CES Publishes Healthy Communities Manual

Submitted by Roxanne Creamer
Phone: (907) 474-5406
05/23/03

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service has published "Creating Healthy Communities: The Process of Community Discovery" by Larry Dickerson, assistant professor of rural development with the Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development and extension community rural development specialist.

The publication presents a unique methodology and holistic approach for working with rural communities on their development efforts and long-term capacity building. It is the culmination of years of thoughtful work by Dickerson with rural communities in Alaska and elsewhere and is relevant to both individual villages and broader regions.

The publication focuses on the essentials of basic concepts of the healthy community, process of community discovery, essential skills needed to build a healthy community, and process of creating and sustaining a healthy community.

The approach used in the publication is an integral part of the process of working with rural Alaska villages and their leaders in developing sustainable futures. "Larry’s project is one that he has nurtured and brought to the wider audience of Alaska," said Tony Nakazawa, extension director.

Dickerson’s work offers a tool to help communities define what really makes them healthy, not as we define it, but a community itself defines community health so they can use that as some ways to move into the future about decisions they make.

Several organizations and individuals assisted in the development of Dickerson’s publication, including the Alaska Rural Development Council; Copper Valley Economic Development Council; United States Forest Service, State and Private Forestry; UAF College of Rural Alaska; UAF Cooperative Extension Service; UAF Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development, and the University of Missouri, Community Development Program.

Copies of Dickerson’s manual are available through your local extension office or extension’s State Publication and Distribution Center located in Fairbanks on the UAF campus. The price of the publication is $7 per copy.

CONTACT: Extension Community and Rural Development Specialist Larry Dickerson at (907) 279-2710 or e-mail: ffled@uaf.edu , or Cooperative Extension Service Communications at (907) 474-5406 or e-mail: fbcited@uaf.edu.