Training

Our trainings develop the knowledge, competence, and leadership abilities needed to create more livable communities. We use a variety of training models from single-day workshops to multi-day team trainings and multi-week leadership seminars. 

Trainings are ideal for communities that are struggling to find common ground or identify a path forward on challenging local issues. We bring together diverse community interests to create shared understanding of key issues and find practical ways to address them. 

While we have an established curriculum on a spectrum of topics related to community planning, we regularly design and execute trainings to suit the needs of particular communities or situations. 

The Building Better Places Training

Community Builders’ (CB) Building Better Places (BBP) trainings bring together teams of local leaders from small cities, towns, and rural areas to understand and address key community challenges. Our most recent training, held in Grand Junction in February 2026, dove into innovative approaches to community economic development that respond to existing and emerging challenges. Each team explored practical ways to use place-based economic strategies that fit their community.

BBP trainings blend shared learning with facilitated action planning that supports leadership teams to move forward to address key challenges and needs in their communities, enhance civic leadership ability, and shape more livable and sustainable places. Over three days, CB guides community teams to coalesce around a shared vision and identify actionable steps for identifying local assets, leveraging resources, and advancing community-driven solutions.

Application window: Currently Closed.

Who Can Apply

BBP is open to cities, towns, counties, and tribal governments and counties across Colorado. It is designed for smaller cities (up to ~100K), towns and rural areas, and particularly targets areas with higher needs and limited resources and capacity. Teams may have a local or regional focus. The training is well suited for communities working on economic diversification, community placemaking and revitalization, strengthening local businesses, or sustaining the workforce.

Participants in CB trainings are selected through a competitive application process. Applicants will assemble a multi-sector team and complete a simple online application form. Our training application window is currently closed. If you are interested in learning more or setting up an individualized training for your community, please reach out to talk with us about your ideas and questions!

Email info@communitybuilders.org to set up a time to talk!

What You Can Expect

An expert facilitator will guide your community team through strategic exercises to:

  • Develop shared understanding of key needs and challenges
  • Build commitment around shared goals and strategies
  • Learn from case studies of successful strategies in similar communities
  • Clarify key barriers to progress and opportunities to overcome them
  • Connect goals and strategies to sustainable funding
  • Develop effective outreach and engagement strategies to build community capacity, support, and political will
  • Create a practical action plan to take home

Training Agenda

1

Day 1: Direction and Priorities

Half day. Teams will gain alignment around key challenges and opportunities, and build direction on shared priorities to focus on moving forward.

2

Day 2: Strategies

Full day. Teams will develop strategies to advance their priorities, including learning from case studies, addressing barriers to progress, and positioning for funding, implementation, or assistance.

3

Day 3: Action Planning

Half day. Teams will work together to develop a detailed action plan outlining key next steps, roles, and resources to advance the strategies identified in BBP.

What’s a Community Builders Training Like?

Past Training Teams

Take a look at some past teams that have participated in our training, what they were aiming to get out of it, and what they left the training with.

Durango, CO

The City of Durango was seeking strategic direction as it launched community-wide planning for the 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships—a global event that will further elevate Durango’s identity as a premier tourism and outdoor recreation destination. In parallel, the City initiated Durango 2030, an effort to leverage the Championships as a catalyst for lasting, community-wide benefit. Through the BBP training, Team Durango developed an action plan to:

  • Create a cross-sector team to collaboratively plan for the event
  • Engage regional partners
  • Build scalable municipal systems that can can adapt to fluctuations in tourism
  • Improve communication and messaging

San Luis, CO

The Town of San Luis entered the training with the goal of beginning to create a place-based economic revitalization strategy. Specifically, the Town sought to understand how recent investments in key assets, such as the Sangre de Cristo Cultural Heritage Center, could be leveraged to generate sustained economic activity and year-round employment. Through the BBP Training, Team San Luis developed an action plan to:

  • Activate the Heritage Center as a year-round economic and cultural anchor
  • Build community capacity through investments in leadership and civic engagement
  • Create a shared community vision

Pagosa Springs, CO

The Town of Pagosa Springs attended BBP to create a shared vision for economic diversification and strengthen alignment among local leaders. The team brought together a diverse mix of stakeholders from the Town, Archuleta County, and local nonprofits, and the business community. Through the BBP training, Team Pagosa developed an action plan to:

  • Create and implement a community engagement plan
  • Launch a business incubator and business support program
  • Coordinate and align ongoing community engagement efforts