what we do
We work with resident groups, nonprofits, local governments, philanthropic partners, and other cooperatives to build capacity for meaningful and effective community-led planning. This includes educational, community development, technical assistance, and collaboration services that can be customized to meet your needs.
Our community development work is focused on building capacity, relationships, and infrastructure that allow communities to move beyond one-time projects and events toward ongoing learning and engagement. Through our technical assistance work, we combine education and citizen science in ways that allow residents to apply what they are learning to real life initiatives that improve their communities. Together, these efforts help us build and strengthen relationships between residents and their local governments and facilitate the co-creation and co-ownership of strategies that improve their communities.
community development
We provide organizational assistance and coaching to develop effective citizen planners and leaders.
- engagement process & infrastructure development
- community asset mapping
- collaborative strategy development
- collaborative strategy evaluation
- grant writing
- professional report writing
- public speaking & presentation skills
- coalition building & cooperative enterprise development
- group facilitation & shared decision-making
- data dashboards
- online social engagement & participation platforms
- networking, learning & resource-sharing platforms
technical assistance
We develop research, tools, and educational opportunities to address local technical challenges in planning and public health.
- urban planning & neighborhood-based planning
- public health planning & programming
- local food system planning
- community health assessments & health equity reports
- finding, interpreting & disseminating local data
- geographic information systems (web maps and interactive maps)
- community engagement audits & strategy development
- local environmental and policy scans
- research & synthesis of case studies and best practices
- introduction to urban design principles
- street design & traffic safety
- land use & walkability
- introduction to the social determinants of health
- policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change strategies
- understanding the vital conditions for thriving communities
- field studies (parking, traffic safety studies, walkability analyses)
- survey design & analysis
- geographic information systems (mapping local conditions, data collection & spatial analysis
our experience
cepa staff bring decades of experience in planning, education, research, project management, and capacity building. Click here to learn more about their backgrounds and to see examples of representative work. Staff CV’s are linked on this document and on the website homepage.