New Report: Supporting Emerging Leaders for Community Development

• Can you make a career out of community development?

• How do you get from one job to another?

• In a field with so many small organizations, how do you find growth opportunities beyond one organization?

• How do you prepare yourself for advancement?

• What are the training programs? Are there enough of them?

• Why is it so hard to find top managers or new executive directors, yet up-and-coming people complain they can’t get promoted?

Our new report — Supporting Emerging Leaders for Community Development: A Study & Action Plan — addresses these questions and more. Author Joseph McNeely examines existing resources and barriers to talent development and career growth. Based on his findings, he makes the case for building a stronger, better-funded professional development system across the entire field. McNeely’s eight recommendations address career development at every level, from onboarding newcomers to developing the next generation of executive directors.

Recommendations

1. Establish and maintain a national network of training professionals within
   the field.

2. Profile jobs and employment opportunities in the field nationwide.

3. Design and disseminate an onboarding program to ground newcomers in the field.

4. Create and disseminate a career planning training module for the field.

5. Boost training and career guidance for mid-level professionals.

6. Expand in-person comprehensive leadership programs for executive
   directors.

7. Sustain and fund the dynamic training and professional development
   system.

8. Elevate career development practices throughout the field.

Ready to Dig in?

• Start with the executive summary for a quick overview.
• Read the full report for the complete action plan and the research behind it.
• View our simple guide to career development practices.
  

This report is part of our Grounding Values in Research program. It contributes to a broader conversation about how the community development field can build more equitable, resilient, and community-responsive systems.