UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 4, Page 1
September 22, 1994
Community-based course launched by urban affairs

     Three national community development experts came to Wilmington
last week to help University officials launch a new certificate course
in community-based development.
     The Community Development Certificate Course, offered by the
Center for Community Development at the College of Urban Affairs and
Public Policy, gives members of urban and rural, community-based
organizations in Delaware and the region an opportunity to study the
systems, tools and activities that foster and enhance citizen
participation in economic and social development planning, decision
making and organization.
     The course focuses on meeting the needs of emerging and existing
community-based organizations, community development corporations and
public and private agencies that seek to engage in community
development planning and implementation.
     Thirty-five individuals, representing community-based
organizations throughout Delaware and the Philadelphia metropolitian
area, are participating in the semester-long course, which will be
offered again next fall.
     Kevin Kelly, special assistant to the president of the National
Congress for Community Economic Development in Washington, D.C.; Rudy
Bryant, deputy director of the Center for Community and Environmental
Development at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Jennifer
Henderson, director of training at the Center for Community Change in
Washington, D.C., made presentations at the opening class lecture on
"The Standards and Practices of Community Economic Development in
Rebuilding People and Communities."
     Future sessions will feature presentations by professionals in
the field from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, New
Jersey, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.
     According to coordinator Raheemah Jabbar-Bey, upon completion of
the course, participants will know how to establish or enhance an
efficient, self-sustaining and locally controlled enterprise capable
of supporting profitable ventures and effective social programs within
the framework of an urban or rural community's social, cultural and
political values.
     They will be able to conduct community needs assessments,
evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of community
development enterprises, engage in effective community organizing,
participate in community-based business enterprise development,
understand and generate financial reports, finance community economic
development and negotiate with representatives of public and private
funding entities and other decision-makers.
     In addition to the University, the program is sponsored by the
city of Wilmington and New Castle County's Department of Community
Development and Housing. Support also will be provided by MBNA America
and the Delaware Development Office.
     The course is being held in Neighborhood House Inc., a 67-year-
old community organization in Wilmington.
     For more information, contact Jabbar-Bey at 831-8564 or Timothy
Barnekov, director of the Center for Community Development, at
831-1690.