“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble,” - John Lewis
Graduate Minor in Community Planning
During my undergraduate studies, I obtained a minor in Community and Civic Engagement. This minor provided me with the ability to work alongside various communities to gain a better understanding of what Community Engagement means, and what issues communities could have solved via policy. In graduate school, I wanted to take on a more theory-based approach. The Community Planning minor has taught me more about the procedures that communities around the country often employ/could benefit from to meet their community planning and development needs across multiple contexts.
Introduction to Community Development
Case Study City is facing a myriad of issues, some of which include access to public transportation, a former warehouse building that is currently not being used, unemployment, small business competition hindering overall community growth, and access to affordable groceries. In analyzing this city’s needs and assuming the role of a community developer, I was able to apply the principles of Community Development and make policy and funding recommendations based on what I had learned during this Introduction to Community Development Course. This case study challenged my beliefs about the roles of community developers and helped to reveal how complex the decisions are that they have to make. A lot of the issues that Case Study city were facing are typical issues that communities throughout America are facing -therefore I feel equipped to tackle those issues in a professional setting.
Introduction to Community Planning
As someone who plans to challenge public policy in a legal setting as an attorney, I find it imperative to analyze the theories that help to create the policies that govern community planning initiatives. My Introduction to Community Planning course challenged us to evaluate varying theories of planning, analyze how this can impact the quality of work that a planner does, and discern why this affects the planning issues that they prioritize. While there is no perfect planning theory, there are some interesting outcomes of each theory that should be evaluated and tested to determine if there can be a more effective approach to being a community planner.
