27th Annual International Conference of the Community Development Society: University of Arkansas, Centre for Continuing Education, USA, June 23-26, 1995
Daniela Stehlik
Director, Alcoa Research Centre for Stronger Communities, Curtin University, WA
PP: 050 - 050
Keywords
community development
Article Text
I was privileged to attend this year's International Conference of the Community Development Society in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was my first trip to the United States and proved both a challenging (they were having a heatwave!) and worthwhile experience. The Community Development Society has been established since 1969, and has membership in both United States, Canada and increasingly around the world, including Australia.
This year's conference theme reflected that the ‘dominant social, political and economic patterns of the industrial era are being replaced by a society in which two interdependent systems - one global and one local - are creating the future'. The papers and workshops attempted to reflect this broad theme. We had two key note speakers - David Morris, Vice-President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, visionary, author and change agent - who spoke on ‘The Arc of Community: Authority, Responsibility, Capacity'. The other key note speaker was well known academic and author, Dr Cornelia Flora, Director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development at Iowa State University. Many of you would have come across her wonderful books ‘Rural Communities: Legacy and Change' (1992) and ‘Rural Policies for the 1990s' (1991). She spoke about ‘Social Capital, Justice and the Power from the Village' and was inspiring.
As always at conferences - it was hard to choose between all the different presentations. Among others, I went to "Community Assessment: The Emerging Role of Indicators of Sustainability"; to a workshop "Lessons learned from Countywide Collaborative Efforts: Can the County Become Community?"; and "Community Development in Eldon, Iowa as a Reaction to the Floods of 1993" - all of these reflect our interests here in Central Queensland - community in crisis; sustainable rural communities and learning from natural disasters.
There were about three hundred participants - it was certainly a worthwhile experience and those of you interested in the CDS and its mission should consider the Melbourne Conference next year. Here at the Rural Social and Economic Research Centre at Central Queensland University we are hoping to be able to offer an "add on" to this Conference, by inviting interested overseas visitors to meet with local community developers and other community representatives through a program of 'study tours'. Planning for this is underway and we are presently talking to the Regional Office of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. Further information about this can be obtained from: Professor Geoff Lawrence, Director, Rural Social and Economic Research Centre, Central Queensland University. Ph: (079) 309 6401
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