Quick guide aimed at educating public about Pennsylvania election process

August 29, 2024

With election day quickly approaching, Cristy Schmidt, CECD applied research educator, collaborated with the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania to develop “Pennsylvania Election Process: A Quick Guide for Citizens,” a package of materials aimed at helping counties inform and engage the public about the election process.

Extension team earns national award for work on active transportation plan

August 2, 2024

The CECD’s Cristy Schmidt was part of a team of Penn State Extension educators who won a 2024 Excellence in Teamwork award from the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) for their project, “Partnering to Create PA Municipal Active Transportation Plans.” The team, whose members are John Turack, Neal Fogle, Peter Wulfhorst, Matt Spindler, Er Yu, and Cristy Halerz-Schmidt, was named a national runner-up and Northeast region winner.

Industry fellowship provides real-world experience for doctoral student

May 16, 2024

CECD affiliate faculty member Maria Spencer leads the college's first-of-its-kind graduate summer fellowship pairing Penn State graduate students with industry mentors to help students navigate the transition from academia to careers in industry. Read about graduate student Xialing Zhao's experience working with Sysco to support a food waste reduction initiative aimed at finding new outlets for food that is salvageable but being wasted out of the warehouse.

Webinar to address community engagement, equitable development

April 12, 2024

Communities are sustainable and equitable when residents play a meaningful role in the deliberations, discussions, decision-making and implementation of projects or programs affecting them, according to Penn State Extension educators working with Penn State's Center for Economic and Community Development, who will host a webinar addressing community engagement, capacity building and equitable development.

Penn State's 'Stories from the Field' returns with spring 2024 lineup

February 8, 2024

Penn State's 'Stories from the Field' returns with fall lineup

October 6, 2023

The “Stories from the Field” conversation series is returning with two fall sessions. Speakers will share stories and lessons learned from programs devoted to farmers’ mental health and workers affected by substance use disorders.

RCAA Recording: Immigration, Community, and the Economy

September 27, 2023

Check out the recording from the September 2023 Rural Community Action Assembly. Presenters shared their perspectives on labor shortages, population changes, and inclusive approaches to labor force participation.

RCAA Recording: Recovery-Friendly Workplaces for Workforce Development

August 16, 2023

Watch the recording from our August 2023 Rural Community Action Assembly to learn more about inclusive workforce models.

RCAA Recording: Broadband Deployment and Community Readiness

July 19, 2023

Tune into the recording from our July 2023 Rural Community Action Assembly focused on how rural communities are starting to assess their readiness to get and absorb soon-to-be-released federal funding for broadband infrastructure.

Penn State’s ‘Stories from the Field’ series announces spring lineup

February 8, 2023

Penn State’s “Stories from the Field” conversation series is returning this spring with three new sessions, with speakers sharing lessons for practitioner-academics, insights into how governments and communities can work together to tackle biosecurity threats, and stories that illustrate the importance of trust in vaccination-education efforts.

County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania extends Schmidt’s fellowship

December 19, 2022

As Cristy Schmidt, Penn State Extension applied research educator, nears the end of her two-year term as the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania’s Extension fellow, the organizations announced a yearlong extension of her fellowship, moving the end date to Dec. 31, 2023.

Catching up with Pennsylvania’s Coming Together for Racial Understanding Team

December 12, 2022

The team discussed how they adapted the Coming Together curriculum for Penn State Extension, the reach and impacts of their work thus far, and their plans for taking it to a wider audience.

Food for thought... multiscalar resilience to inevitable change

November 10, 2022

This article addresses the concept of scale: do we think about resilience as individuals, in communities, or at the city scale? And what happens to our thinking on resilience if we conceive of humans as integrated within the environments and ecologies we inhabit? Thinking about humans as a part of the natural world rather than outside of it (or trying to control it) lends a very different perspective to how we think about and build resilient communities.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Highlight: Building networks of knowledge through urban agriculture

November 10, 2022

Yolanda Gonzalez is an Urban Agriculture Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) based in New York City. She works across NYC to build and support the "layered benefits" urban agriculture. This article highlights some of the work she has done to support network building and knowledge sharing to build more resilient urban food systems in the city, with a focus on collaborative and collective learning among growers and communities.

