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.
Background The application of various martial arts programs can greatly contribute to improving physical, mental and emotional development of young Hazara girls. The aim of this pilot project is to determine the effects that Karate sports intervention on Girl’s physical, psycho-social and identity development, which also includes motor skills, the aerobic and anaerobic abilities of playing girls. Method Total 04 Girls’ karate events organized in which total 70 young female (10-28 age group) players actively participated in each event. During the whole tournament series, total 280 young girls directly benefited from this polite project. It was the US Mission Pakistan, Exchange Alumni and Pakistan U.S Alumni Network funded project in partnership with Japan Karate Association, Pakistan for the indigenous minority “the Hazara Girls” under the human rights theme “Girls’ Karate series” followed by psycho-social sessions from April 2023 to September 2023 implemented in Quetta, Pakistan.
SWEEP chapters in higher education institutions serve as convergence points where academic knowledge, lived experience, community resources and cross-sector partnerships meet. This facilitates women students in co-creating development pathways beyond their campuses. The paper examines the role of Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) chapters in South African higher institutions of learning as platforms for community-engaged entrepreneurship, leadership and local economic development. The paper addresses two key questions: (1) To what extent do SWEEP chapters position young women as active facilitators of community development rather than mere beneficiaries? (2) How does SWEEP foster intergenerational learning and leadership within higher education? To achieve the study's aim, a document analysis is conducted to examine how empowerment, leadership, and community development are formally conceptualized and operationalized. The analysis will review the constitutions, reports, training materials, and published success stories of SWEEP members across various institutions of learning. Through the lens of feminist development theory, SWEEP is analyzed not just as a skills development programme but as a transformative sisterhood space that repositions young women from marginalized participants to active agents of community development. Thus, the study creates a pathway to view young women students as capable navigators of gendered and institutional dynamics, employing entrepreneurship training, mentorship and peer learning to foster local economic and social change.
This paper describes an experiential learning class involving students engaging with a client community, employing economic concepts and analysis tools to develop a comprehensive community revitalization plan, and demonstrating how students and the community they served can benefit from their work together. Students visited the community to learn about their assets and challenges and used their new skills to develop recommendations. Using Ripple Effect Mapping, we learned that the project gave the students the confidence to return home and use their skills to make a difference. The community reported that the project gave valuable information to move the community forward.
