Durham Social Planning Council

Community Development Council Durham (CDCD) is Durham Region’s local Social Planning Council, and is a member of the Social Planning Network of Ontario (SPNO). 

CDCD’s Community Development department adheres to the SPNO’s operating principles.

Operating Principles:

  1. Community Accountability: Social planning organizations are membership-based and are governed by boards which are elected annually by their community members.
  2. Knowledge-based Action: Social planning organizations link independent research and community experience to the development of action proposals and solutions to identified problems.
  3. Citizen Participation: Social planning organizations promote the active participation of community members in planning and decision-making processes.
  4. Inclusiveness: In promoting citizen participation, social planning organizations actively seek to include all community members with an interest in the issue at hand regardless of gender, racial and/or cultural origin, religion, age or other self-defining forms of identification.
  5. Empowerment: In promoting inclusive citizen participation, social planning organizations strive to build the capacity of community leadership to participate more effectively in democratic processes and to take greater control over decision-making which affect the quality of community life.
  6. Integrated, Holistic Perspective: Given the interdependence of the social, economic, political, cultural, and technological dynamics of modern life, social planning organizations recognize the need for comprehensive and interdisciplinary approaches to planning, policy analysis and problem-solving in our society.   

CDCD’s Community Development department facilitates the long-standing North Durham Social Development Council (NDSDC), with cooperation from North Durham partners in Uxbridge, Brock, and Scugog.

NDSDC is a network that provides a dynamic forum to share insights about service planning and delivery in North Durham, in order to promote positive change for agencies and communities.

NDSDC’s signature program is our Inter-agency meetings, where Northern service providers share experiences and programs with Southern-based agencies that focus on rural issues in our communities.

Recently, sessions were hosted on the Migrant Worker Program and Rural Mobile Food Markets.

For more information, please contact NDSDC@CDCD.org

Durham Non-Profit Recovery Network

Diverse Group of Business People

The Durham COVID-19 Non-Profit Response project includes a sector survey, reporting, and action plans to help agencies and charities plan for the future. In April 2020, Community Development Council Durham (CDCD) conducted a survey to better understand what resources and supports were needed to support non-profit organizations in the Durham Region, with the intent of mapping the immediate and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following CDCD’s initial report on the impacts of COVID-19 on the non-profit sector, an advisory group of five key stakeholders was drawn together to support the second phase of the project. Through the participation of 2 focus groups with 12 non-profit stakeholders, 10 key informants, and 6 orientation informants, recommendations to support our region’s non-profit recovery were created.

Additionally, the Durham Non-Profit Recovery Network (DNRN) was formed – a network of Durham non-profit organizations that are working to support each other and build our sector’s resiliency during and post-pandemic.

Visit the Durham Non-Profit COVID-19 Recovery webpage

For more information, please contact Padi Roberts at proberts@cdcd.org at 905.686.2661 ext 135