This session presents how SDSU Extension designed, implemented, and analyzed the South Dakota Newcomers Survey, a statewide effort to understand the needs, motivations, and experiences of recent movers. By outlining the survey’s methodology, outreach strategy, analytical approach, and reporting process, the session highlights why newcomers are an essential population for community planning. Participants will learn key findings, how demographic and cultural preferences shape newcomer decisions, and how communities can use these insights to strengthen attraction and retention strategies. The session also demonstrates how states or individual communities can replicate the process to generate locally relevant data.
This leadership program, a collaboration between the University Department of Community Development and ___ University in Kenya, strengthened both human capital (skills and knowledge) and social capital (relationships and connections) for trainers in both countries and the rural leaders who participated in the program. The process involved adapting and co-designing leadership curricula, learning with a core team of faculty, staff and volunteer trainers, and implementing a train-the-trainer model for the Kenyan team as they trained the first cohort of community members. Through peer-learning, trainers and participants strengthened their skills, networks and confidence to harness collaborative energy to navigate challenges and opportunities together.
Lankes stated, “Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.” Libraries are valued as “third places” (Cabello & Butler, 2017) and community hubs (Putnam, 2004; Kyle, 2015; Settle, 2016) as they are well-positioned to serve community needs. However, capacity is a central consideration in program decisions. Drawing on published cases, longitudinal data from the Public Library Survey, and web analysis to summarize modern library programming initiatives, the authors undertook surveys and interviews with librarians to improve understanding of library involvement in placemaking and how geography of libraries shapes placemaking involvement and practices.
