will regularly explore as they engage in their job searches. So please let us know if you have positions you want us to include in the launch. To support this effort over time we will be charging a small fee for organizations and offer discounts for members that want to post positions. However, to get things started and build interest in this resource we are going to make it free for anyone with a position in CD to post it to our job board for the first three months after the job board is launched. We are hoping this will prove to be an important resource our members and the field of community development. If you know of employers with jobs to post please have them contact Tammy at director@cdsociety.org.
In service,
