SABES WEST	Holyoke Community College	This page is Bobby Approved
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Introduction | (1) Book Reviews | (2) Print and Video Resources | (3) Online Resources | (4) Partnership Experiences

Introduction

The inspiration for the Community Planning Resource Guide grew out of requests from the field for resources and tools related to the day-to-day practice of community planning. The first edition focused on resources to support the partnership building process. This second edition of the guide highlights issues raised by community planning coordinators at workshops, sharing groups, partnership meetings and other events over the past year. We heard loud and clear that coordinators' primary concern this year has been their desire to prepare community assessments that are meaningful to their respective communities and partnerships as well as being comprehensive in nature.

Updates to the print and online resources and book review sections of the guide focus on the community assessment; there are also new additions to the guide on partnership building. The resources, both old and new, offer tips and tools that can help partnerships accomplish specific tasks, such as holding focus groups and community forums, or carrying out asset mapping. The resources can also be used to help partnerships think through their next step in the community planning process, such as designing a community assessment, developing a strategic plan, or diversifying their partnership's membership.

Section I: Book Reviews

Thanks to the effort and good will of community planning coordinators across the state and DOE and SABES staff, nine reviews have been added to this section. Each review highlights themes of interest to colleagues involved in community planning. You will find a focus on research techniques - especially focus groups - for the community assessment in the latest book reviews. Also new to this section are reviews of books on participatory decision making, grassroots organizing, and strategic planning.

Section II: Print Resources

New sections on Community Assessment and Asset Building were added this year. You will find updates to the sections on Group Facilitation, Leadership, Partnerships, and Strategic Planning & Visioning. New resources are marked with an asterisk (*).

Section III: Online Resources

A whole new piece has been added to the online section. This section lists websites from which you can access community profiles and statistical data for your local communities. Also new to the online resource section are links to sites that offer guidelines for planning community assessments, 'how to' sections on conducting community forums, asset mapping, and sample survey instruments and community indicators. New resources are marked with an asterisk (*).

Section IV: Partnership Experience

How Does your Partnership Grow? Best Practices & Lessons Learned (excerpts)

In June 2000, SABES organized a series of regional sessions for ABE program staff involved in community planning activities. This series of meetings responded to community planning coordinators' interest in having opportunities to discuss their experiences with other practitioners and to share their successes, frustrations and strategies for building and maintaining successful partnerships. The report included in this guide is the product of those regional meetings.

Community Planning in Action (excerpt)

This excerpt from Community Planning in Action contains coordinators' personal accounts of their partnerships' challenges, accomplishments, turning points, and lessons learned in six Massachusetts cities and towns in the first year of their partnerships. Also included is a summary of the responses of twenty-eight programs statewide who contributed partnership profile information. The profiles addressed such topics as partnership development and commitment, and activities and successes.

The full text of Community Planning in Action is available from SABES Central in print form or can be downloaded from the SABES West website, currently at www.sabeswest.org.

We welcome your feedback on the materials listed in the guide and your recommendations for publications, videotapes, and online resources that could be added to updates of the guide. Please contact Lisa Deyo (SABES West Region) at ldeyo@hcc.mass.edu or Cathy Gannon, Community Planning Specialist (SABES Central Region) at cgannon@qcc.mass.edu.

Sincerely,

Lisa Deyo and Cathy Gannon
April 2002