| Course Description This
workshop course will focus on the development of a "plan" to improve the
three-way matches
between job skills of local residents, job skill demands by regional employers, and
programs offered
by job training providers, for a neighborhood in southwest central Durham. Like most
workshop
courses, students will organize themselves as a planning team and deliver professional
planning
services to an actual client. In this particular, the primary "client" will be
the South West Central
Durham Neighborhood Council. Other partner organizations will include the West End
Community
Center, the Durham Chamber of Commerce, and the Durham Technical Community Council, and
the Durham Economic Development Commission. The workshop will be carried out in
conjunction
with a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Outreach Partnership
Center (COPC) Grant, which will provide modest funding and support for the analyses.
Prerequisites. The course is open to any graduate student with interests in
community-based
economic development and the permission of the instructor. Only second year DCRP students,
however, may use the course to fulfill the departmental workshop requirement.
Requirements. As a workshop course, there are "process" as well as
"products" requirements.
Students will organize themselves into an effective planning team and continue to manage
the
project until the final product is delivered at the end of the semester. The instructor
will serve as a
management consultant to the class, as well as a resource for technical assistance. The
final
product (as well as any intermediate products) will be a professional report designed by
the
planning team so as to meet the objectives of the project as determined by the instructor
and the
client(s). Students will be evaluated by themselves through a self-evaluation instrument,
by their
peers, and by the instructor.
Schedules and deadlines. The class will meet weekly at DCRP (time to be determined). The
first
three or four meetings will be devoted to an orientation to the neighborhood, organization
of the
class into an effective planning team, and then to an introduction to performing local
labor market
analyses. Afterwards, class sessions will be conducted as staff meetings: to review
progress,
identify problems, and plan future work. In addition to class meetings, students should
expect to
spend considerable time in the "field" in Durham, collecting information and
meeting with the client
and other partner organizations. The dates for delivery and presentation of the interim
and final
reports will be decided near the start of the semester after discussions with the client
organization.
Required Reading and Resources
Some initial readings on local labor market analysis and job training will be assigned
and provided by the instructor. Some community-level data will be provided by partner
organizations. A resident survey instrument has been designed and will be administered by
another COPC team at the UNC School of Public Health. Other secondary data from the
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina will be available to the class.
Pre-Requisites and Registration
There are no pre-requisites. Permission of the instructor is required to enroll. |
