CDS MEMBERS
TYPES OF CDS MEMBER
REGISTRATION
EARLY BIRD PRICING
OPENS MARCH 12
CLOSES MAY 20
(AT 5:00 P.M. EDT)
REGULAR PRICING
BEGINS MAY 20
CLOSES JULY 19
NON-MEMBERS
TYPES OF NON-MEMBER
(AT 5:01 P.M. EDT)
Important Guidelines:
For more information about CDS membership benefits and to join CDS click HERE.
2026 CDS Annual Conference Partner Hotels
Conference Special Reservation Link: CLICK HERE
Conference Special Reservation Link:
CLICK HERE
Call Hotel Main Number: (912) 927-7660
Reference CDS Conference when making reservation.
For more information on the conference venue and hotel options, click HERE.
Please fill in all required information and click SUBMIT when completed.
If you are including a guest with your registration, please fill in all the information for the Guest Attendee.
Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to your attendance and participation!
CDS Swag Shop
CDS Swag Shop has the Community Development Society branded Apparel and Accessories. We'd love to see you wear CDS Swag at the Conference! Please consider supporting CDS by ordering today at https://cdsociety.org/cds-swag-shop/
Limited Edition CDS Tote Bags can be purchased on the registration form below and picked up at the conference. All other CDS Swag must be ordered through our partner sites.
Conference Registration Payments
Credit cards or debit cards are accepted for 2026 CDS Annual Conference payments. The CDS does not accept checks, money orders or bank wire transfers.
Workshops Guidelines
If you are interested in attending a Pre Conference Workshop or Mobile Learning Workshop, please select only one per day. To qualify to participate in a Pre Conference Workshop at no cost you must be registered to attend the full conference. If you are a local community member and would like to only attend a Pre Conference Workshop please select one of the community member options.
All registration submissions are subject to final review and approval by the Community Development Society.
This early bird pricing ticket includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. This ticket option is for CDS Members with an active annual CDS Individual Membership.
This early bird pricing ticket includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. You must be 65 years old or older to purchase this registration. This ticket option is for CDS Members with an active annual CDS Retiree Membership.
This early bird pricing ticket includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. You must be a student enrolled in an academic program or an Americorp Volunteer to register with this pricing. This ticket option is for CDS Members with an active annual CDS Student Membership.
This early bird pricing ticket includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. To register with this ticket option you must have an active annual CDS Individual Membership and meet the Grassroots Representative/Community Civic Leader criteria listed at the top of the conference registration page.
This early bird pricing ticket for a non-member includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet.
This early bird pricing ticket for a non-member includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. You must be 65 years old or older to purchase this registration.
This early bird ticket for a non-member includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. You must be a student enrolled in an academic program or an Americorp Volunteer to register with this pricing.
This early bird ticket for a non-member includes entry to one preconference workshop, Welcoming Reception, plenary sessions and breakout sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. To register with this ticket options, you must meet the Grassroots Representative/Community Civic Leader criteria listed at the top of the conference registration page.
SUNDAY, JULY 19TH, 12:30PM to 3:30PM
See full description in Conference Attendee Workshops
This workshop option is for local community members not attending the full conference.
If you are engaged in (or interested in) applied research or are working with
local and/or regional organizations in guiding their economic development efforts, this is the
workshop for you. A team from the Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD) has
worked hand-in-hand with the U.S. Economic Development Administration to develop/update
the economic clusters for all areas of the United States. However, PCRD has added two new
critical data products – skills & knowledge clusters – data resources that can better position
communities/regions to be participants in the 21 st century economy.
*This Registration Option is Free for Conference Attendees Only*
If you are a local community member or local organization interested in attending this workshop and not the full conference, please scroll down to Local Community Member Workshop Offerings.
We invite those who have read about Spiraling up, used/adapted it in their work, and/or
taught the concept in their classes to join us for a retrospective on the past 20 years: what
we’ve learned; what have been challenges; what has changed, and to discuss how we
might apply it to the next 20 years, as we face increasingly rapid rates of change in our
work. This interactive workshop will focus on emergent work around ‘Spiraling up’ by
engaging participants in describing their own work and presenting examples of
integrating spiraling up processes such as youth development and placemaking into youth
engaged community development approaches, focusing on how spiraling up processes
can build on each other in developing community capacity, using spiraling up to identity
next stage opportunities as with increasing entrepreneurial activity, and evaluating and
reinvigorating spiraling up energies with Ripple Effect Mapping and other reflection
activities.
This workshop will address Community Currents: Navigating Change Together by providing a hands-on workshop centered on applied tools for the community development process. The agenda includes the following components:
o Overview – framing community development as a process
o Asset-Based Community Development—Asset Mapping as an applied tool for community assessment
o Data applications:
• How to find and build on reliable data
• Basics of economic impact analysis and
interpreting multipliers
• Data for decision-making—facilitating
dialogue, using data as a tool
• Understanding considerations in data
collection and partnerships
o Facilitating dialogue for the community development process
o Sharing resources to bring folks together and facilitate effective processes
The workshop will connect to sub-themes of charting cross-sector pathways, connecting across rural-urban divides, balancing preservation and progress, and navigating generational partnership.
The workshop instructors are collaborators across the United States working with the Southern Rural Development Center.
*This is an offsite pre conference workshop*
Transportation from the conference main location to SCAD facilities will be provided. This workshop is limited to 30 people. You must be registered for the CDS Conference to participate in this workshop.
