National leader in creative community building to join Cultural Economic Development Studio

Tom Borrup will be with ABC's  Cultural Economic Development Studio course the week of September 27 to October 3.  Learners in the course will have a week to ask questions and share ideas with Tom. 

Tom Borrup

He is author of the influential book The Creative Community Builder's Handbook and Principal of Creative Community Builders in Minneapolis. Tom is an expert in strategic planning, community transformation, partnership building and program evaluation.

Cultural Economic Development Studio is an online BOCEP Deep Learning course that can help participants:

• Build practical skills for arts-based economic development.
• Better influence officials, community leaders and developers by showing them how the arts can strengthen their community's economy.
• Promote greater support for the arts among businesspeople.
• Understand better the connection between sustainable economic development and the arts.

In this course, you learn by doing:  Learners will explore the feasibility of making Somerville, NJ an arts destination.  You'll be surprised at how much you can learn -- and do -- in a BOCEP Deep Learning course.

The course is convenient and interactive.  It is completely online and there are no required meetings.  But you can share ideas and ask questions of a variety of urban planners and cultural professionals, such as Tom.

The course runs from now through October 30.  Registration ends September 29. 

Course fee is $295, and scholarships of $50 are still available. Use promotion code BGBBS.

This class is part of a set of courses that you can take to get a Bloustein Professional Certificate in Cultural Planning and Development.

Cultural Economic Development Studio is produced by Arts Build Communities in partnership with the Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program.  Both initiatives are produced by the Professional Development Institute of Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

Questions? Feel free to contact the class instructor, and ABC Director, Leonardo Vazquez by email or at 732-932-322, x711

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How you can build your leadership skills through BOCEP Deep Learning

Most planners and public affairs professionals are like beige wallpaper -- pleasant and easy to ignore.

The Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program is designed for people who would rather help make decisions than just give information.  Besides giving you practical skills, how do our Deep Learning courses help you become a more effective leader?

• The "anytime, anyplace" format of the discussion boards challenges you to manage your time more effectively.  Leaders have to have good time management skills.  Leaders are often catalysts and have to commit to missions for the long-term.  If you can't manage your time well, you won't be able to manage projects or lead people.
• The discussion boards encourage you to be a better communicator.  When you are challenged to write down your ideas in concise formats, you can become more organized in your thinking and more strategic about your language.  It's not ideas that make leaders successful -- it's how good leaders are at communicating them.
• The 5.5 weeks of class give you time to think, act and reflect.   One of the key differences between a mere technician and being an effective leader is that technicians do things right, while leaders do the right things.  In a BOCEP Deep Learning course, you learn more than practical skills.  You learn to think more deeply about your work, so you can be more creative and innovative.
• The classes encourage you to be more culturally competent.  Our classes are open to anyone who has a commitment to improving communities.  There are planners, engineers, and non-professionals.  Some have dozens of years of experience; others are fresh out of school.  BOCEP learners live throughout the US.  Effective leaders learn from everyone they can.   Those professionals who think they can learn only from people like themselves sustain enormous blind spots that will keep them from innovating.  If you keep having the same conversations with the same people, you're going to get the same answers.  In a dynamic and diverse world, that's a recipe for obsolescence.
• Anyone seeking a Bloustein Professional Certificate is eligible to receive free monthly leadership development sessions. These group peer learning sessions can help you learn more innovative ways to deal with project, group, organizational or community challenges.

--Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

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The Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program offers Deep Learning classes in community development, cultural planning, economic development, land use law, leadership, professional practice and urban design.  Classes run between September and July.  Learn more or find courses.

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