What can we Learn from our Communities and Localized Change?: Exploring the Meaning, Application, and Possibilities of Community Development in HRD

Abstract: With acute attention to community development, the objective of this research is to understand how HRD is relevant within a localized context outside of the workplace and beyond the confines of employers' interests. Through this approach, we intend to magnify the vantage point of communities that engage in social change at a local level and apply HRD perspectives and strategies. We begin our discussion by expanding on our cursory conceptualization of community development and providing our rationale for engaging in this work. Subsequently, we present a literature review outlining how community development (in its specified context) has been incorporated into HRD research. As a result, we identified an array of studies (N=16) that bring attention to the utility and positioning of community development within HRD. We also found a series of frameworks that provided a local-level analysis of community development, namely community-based HRD, stakeholder-based HRD, societal development, community-engaged scholarship, community-based participatory action research, social entrepreneurship, and urban sustainability. To conclude our study, we offer recommendations on how HRD scholars, practitioners, and educators can further cultivate the growth and impact of the field through the continued integration of community development research, practice, and education.