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Values  I  Core Competencies  I  Overview  I  History

See also:
Community Planning
 

The following statements of planning councils' shared values and core competencies were developed by the membership, with leadership from Nancy Findeisen, Executive Director of the Community Services Planning Council in Sacramento, California and President of NAPC.  (Approved by the Board of Directors on December 2, 2000.)

PLANNING COUNCILS' VALUES:

1.  Commitment to community and involvement of a broad and diverse constituency

2.  Comprehensive perspective reflected in decisions and actions

3.  Inclusive decision-making that strives for consensus

4.  Diverse viewpoints respected and encouraged in decisions and actions

5.  Positive working relationships with all sectors of the community

6.  Objective data and information used to support decisions and action

7.  Focus on systems change and sustainable, long-term solutions

8.  Principled leadership producing measurable results

PLANNING COUNCILS' CORE COMPETENCIES:

Building Community Infrastructure

Developing, nurturing and sustaining organizations and communities by enhancing their abilities to achieve the common good through convening groups to address issues, training and technical assistance, and leadership development.

Mobilizing Resources

Identifying and filling gaps in community services by redirection of existing or development of new resources.

Research and Evaluation

Producing and sharing credible and meaningful community-based research and program evaluation that informs and influences health and social policy and practice.

Public Policy Analysis

Producing timely, valuable and accurate information on policy choices for use by citizens and policy makers in developing solutions for community problems.

Community Organizing

Helping people and organizations most affected by public policies, services or community conditions develop and carryout activities that build community and neighborhood capacity and enhance health, economic conditions, and social well-being.

Advocacy

Engaging people in use of effective approaches to influence policy-makers, opinion leaders and general public in decisions benefiting the overall community?s quality of life.

Information Services

Producing and disseminating timely, accurate information for health and human services planning, fund distribution, policy development, and services referral.

Facilitation

Creating a safe, unaligned environment for the resolution of community problems and engaging multiple community sectors in addressing identified community issues.

 
PLANNING COUNCILS - OVERVIEW:

The National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) is a membership organization of citizen-led, community-based non-profit social service planning agencies which serve small and large communities throughout the United States.  Some councils are newly developing while others have served their communities for many decades.  Planning councils all across the country share a common mission: to marshal human and financial resources to improve the quality of life for people in their communities.

Planning councils study current human service issues; identify needs, work toward prevention, and develop planned responses to crucial problems; advocate for improvement in human service systems and services, and the laws and policies which affect them; develop pilot projects; monitor the effectiveness of community initiatives; and provide information about human services and community needs for individuals, agencies, policy-makers and the general public.  

Councils are known for their "big-picture" perspective on community needs and possibilities for positive change; their neutral objectivity, making decisions based upon facts; their inclusiveness; their recognized leadership in bringing the public, private and nonprofit sectors "around the same table" on many issues; and their capacity for long term action.

Beginning as "trade associations" of social agencies, planning councils gradually shifted to become citizen-led organizations focused more broadly on community concerns.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, planning in the human services field began to emerge, with the establishment of Charity Organization Societies and Councils of Social Agencies.  Charity Organization Societies reflected an effort to provide some coordination among the many agencies providing emergency relief for basic needs, while Councils of Social Agencies reflected the desire of the rapidly increasing number of agencies for coordination and cooperative efforts in the development of resources for the correction of injustices.  These early emphases on coordination, community education, and social action and reform have continued to influence the social planning movement.

Community Chests/United Ways and Councils: The early work described above preceded the existence of federated fund raising efforts. As Community Chests (forerunners of United Ways) began to emerge, social planning received increased support and attention, since implicit in the fund allocation function was the need for decision-making and priorities-setting, which required planning. As Community Chests increasingly became voluntary efforts to meet community needs, the necessity and potential for planning emerged further, with increased attention to monitoring, evaluation, response to changing needs, and leadership in guiding the voluntary sector’s impact on a community’s human service efforts. Some Community Chests and, later, United Ways developed their own planning functions, especially for operational needs; others relied on, and provided funding for, local Councils of Social Agencies to meet their own, and their local communities’, planning needs.

By 1930, there were about thirty Councils of Social Agencies in the United States.