Penn State Highlight: Youth education and engagement to reduce disparities

November 10, 2022

This article focuses on the intersection between community engagement, environmental justice, and educational outreach. Michelle Niedermeier's work over more than twenty years has focused on engaging with communities around environmental health and reducing disparities. She describes her work with the Pennsylvania Sea Grant (PASG) on Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development, and how that relates to her previous work with Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management (PA-IPM).

November 17: Stories from the Field with Darren Marshall

November 10, 2022

Join us on November 17th for a conversation with Darren Marhsall, Southern Queensland Landscapes’ pest and community engagement specialist, about his work using community engagement as an essential strategy for feral pig management in Australia.

Penn State’s Stories from the Field conversation series returns for fall

September 16, 2022

Penn State’s “Stories from the Field” conversation series is returning this fall with three new sessions. Each was designed to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges and opportunities of applied research and community engagement.

Join us! Fall 2022 "Stories from the Field" Conversations

September 9, 2022

The Center for Economic and Community Development invites you to join us for the Fall 2022 “Stories from the Field” conversation series. Join us to hear from and talk with speakers Lara Fowler, Maddy Nyblade, and Darren Marshall about their community engagement and applied research.

RCAA Recording: Capital Access and Absorption

July 13, 2022

Capital access and absorption — systemic opportunity combined with the capacity and technical expertise to effectively leverage and deploy funds — are vital components of revitalization for rural communities. View the recording from the Rural Community Action Assembly.

RCAA Recording: Regional Workforce Models

June 22, 2022

Regional workforce models — leveraging cross-sector partnerships, employer-informed job training, upskilling and reskilling, along with community outreach through trusted institutions — are an important component of revitalization for rural communities. View the recording from the Rural Community Action Assembly.

RCAA Recording: Digital Equity for Infrastructure, Tech, & Skills

June 8, 2022

Digital equity and inclusion — affordable access to broadband internet, technology and devices, and skills and literacy — are vital components of economic development for rural communities. Review the recording from the Rural Community Action Assembly.

Researchers to devise new, innovative strategies to manage Philadelphia’s soils

March 24, 2022

Members of the CECD team are collaborating with soil scientists and communities in Philadelphia to develop an engaged approach to managing urban soils for safe and healthy urban agriculture.

Virginia Tech Highlight: Reimagine how people do their work

March 21, 2022

For Dr. Kim Niewolny of Virginia Tech’s Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, socially and spatially just agricultural systems are born through processes of crossing geographical “divides.”

Penn State Extension Highlight: Everything is community driven

March 21, 2022

Suzanne Weltman, an educator with Penn State Extension’s Food, Families, and Health unit, sees her role in this complex city system as a facilitator, linking communities to resources that they may not otherwise know about or have access to.

Food for thought... resilience and social/spatial justice

March 21, 2022

This brief article considers the concept of resilience through a social justice lens, asking how and whether resilience promotes socially and spatially just communities and societies that can equitably and effectively serve all people.

Recording available: "More Than Just the Numbers! Data Engagement Tools for Local and Regional Leaders”

January 19, 2022

Hear about several data tools developed to help you engage with your local and regional population, quality of life, economic, and agricultural information.

Pa. pre-COVID jobs picture marked by resilience, industry-specific gains, losses

January 7, 2022

Pennsylvania's labor economy showed resilience throughout the first two decades of the 21st century, with overall modest employment growth and relatively low joblessness by the end of 2019. But certain industry sectors and regions of the state continued along a trend line of job loss in the run-up to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to economists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Join us! Spring 2022 "Stories from the Field" Conversations

January 4, 2022

The Center for Economic and Community Development invites you to join us for the Spring 2022 “Stories from the Field” conversation series. Join us to hear from and talk with speakers Allyson Muth, Walt Whitmer, and Janelle Larson about their community engagement and applied research.

Penn State Extension Highlight: Urban Watersheds, "You have to show up”

October 20, 2021

Penn State Extension's Master Watershed Steward program works with resident volunteers in rural and urban communities across Pennsylvania to effectively manage watersheds, addressing issues such as stormwater overflow and different sources of pollution.

MSU Extension Highlight: Agriculture in the City, it's not brand new

October 20, 2021

Improved access to nutritious food is one important outcome of urban agriculture; however, working collectively also has important social and economic implications.