Have you had a hankering to teach local planning officials how planning should be done? Then consider sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm for planning by becoming an instructor of the PMPEI Course in Community Planning. Here’s your chance to do it.

The Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Education Institute will hold a Train-the-Trainer program to prepare new instructors to teach The Course in Community Planning, June 6-7, 2014 (Friday and Saturday) at the Hilton Garden Inn, State College.

The training is a concentrated, fast-paced 16 hour program that includes in-depth review and discussion of the course content and  materials (text, visual aids, exercises), how to teach adults, team teaching  with other instructors, and how to organize and present the course. Upon completion of the training program instructors become certified to teach the Course in Community Planning for which they receive compensation and travel expenses. CM credits for AICP members attending the training have been requested, so that’s another benefit.

The Course in Community Planning is one of PMPEI’s four in-depth courses available statewide to appointed and elected officials involved with planning and zoning. At the core of the instruction is the Municipalities Planning Code, focusing on its significance and how it is used in a planning commission work. The role of the planning commission in managing a municipality’s planning program is emphasized and relationships with the elected governing body, zoning officer, and zoning hearing board is brought out.  They learn what their role in comprehensive planning and plan implementation is, and they also learn how to be an effective and proactive planning commission. Annually PMPEI presents about 30 courses to over 600 students.

If you would like to help local officials learn how they can become more effective planners you are invited to join the Institute’s team of instructors. Citizen and professional planners with a minimum of five years’ experience in planning in Pennsylvania are eligible to become Certified Instructors. The registration fee is $150, and the deadline for applications is May 27, 2014. To receive an application form, or for more information about the training, contact Stanford Lembeck, AICP, at (814) 237-2382, or email.

Date: June 6-7, 2014