By 1965, there were over five hundred human service planning councils in the United States and Canada.  During that relatively short span of existence, local councils showed significant flexibility and ingenuity in carrying out community planning. Beginning as "trade associations" of social agencies, concentrating primarily on agency standards, working relationships, interagency affairs and common services, they gradually shifted to broader, citizen-led organizations focused more broadly on community concerns.

In the late sixties, councils had moved increasingly toward "problem-centered" planning. Their form of organization and methods reflected this trend. In many instances, "health and welfare" councils around the country added committees to their structures that focused on specific problems or concerns. Fueled by the "War on Poverty," government involvement in community planning grew considerably. Councils worked in partnership with local governments in developing collaborative community based planning and promoting voluntary/public partnerships.

Councils’ planning activities: Historically, councils were charged with the role of being the community’s means of planning for services to meet health, welfare, and recreation needs. This role and its attendant activities varied as time passed, experience was gained, and conditions and problems changed. However, planning activities at most councils were generally encompassed in one or more (or some combination) of the following four:

Problem-solving planning ... directed toward the development and implementation of plans to resolve specific community problems. It is a comprehensive approach which endeavors to determine the causes and characteristics of a problem and arrive at preventive measures to deal effectively with it. This type of broad planning approach frequently calls for the redirection of existing agency programs and the development of new designs of service. Illustrative of the problems requiring this type of planning are mental illness, chronic illness, youth unemployment, juvenile delinquency, school dropouts and family dependency.
 

Inter-agency program development and coordination ... directed to the maintenance of a high degree of integration in the programs of the many separate agencies in the community. This type of planning is concerned with establishing continuing effective working relationships, developing a coordinated service approach wherein both governmental and voluntary agencies become integral parts of the community’s system of services and where intake, referral and communication are effective and efficient.
 

Agency administrative planning ... carried out largely within an agency. Its focus is on program, standards of operation, administrative efficiency and fulfillment of the agency function. Councils have facilitated this type of planning through consultation, guidance and provision of direction in meeting community needs.
 

Community policy planning ... the identification of current and emerging health, welfare and recreation needs and the development of immediate and long-range plans to meet them, together with the strategy of carrying these plans into action. It includes community education directed toward better understanding of governmental and voluntary health and welfare programs; stimulation of public concern and action on unmet community needs; preparation of and support for legislative measures; adoption of positions on public issues; and development of long-range plans providing general guidance on prevention of needs and the manner in which services are to be coordinated, administered and delivered. Many councils moved toward a focus on community policy planning, which would guide the direction of the other three phases and stimulate development and implementation of key community goals.

Between the late 1960’s and late 1980’s, many planning councils disappeared. This dramatic change was related primarily to:

• the emergence of government-sponsored planning mechanisms in the 60’s and 70’s that were single-problem focused.
  
• the growth of "special focus" research and planning groups emphasizing the needs of a particular age group, geographic location, or special concern.
   
• the merging of independent community planning groups into United Ways to better assist specific planning for allocations and special initiatives.
   
• the lack of capacity of council professional staff and community leadership to shift to a more sophisticated role, often focused on policy planning and related action.

As early as the late 1960’s, executives from some of the larger planning councils were meeting informally to discuss issues of common interest.  During the '80’s the group expanded to include representatives of other smaller planning groups with like concerns. Many councils and related planning groups joined together to form the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC), which was incorporated in 1992.

TODAY, community building is in the spotlight at the national, regional, state and local levels, as people everywhere understand how critically it is needed, and how promising it is as an essential long-term strategy for building a brighter future. Today, planning councils are at work all across the country, marshalling human and financial resources to address emerging needs and improve the quality of life for the people in their communities. Additional cities and towns are exploring establishing a local planning council; this desire likely will grow as local communities face increased responsibilities for addressing their own problems. Many other local, state and national planning entities, both long-established and new, narrower in scope and usually focused on addressing specific issues, are also active. Local United Ways have recently become increasingly involved in community problem solving initiatives, and in recent years a number of them have affiliated with NAPC.

The National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) plays a vital role in facilitating communication, coordination and cooperative efforts, linking planning councils and other like-minded organizations from throughout the nation with information, services and technical assistance designed to strengthen and support their important work in local communities.

"About Community Planning"   Characteristics  /  Values, strategies & methods  /  Functions & roles  /  Organizational models  /  Funding sources

"Community Building: The Contribution of Community Planning Councils" (presentation highlights)