Teaching the Importance of Community Betterment to Public Managers: Community Development in NASPAA Member Programs

Abstract

Community development is an important area of public administration, especially at the local government level. However, instruction in community development has received little attention in the scholarly literature on public affairs education. This article details how programs that are members of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) currently teach community development. The article describes the curriculum of NASPAA programs with community development concentrations and courses, discusses various approaches to teaching community development, and makes a case for the use of multiple teaching methods to help students connect theory and practice. To illustrate the importance of multiple teaching methods, the author explains how Master of Public Administration students learn community development in a course he teaches. The course emphasizes the need to use community development scholarship to help public managers appreciate economic class and understand the need for community betterment.