What does a community development planner do?

Community development planner responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real community development planner resumes:
- Guide production planning activities ranging from developing and revising production schedules, forecasting trends and customer demand, and managing logistics.
- Monitor CDBG fund economic development programs.
- Used GIS to identify complete, fund, and propose routes.
- Conduct research and create zoning database and GIS layers for regional analysis.
- Direct inbound or outbound logistics operations, such as transportation or warehouse activities, safety performance, or logistics quality management.
- Review of monthly agency programmatic reports, IDIS updates.
Community development planner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Community Development Planners are proficient in Regional Planning, GIS, and Technical Assistance. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Community Development Planners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Regional Planning, 21%
Prepared demographic profiles for neighborhood planning areas and population projections by traffic zone for Regional Planning Commission.
- GIS, 15%
Utilized the ability to read, understand and interpret maps, graphs on the Geographic Information System (GIS) database.
- Technical Assistance, 9%
Provided technical assistance to rural communities in obtaining funding for community improvements.
- Site Development, 8%
Developed and implemented and implemented zoning ordinances related to land planning and site development.
- CDBG, 6%
Administered several PA DCED funded CDBG Entitlement Programs; - Administered other PA DECD Grant Programs; and
- HUD, 5%
Researched and coordinated all necessary paperwork for Congressional Appropriations for blight elimination programs in addition to meeting all HUD requirements.
"regional planning," "gis," and "technical assistance" are among the most common skills that community development planners use at work. You can find even more community development planner responsibilities below, including:
Leadership skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a community development planner to have is leadership skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "urban and regional planners must be able to manage projects, which may include overseeing tasks and planning assignments." Community development planners often use leadership skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "summer 2013 to fall 2015community economic development leadership program assistant implemented training to onboarding new program assistants. "
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform community development planner duties is analytical skills. Community development planners responsibilities require that "urban and regional planners analyze information and data from a variety of sources, such as market research studies, censuses, and environmental impact studies." Community development planners also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "perform data collection and performance monitoring activities, including those required to support regional, state and federal programs. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of community development planners is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday community development planner duties, as "urban and regional planners must be able to communicate clearly and effectively because they interact with colleagues and stakeholders, prepare research reports, give presentations, and meet with a wide variety of audiences, including public officials, interest groups, and community members." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provided communications support for conferences, town halls and employee events. "
The three companies that hire the most community development planners are:
- Gwinnett County4 community development planners jobs
- WestRock2 community development planners jobs
- Lendlease2 community development planners jobs
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Community development planner vs. Urban design consultant
An urban design consultant is in charge of many projects, and so they have to oversee tasks and plan assignments. They are skilled in creating interior design solutions, space planning, sketching, and product selection. They have to analyze information and data gotten from market research studies and censuses. They also have to do presentations and prepare reports.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, community development planner responsibilities require skills like "regional planning," "r," "technical assistance," and "site development." Meanwhile a typical urban design consultant has skills in areas such as "urban design," "sketch," "landscape architecture," and "design guidelines." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, urban design consultants reach higher levels of education than community development planners. Urban design consultants are 23.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Community development planner vs. Planning internship
When it comes to planning an internship, an intern's duties will depend on the directives of supervising staff or a manager. Typically, an intern's responsibilities will revolve around performing clerical tasks such as processing documents, producing reports and presentations, responding to calls and correspondence, and managing schedules. There are also instances where an intern must share ideas and insights, attend meetings, maintain records, update databases, and assist staff in various tasks while under more experienced colleagues' supervision.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, community development planner responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "site development," "cdbg," "hud," and "economic development administration." Meanwhile, a planning internship has duties that require skills in areas such as "arcgis," "project management," "photoshop," and "transportation planning." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, planning interns achieve lower levels of education than community development planners. They're 5.1% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community development planner vs. Housing grant analyst
An urban renewal manager has a multitude of roles he/she performs in the organization he/she finds himself in. They conduct detailed economic and statistical analysis of market trends. They also develop initiatives to support pricing, brand positioning, and other marketing communications efforts. They may have to design and develop commercial strategic platforms for development planning. They may also need to hire and train new staff.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, community development planners are more likely to have skills like "regional planning," "gis," "r," and "site development." But a housing grant analyst is more likely to have skills like "provide technical assistance," "affordable housing," "appeals," and "financial data."
When it comes to education, housing grant analysts tend to earn similar degree levels compared to community development planners. In fact, they're 2.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Community development planner vs. Urban renewal manager
Even though a few skill sets overlap between community development planners and urban renewal managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a community development planner might have more use for skills like "regional planning," "gis," "r," and "technical assistance." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of urban renewal managers require skills like "salesforce," "crm," "on-time closure," and "saas. "
Urban renewal managers reach lower levels of education compared to community development planners, in general. The difference is that they're 5.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of community development planner
Updated January 8, 2025