The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a major cultural and economic engine in the Savannah region, contributing over $1 billion dollars annually to the local economy. SCAD has led the way in shaping Savannah’s identity as a vibrant cultural hub. At SCAD, community engagement and development goes beyond services, and is undergirded through the thoughtful application of design practice, the arts and creativity applied to real-world industry and community needs. This hands-on workshop and field trip will demonstrate how SCAD fosters community engagement through signature programs, partnerships and public-facing art and design initiatives. Presented through the lens of Design Thinking, the presentation will outline how approaches rooted in empathy, collaboration, creativity and purposeful execution can enhance community affinity dynamics and positive relationships. Attendees will be encouraged to consider how they might adopt or apply community
engagement strategies and initiatives similar to the SCAD design-oriented approach.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - Explore the role of craft breweries as anchors of authentic, place‑based community and economic development in Savannah, Georgia. Building on prior CDS brewery workshops, this session focuses explicitly on authenticity, neolocalism, third places, and urban revitalization, examining how breweries interact with local history, arts, labor, veterans’ communities, tourism pressures, and neighborhood change.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - This mobile workshop will explore approaches to empowering youth as key stakeholders in community development efforts, from both a nonprofit and local government perspective. Participants will visit a nonprofit in Savannah using a trauma-informed and culturally responsive framework to leverage the lived experiences of young people in community development. Participants will then meet with youth leaders and youth advocates in Statesboro, Georgia to learn more about the city of Statesboro's approach to empowering youth to improve their community.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - Discover how Savannah's remarkable historic preservation efforts serve as a powerful engine for community development, economic growth, and social cohesion. In the late 1970’s, Savannah had become rundown, and now it stands as one of America's most celebrated examples of successful historic preservation. This workshop includes a tour of historical sites in Savannah, a tour of the Davenport House, referred to as “the house that started a movement…that saved a city,” and lunch at the Gryphon, located in a 1926 Scottish Rite building on Madison Square.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - Explore how Recovery Community Organizations (RCO's) build social capital, collaborate with local organizations, and highlight the recovery community’s role as a local community asset. An estimated 1 in 6 Americans are affected by substance use disorder (SAMHSA, 2024). Community engagement is essential to long term successful recovery, however, communities often respond with silence, stigma, and systems that further marginalize individuals with substance use disorder. Statesboro is home to multiple substance use treatment centers and has a large and thriving drug and alcohol recovery community. RCO's, which are led and governed by representatives of local communities of recovery, incorporate many principles of community development, by design. Participants will leave with actionable ideas on how to make their own communities recovery friendly.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - Explore economic development initiatives aimed at fostering innovation, advancing economic research, and supporting local business development in both urban (micropolitan) and rural contexts. Participants will visit the Business Innovation Group (BIG), the business outreach program for Georgia Southern University to learn about a range of initiatives that facilitate the development of a vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem for the southeast region. We will also visit the GGIC, a business incubator which supports agri-business locally, regionally and throughout the state which formed as a partnership between the City of Metter, Georgia Grown (the economic development agency of the Georgia Department of Agriculture), and Georgia Southern University’s Business Innovation Group.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - Explore how ecological processes, community, and economic activity intersect along Georgia’s coast. Participants will visit Tybee Island, a small beach community about 20 minutes from downtown Savannah, and learn about the community's coastal resilience efforts. Other themes explored will include balancing the desire for tourism with the quality of life for year round residents.
MONDAY JULY 20TH, 11:30PM to 4:30PM - Explore two Georgia barrier islands which share similar histories and sit just miles apart geographically, yet represent dramatically different visions of what an island can become — making them an ideal pairing for a comparative community development tour. Skidaway Island is an example of intentional residential development, and is home to The Landings, one of the largest gated golf communities in the U.S. Skidaway has about 9,000 residents, master-planned infrastructure including golf courses, miles of walking trails, and green space, as well as a research institution, Skidaway Island of Oceanography. In contrast, Ossabaw Island has no permanent residents and little infrastructure. It is a heritage preserve, managed by the Ossabaw Island Foundation, through a public-private partnership with the State of Georgia, accessible only by boat with special permission and serves as an artist retreat and ecological research location.
IF ADDING A GUEST, PLEASE FILL OUT ALL GUEST ATTENDEE QUESTIONS IN THE REGISTRATION SECTION ABOVE. This ticket includes entry for your guest into the Welcoming Reception, Plenary Sessions, Monday Night Event, and Awards Banquet. Please be advised, a Guest Registration does not include access to attend any member meetings or concurrent sessions. This registration can only be combined with the following tickets: CDS MEMBER Individual, CDS MEMBER Retiree, NON-MEMBER Individual or NON-MEMBER Retiree.
This ticket includes entry into the Opening Night Welcome Reception.
This ticket includes entry into Opening Session and Monday Night Event.
This ticket includes entry into the Plenary Session with lunch and Awards Banquet.
This ticket includes entry into the Closing Plenary Session which includes lunch.
Regular (standard) 12 month membership has all the benefits of CDS membership for working professionals including electronic access to the Community Development journal.
Retiree membership has all the benefits of a 12 month CDS membership for retired professionals including electronic access to the Community Development journal.
CDS offers a membership discount for university or college students. Student Members open the doors to professional networking and a library of CDS publications, including electronic access to its two journals’ current issues and retrievable archives. This is a 12 month membership.
All donation proceeds are greatly appreciated for the CDS. All monetary donations will receive an official acknowledgment letter that can be used for charitable giving tax deductible purposes.
Support the CDS' Mission with this branded cotton tote bag. Proceeds from all merchandise sales are greatly appreciated and for organizational operating funds. Colors of Tote are Cream and Teal with the CDS Burgundy Logo. *Pickup is at the CDS Conference. If you would like to order a limited edition CDS Tote Bag and are not able to attend the conference, please email admin@cdsociety.org.
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