Community Development and Planning, M.A.

Professor Laurie Ross works with a local family at the Center for Community Revitalization

Community development isn’t a one-size fits all endeavor.

At Clark, you will learn about the power structures that shape community spaces, and how to create processes in which community members have a say in those power structures.

Community development is so much more than blueprints and zoning. It’s about cultivating spaces where people can flourish. Spaces with enough green space to play and relax. Spaces that offer economic opportunities that allow people to realize their dreams and aspirations. Places where people have access to quality, culturally responsive food, education, healthcare, and housing.

Change happens at the speed of trust

Community development happens in the context of relationships. As practitioners, we can’t impose our own visions on communities. Rather, through community-engaged learning, students collaborate with community members and other stakeholders to understand each community’s unique strengths, and then collectively create strategies so that people’s dreams can take root and grow.

Be a partner in a community’s transformation

Grounded in principles and practices of ethical community engagement, we provide students with knowledge and skills in finance, project management, monitoring & evaluation, geo-spatial analysis, and non-profit leadership. These skills are needed to be a practitioner who can be a partner and ally in a community’s transformation.

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a close up of a farmer's hands sowing seeds

Why the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice?

Our degrees inspire you to develop equitable solutions to urgent social, political, and ecological challenges. Through our program, students are equipped to build a more just and sustainable world.

Deepen your knowledge of community development challenges
Develop critical skills to catalyze institutional change
Collaborate across disciplines to understand and address complex social-ecological challenges
Gain real-world experience to build professional skills and knowledge

Meet our engaged faculty

Our faculty are engaged scholars and practitioners who work with state and city governments as well as community development corporations and nonprofits. They will help you chart your career path, introducing you to internships in the community and a broad professional network.

Relevant. Challenging. Transformative.

Faculty Research Areas

Ramón Borges‐Méndez

Associate Professor

Working toward labor justice

Professor Borges-Méndez’s research focuses on workforce development and labor markets, governance, immigration, and Latinos in the USA and Latin America.

Margaret Post, Ph.D.

Associate Research Professor

Researching grassroots community organizations in social policy change

Dr. Post’s current research investigates the prevalence and efficacy of nonprofit political organizations in the United States. Dr. Post is a founding co-editor of the new journal Community Organizing.

Laurie Ross

Professor

Supporting — and Empowering — At-Risk Youth

A respected voice in the Worcester community, Professor Ross works to promote social justice in youth development and researches topics that include youth violence, homelessness, and youth worker education.