Planning

Features

Community Decision Support

Using a variety of tools, Community Decision Support enhances local capacity to make sound policy choices. Tools include economic models, demographic analysis, Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping, and fiscal impact tools.

Data tools to support community decisions:

• CARES — Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems
• CIM — Community Issues Management
• CPAC — Community Policy Analysis Center
• OSEDA — Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis
• PPRC — Public Policy Research Center

Community Planning

Groups, organizations and communities develop a vision, identify priorities, develop an action agenda, and successfully develop and implement programs and projects. Find a specialist in your area who can help.

Community Development Academy

The series of three courses combines leading-edge thinking with practical application to enhance the capacity of people to work effectively with a broad range of community issues. Each five-day course is an intensive, experiential experience that explores ideas and develops practical skills.

About the Community Development Program

MU Extension helps people create communities of the future. Community development education helps citizens tap into local strengths and university resources. Read about impacts the program has had on Missouri communities.

News

• Lexington chosen for MU Extension Community Arts Pilot Project
  Tuesday, January 29, 2013
  LEXINGTON, Mo. – The historic community of Lexington will be the site of a University of Missouri Extension Community Arts Pilot Project designed to provide an economic boost through community development.
  
  Media available: photos; video
• Teenage artist helps lead community arts pilot project
  Tuesday, January 29, 2013
  LEXINGTON, Mo. – Seth Ritter’s studio is tucked away in a rehabbed 1850s-style grocery store building in historic Lexington. Bare light bulbs hang austerely from the ceiling, casting a dim light over a wooden workbench scrawled with an artist’s random sketches.
  
  Media available: photos; video
• University of Missouri Extension 4-H summer camp encourages youth to develop their own small business
  Thursday, August 2, 2012
  COLUMBIA — In a striped button-up shirt, black slacks and styled hair, Brandon Banks looks like a typical businessman ready for a day’s work in the office.
  
  Media available: photos
• Voluntary board service means more than attending meetings
  Monday, June 18, 2012
  BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — If you are ever asked to volunteer on an organization’s board, make sure you know what you’re getting into before saying yes,says a University of Missouri Extension community development specialist.

Websites

Browse these University of Missouri websites:

• Affordable Housing Through Community Partnership
• Alianzas
  The Alianzas partnership enhances the ability of communities to collaborate with the growing immigrant Hispanic population.
• Cambio Center
  Provides education and enhances the welfare of all Missouri residents in the context of dramatic demographic changes.
• CARES - Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems
  Aids interested public and private parties in learning about and managing our resources.
• Community Decision Support
  Enhances local capacity to make sound policy choices.
• Community Preparedness
  Program designed to help communities increase their learning and ownership in building a safe and prosperous future for themselves and fellow Missourians.
• Community Revitalization and Sustainability
  Extension specialists work with the community to enable residents to take charge and make decisions about their own communities.
• CPAC - Community Policy Analysis Center
  Provides research, outreach and training to support improved policy decisions in Missouri communities.
• Global Leadership Education
• Missouri County Fact Sheets
• Missouri Legislative Academy
  Provides information to legislators about issues and specialized research.
• MU Labor Education Program
• OSEDA - Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis
• PPRC - Public Policy Research Center
• Youth-Adult Partnerships
  Engages youth and adults in decision making and governance.

You may be interested in these external websites:

• Local Government Partnership

Publications

• DM1301, What Are Our Community’s Housing Needs?
• DM1505, Rural Neighborhoods for Crime Prevention
• DM1905, Planning a Central Sewer System for Rural Areas
• DM1955, Rural Water Districts Costs and Funding
• DM5361, Preparing an Election Petition in Missouri
• DM7005, The Planning Process and People
• DM7110, Regional Planning in Missouri: The Legal Authorization
• EC961, Why Development Projects Don’t Work as Planned: Pitfalls and Solutions
• M82, Decongesting Metropolitan America
• MP100, A Case Study in a Community Development Technique: the Hannibal Community Survey
• MX929, A Revolution in the Heartland: Changes in Rural Culture, Family and Communities 1900-2000
• NCR203, Public Policy Education: Key Concepts and Methods
• UED46, Handbook for Planning Commissioners in Missouri
• UED86, Missouri Policy Choices

You may be interested in these related publications:

• CM1306, How to Have a Successful Educational Meeting on a Public Issue
• DM3005, Understanding Your Community’s Economic Base
• DM3006, Economic Base Multipliers and Community Growth
• DM3035, Potential for Retail Trades in Rural Communities
• DM3101, Missouri County Sales Tax Act
• DM3102, Downtown Revitalization
• DM7612, Basic Procedures in Administration of Zoning Regulations: Making Applications
• DM7613, Basic Procedures in Administration of Zoning Regulations: Appeals
• DM7614, Basic Procedures in Administration of Zoning Regulations: Roles of Enforcement Officer and Board of
• DM7615, Cambio de Colores — Immigration of Latinos to Missouri
• DM7619, Cambio de Colores: Latinos in the Heartland
• EC948, Adult Day Care: Will it Work for Your Community?
• MP489, Planning Agencies and the Community
• MP506, How to Organize Neighborhoods
• MP568, Community Development Theory
• MP742, Missouri State and Local Spending: A Fifty-State Comparison for 2002
• MP743, Missouri State and Local Taxes and Revenue: A Fifty-State Comparison for 2002