Chair’s Update – May 2024

It’s hard to believe June is just around the corner–the last full month of my term as Board Chair! Get ready for our upcoming elections for Board of Director seats that will begin at our Annual Business Meeting in July! You will receive an email with the official electronic voting link in early June. As I began thinking about that meeting, I decided to revisit the priorities I laid out last year. As in most volunteer leadership scenarios, progress has been made toward some but not all aims:

• Continued financial and organizational stabilization

  • Bylaws clarifications and revisions to increase accountability to Members

  • A sustained management and administration contract

  • Updated Policies and Operational Guidelines

  • Clarified nonprofit Chart of Accounts and bookkeeping procedures

  • Resource development (grants and fundraising)

• Membership growth and diversification

  • Academic interdisciplinarity beyond our traditional base

  • Transdisciplinarity with more practitioners and grassroots leaders

• Organizational recognition, collaboration, and leadership

  • Sister organizations, policymakers, and philanthropies

• Program expansion

  • Academic accreditation of professional graduate degrees

  • Praxis visits with host communities

I am extremely grateful for the expertise, guidance, and effort our contracted Executive Director, Tammy Baxter, has provided. With her assistance, the Governance Committee, Board of Directors, and Members have successfully revised the CDS bylaws that will further guide in-progress updates to our Policies and Operational Guidelines. The “POG” as we affectionately call it, along with streamlined and updated nonprofit accounting systems, will further enable CDS to more effectively pursue resource development. And due to the efforts of our Treasurer, Bo Beaulieu, with support from both the Finance and Stewardship Committees, we have successfully moved organizational funds to investment managers that offer socially responsible options and national banks with more accessible online systems. So we are well on our way in financial and organizational stabilization.

Thanks to some Vice Chair of Operations pinch-hitting on the part of Director Dan Kahl and the volunteer leadership of Rick Orton, the Members engaged in the pursuit of membership growth and diversification are poised to implement a series of activities, including a survey of current Members and significant outreach to academic faculty and students as well as sister organizations. Again, assistance in these major communications efforts will be provided by our E.D. Additionally, the Student Chapter has followed up initial activities during last year’s conference with a strategic plan for growth and expansion this year under the leadership of Tanner Catarina-Knorr (Arizona State University).

One of our sister organizations is the Christian Community Development Association–a group of faith-based grassroots community developers, about 2,000 members strong. Leaders from CDS and CCDA have held preliminary meetings to learn more about one another and to explore ways we might collaborate in the future. Stay tuned for opportunities to engage in that process of mutual discovery! And of course, through the efforts of our Vice Chair of Programs, Steve Jeanetta, and the Webinars working group, we have continued to partner with Extension Service organizations to host several virtual professional development sessions.

Another important leader in community development policy and funding is NeighborWorks America–a congressionally chartered nonprofit community development intermediary. Executive Vice President for Training became a CDS Member last year and is aiming toward future collaborative efforts. For example, NeighborWorks’ Professional Learning Advisory Council is exploring the full continuum of professional certifications and academic programs. They are welcome contributors to the CDS Academic Accreditation working group. Similar discussions are ongoing with the Community Development Council, the host of Community Development Institutes many CDS Members have attended. These relationship building efforts may play an important role in future CDS programming.

While we haven’t yet dug into the idea of expanding on our mobile learning workshops by organizing praxis visits with host communities in the U.S., CDS maintains its longtime relationship with IACD, the international group that offers the aspirational model for these types of programs. I hope that our incoming Board Chair, Steve Jeanetta, will be able to continue exploration of this concept with support from our Programs Committee.

In reflection, through the combined efforts of CDS Board members, contracted staff, and active Members–especially those engaging in our various committees and working groups, we are gaining ground and doing good work to strengthen our Society and the community development ecosystem. Let’s all be sure our memberships are up to date by logging into your CDS member account here, get registered for the annual conference by clicking here, and make our way to Omaha, Nebraska to share, learn, and celebrate another terrific year together! Looking forward to seeing you soon!!