CCCD Mission Statement

The Colorado Center for Community Development’s mission is to provide technical, educational and applied research assistance to organizations, neighborhoods and communities that either cannot afford or do not have access to professional services. The Center has a four main goals:

1. To provide developmental assistance to aid in creating and sustaining local self-sufficiency that leads to improving the quality of life in Colorado neighborhoods and rural communities;
2. To provide a mechanism for faculty and students to respond to community needs and extend classroom learning to real-world applications through the undertaking of projects requested by various urban and rural organizations;
3. To undertake an urban and rural research and development program to solve systemic community problems and develop innovative community development projects and/or programs to demonstrate ways to bring about institutional and social change and community improvement;
4. To disseminate action-based information on urban and rural development issues through bulletins, monographs and other publications. Community education will also be offered through content workshops, seminars or training programs as part of the Center’s community services activities.

The mission of the Colorado Center of Community Development is implemented primarily by using the faculty, staff, and student resources of the University of Colorado Denver, College of Architecture and Planning, in addition to the University of Colorado system.  CCCD offers a unique partnership between the University, Colorado communities/neighborhoods, local/state government and private business and industry to respond more usefully to pressing Colorado developmental needs. To reduce competition with other centers and institutes, the CCCD targets its assistance effort to rural small towns, low income, minority communities, and/or non-traditional community-based service or development organizations. In addition, it provides an educational option to teach community involvement and development processes in the context of creative learning experiences for community members, faculty and students.