The Community Education Director typically oversees facility use and numerous programs and activities, including but not limited to the following: parent education programs, family resource centers, and parent involvement initiatives; career development; literacy and English language learning; community service learning; alternative schools for those whose needs are not met in the regular school; mentoring programs; teen pregnancy prevention; substance abuse and violence prevention; school-age child care and extended learning; enrichment classes; and Adult Basic Education and Graduate Equivalency Diploma. Community Education is best viewed as an umbrella under which a wide range of education and learning services, products and programs are delivered.
Community educators are adept at working with community members to identify community needs and the resources available to meet them, and understand the fundamental need for diversity and inclusion. Facilitating cooperation and collaboration among those in control of the resources is another skill required of the community educator, as is leadership training, strategic planning, communications, public relations, and program evaluation, among others. A critical distinction of Community Education to other fields that provide education services is the interconnections and collaborations that are fostered across the life-long learning spectrum, and the principles that guide this work.
