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Help create resilient and equitable communities

Community development isn’t a one-size fits all endeavor

Community development is so much more than blueprints and zoning. It’s about cultivating spaces where people can flourish. Spaces with enough green space to play and relax. Spaces that offer economic opportunities that allow people to realize their dreams and aspirations. Places where people have access to quality, culturally responsive food, education, healthcare, and housing. At Clark, you will learn about the power structures that shape community spaces, and how to create processes in which community members have a say in those power structures.

Change happens at the speed of trust

Community development happens in the context of relationships. As practitioners, we can’t impose our own visions on communities. Rather, through community-engaged learning, students collaborate with community members and other stakeholders to understand each community’s unique strengths, and then collectively create strategies so that people’s dreams can take root and grow.

Be a partner in a community’s transformation

Grounded in principles and practices of ethical community engagement, we provide students with knowledge and skills in finance, project management, monitoring & evaluation, geo-spatial analysis, and non-profit leadership. These skills are needed to be a practitioner who can be a partner and ally in a community’s transformation.

Department of Sustainability and Social Justice

Our degrees inspire you to develop equitable solutions to urgent social, political, and ecological challenges. Through our program, students are equipped to build a more just and sustainable world.

  • Deepen your knowledge of community development challenges
  • Develop critical skills to catalyze institutional change
  • Collaborate across disciplines to understand and address complex social-ecological challenges
  • Gain real-world experience to build professional skills and knowledge

Critical Knowledge, Skills, and Experience:
The Community Development and Planning Curriculum

Curricular Feature 10-unit 12-unit practice 12-unit research
Required Core Courses: Degree Specific 2 2 2
Sustainability Studies 1 1 1
Social Change and Institutional Transformation 1 1 1
Fundamental Skills:

  • Project Management
  • Monitoring & Evaluation
  • Organizational Leadership
  • Spatial Analysis
 2 3 1
Methods of Inquiry & Subject Matter Electives 1.5 – 2 1.5 – 2 2.5 – 3
Intersectional Analysis 0.5 – 1 0.5 – 1 0.5 – 1
Principles and Ethics in Community Engagement
(Common Seminar)		 0.5 0.5 0.5
Experiential Learning:

  • Studio courses
  • Summer Global Learning Collaboratives
  • Internships
 1 2 1
Directed Study 0 0 1
Thesis writing 0 0 1

View Catalog

Choice of three program tracks

10-unit track completed in three semesters (Fall or Spring start)

12-unit research track completed in four semesters, with students conducting primary research in the summer between their two years of study (Fall start only)

12-unit practice track completed in four semesters, with students engaging in a Global Learning Collaborative, either domestically or internationally (Fall start only)

 

Join our successful alumni

Our alumni work locally and globally to make a difference in the fields of youth and education, food security, urban planning, affordable housing development, economic and workforce development, and public health. They bring a focus on equity and social justice to their many and varied roles:

  • Associate Director, Economic & Workforce Development, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
  • Director of Fixed Assets, Mosaic Housing, Charlotte, N.C.
  • Senior Manager, Neighborworks America
  • Director of Programs, Girls, Inc. of N.Y.
  • Manager of Fund Development, The Community Builders, Boston, Mass.
  • Senior Planner, City of Worcester, Mass.
  • Director of Organizational Effectiveness, Foodshare, Bloomfield, Conn.

Meet our engaged faculty

Our faculty are engaged scholars and practitioners who work with state and city governments as well as community development corporations and nonprofits. They will help you chart your career path, introducing you to internships in the community and a broad professional network.

Relevant. Challenging. Transformative.

Faculty Research Areas

Ramón Borges‐Méndez

Ramón Borges‐Méndez

Associate Professor

Working toward Labor Justice

Professor Borges-Méndez's research focuses on workforce development and labor markets, governance, immigration, and Latinos in the USA and Latin America.
Margaret Post, Ph.D.

Margaret Post, Ph.D.

Associate Research Professor

Researching grassroots community organizations in social policy change

Dr. Post’s current research investigates the prevalence and efficacy of nonprofit political organizations in the United States. Dr. Post is a founding co-editor of the new journal Community Organizing.
Laurie Ross

Laurie Ross

Professor

Supporting — and Empowering — At-Risk Youth

A respected voice in the Worcester community, Professor Ross works to promote social justice in youth development and researches topics that include youth violence, homelessness, and youth worker education.

Explore the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice

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