Community Development Institute at JSU
Schedules Inaugural Class in May
The Alabama Community Development Institute (CDI) was approved by the Community Development Council (CDC) in February, 2007. The CDI will conduct its first session at JSU during the week of May 14-18, 2007. See schedule.

The institute will be held on the 11th floor of the JSU library and all logistical and registration issues will be coordinated by the JSU Office of Continuing Education, through Belinda Blackburn. See current listing at the Continuing Education Web site. Click here for Alabama Community Development Institute Curriculum (Year I) Highlights and Registration Information.

Currently, the CDC has approved CDIs in six regions of the nation, those being Arkansas, Texas, West Virginia, Illinois, Idaho, and Alabama. The CDC is currently entertaining proposals from New England and the West Coast, which will complete the regions targeted by the CDC in terms of national coverage. Even though our program here is titled the Alabama CDI, our service area includes the states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama.

The CDI is committed to the non-exclusive training of individuals in the fields of community and economic development. The participants come from a wide range of occupations and interests, from elected officials to volunteers at non-profit organizations.

The institute training takes place one week a year for three years. At the end of the three-year training cycle, an individual may qualify to sit for the Professional Community and Economic Developer Certification exam.

Each year the participants who successfully complete the training will receive Continuing Education Units (CEUs), or they may apply their institute training to a formal degree program that we hope to have running as part of the Master's in Public Administration (MPA) program within the next two years.

Those individuals who are interested in "fast-tracking" the completion of training can attend CDIs in the other states that offer the CDI experience.

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