Center for Community and Organization Development

This page provides detailed information on the Center for Community and organizational Development (CCOD). To learn more about how to become involved, the services offered, and its partnership programs, click on the links below.

What is the CCOD?
CCOD Mission Statement
Graduate Students and the CCOD
Contact Information

Services Offered
Program Evaluation and Development
Organizational Diagnosis and Development
Training Program Development and Evaluation
Training Conferences and Workshops
Human Resources Management

Partnership Programs
Advisory Board Members
Consulting Partnerships
Research Partnerships
Fundraising

    
What is the CCOD?

The Center for Community and Organization Development (CCOD) offers a wide array of consulting and research services primarily aimed at service-oriented, community-based organizations. Our services are based on our expertise in clinical, community, and organizational psychology. The Director of Organizational Services is Dr. Doug Cellar, an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist, and Dr. Gary Harper, a Clinical Community Psychologist and also the Director of Clinical Community Services. Click on the links below for additional information.

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Mission Statement of the CCOD

The mission of the CCOD is to provide consulting and research services related to clinical, community, and organizational psychology to not-for-profit service oriented community-based organizations in a manner that provides professional training and funding for our students at DePaul University.  

Graduate Students and the CCOD

Working with the CCOD can be a source of funding for students and presents a connection between coursework and applied work.

Contact Information

ccod@depaul.edu  
Phone: 773-325-4250
Fax: 773-325-4249

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Services Offered by CCOD

A wide array of consulting and research services are offered that are primarily aimed at service oriented community-based organizations. Our services are based primarily on our expertise in clinical, community, and organizational psychology.  

Program Evaluation and Development

• Many community-based service organizations receive funding from government agencies and corporate donations which require that the recipient evaluate the effectiveness of the services they provide to their clients. Often, such organizations may not have the expertise or resources to conduct a thorough evaluation. The CCOD has the resources and expertise to conduct these evaluations and can help organizations prove the services that they provide are indeed valuable to the community. 

• In addition, the CCOD can aid community-based organizations in the strategic development of new programs to offer their communities.

• The CCOD offers services aimed at diagnosing organizational problems, designing and implementing interventions, and evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention.  
  
• CCOD consultants can teach leaders how to manage change through leadership skills, effective organization structures, strategic planning, and managing conflict.  
  
• In a dition, CCOD consultants assess how changes affect employee attitudes such as motivation and job satisfaction.  
  

• The continued success of organizations is often contingent upon providing training for their employees, yet many community-based organizations do not have the time and/or expertise to develop relevant training programs and to subsequently evaluate their effectiveness.  
  
• The CCOD has personnel who are able to apply the technology necessary to identify training needs and to implement and evaluate training programs necessary for an organizations success.  
  

Training Conferences and Workshops

• The CCOD, in collaboration with DePaul resources, is in a position to present or sponsor a wide variety of conferences and workshops related to important areas of clinical, community, and organizational psychology.  
  

• The CCOD can design and implement human resources systems to ensure that your organization effectively manages its human resources function by implementing an HR system that includes job descriptions, information for making employment decisions, performance measurement, developmental feedback, compensation alignment, employee development, and career planning.  

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COD Partnership Programs

CCOD Partnership Programs were designed to link the center with people and organizations outside DePaul University in order to facilitate our mission and to benefit our external partners. The following is a more detailed explanation of our programs.  

Advisory Board Members

Advisory Board Members provide guidance to the CCOD based on their expertise. The CCOD is seeking a balance in terms of consulting, fundraising, healthcare and community leadership experience from our board members. Members are expected to serve a two-year term on the board. The primary function of the board will be to advise the principals of the CCOD on issues related to mission, strategy, services and fundraising. Members are expected to attend biannual meetings as well as advise on specific issues and projects as needed.  

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Consulting Partnerships

A variety of consulting partnership opportunities exist that are designed to link people from external organizations with the work done by the CCOD. These programs include the following:  

• Volunteer Mentor-Professional. Opportunities exist within the CCOD for professionals working outside DePaul University to volunteer their expertise as needed for consulting projects or other issues related to the operation of the CCOD. Volunteer professionals would be paired with graduate and undergraduate students to work on projects. The professionals will assume a dual role of consul ant for the client organization and mentor for the students. In some cases the professionals could be paired with other consultants or CCOD personnel for professional development purposes. The mentor-professionals will benefit by developing contacts with other consultants, capitalizing on development opportunities, and forging relationships with people from DePaul University.  
  
• Funding of Center Internships. The CCOD is interested in securing funding for graduate and undergraduate consulting internships in order to pay students to work on projects. Such funding would allow the CCOD to take on more projects where the community-based organization is unable to pay. While the center has volunteers and does some pro bono work, to be a viable center, funding is required. Students would gain valuable experience, and those providing the funding might consider former interns for employment or an additional internship within their organization given their experience with the center. In addition, it would be made clear that partial funding for the project came from the funding organization, which would have public relations value within the community being served.  
  
• Funding Center Projects. It is the goal of the CCOD to establish relationships with corporate foundations and corporations in order to secure funding for the CCOD-consulting projects. Such projects would benefit the client-organization and community, which would lead to positive public relations for the corporate foundation that provided the funding. In some cases, corporations themselves may want to fund a small project because it could serve as a pilot for an intervention or system that they may want to implement on a larger scale. A community-based organization may serve as a suitable test site if the intervention would be of benefit to them. 
  
• Volunteer Project Sites. Community-based organizations can receive pro bono consulting expertise by serving as a host site for consulting projects for which a primary goal is professional development. Graduate or a combination of graduate and undergraduate students would complete the project under the supervision of a faculty member for class credit or as a practicum experience. 
  
• Joint Grant Proposals with Community-based Organizations. Community-based organizations can work with people in the CCOD to apply for third party funding from municipal, state, and federal agencies for consulting work the Center would perform. This could be part of a grant application submitted by the community-based organization to a funding agency. 

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Research Partnerships

• Shared Data. It may often be the case that organizations have existing data that may have interesting implications for theory and application. Often such organizations would like to analyze data but lack time and/or resources. The CCOD could serve as a conduit between people who want data analyzed and faculty or students interested in applied research. 
  
• Funding a Graduate Student Thesis or Dissertation. For a variety of reasons, organizations may want to sponsor a student thesis or dissertation by providing a stipend to help support the student while they are working on the project. For example, it could be a topic that is of interest to the organization but they may not have time and/or resources to conduct the research themselves. In some cases, it would be much more cost effective to fund a student rather than paying a consulting firm to analyze the data. The CCOD would serve as a means of linking people in organizations with students beginning work on a thesis or dissertation. 
  
• Sponsoring a Research Project. For the reasons stated above, an organization may find it desirable to fund a research project conducted by a faculty member. This may be conducted at the sponsor's site or may be some type of study, for example, one that is performed in the lab. Often research can shed light on important issues that can influence theory, practice, and business decisions. People interested in sponsoring research projects could contact the CCOD and be matched with faculty members who have similar research interests. 

   
Fundraising

The CCOD is interested in developing relationships with alumni and others to work on raising funds for the Center. Funds could be used for such purposes as, pay for students to work in the center, support for projects being conducted at community-based service oriented organizations, and buying needed equipment.  

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