About This Program
This online master's program prepares you for a career leading diverse organizations and communities. Designed for working adults, the program emphasizes contemporary social theory – with a focus on social justice – and features hands-on workshops and assignments.
In courses with other working professionals, you’ll learn how to:
Lead diversity initiatives in communities, organizations, and agencies
Help communities identify their core needs
Strategically plan major goals and initiatives
...
Write grant proposals and spearhead fundraising campaigns
Coordinate programs and manage relations with community partners
Research complex issues and recommend evidence-based solutions
Courses focus on organizational leadership models, social justice in diverse communities, conflict resolution, research methods, community partnerships, and communication management.
Skills That Shape Change
In your courses, you’ll develop the leadership skills to help organizations and communities identify their needs, manage conflicts, and enact socially just practices and policies.
As you hone your leadership abilities, you’ll also examine modern systems of power, giving you the context to understand current social, political, and historical inequities. This strong theoretical and historical knowledge, which you’ll build throughout the program, is necessary to make informed and effective leadership decisions.
Equipped with the program's leadership framework, you can enter the field with the utmost confidence and move forward with the important work to come: disrupting unjust power dynamics and helping communities fulfill their self-defined goals.
Job Outlook: Public Sector
CSUN ranks 3rd as a talent provider for occupations like Social and Community Service Managers, Chief Executives, General and Operations Managers, Legislators, Administrative Services Managers, and Managers, all other in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim.
Job Outlook: Social Services
CSUN ranks 1st as a talent provider for occupations like Social and Community Service Managers; Marriage and Family Therapists; Counselors, all other; Child, Family, and School Social Workers; Healthcare Social Workers; Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers; Social Workers, all other; and Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim.
What do DCDL graduates do?
This program opens the door to a range of exciting career opportunities, including—but not limited to—the ones listed below:
- Chief Diversity Officer
- Community Development Director
- Community Manager
- Community Promoter
- Community Relations Specialist
- Compliance Officer
- Deputy Director
- Development Specialist
- Director (Management)
- Director of Development
- Director of Marketing
- Executive Director
- Human Resources Manager
- Mental Health Case Manager
- Program Analyst
- Project Manager
- Public Relations and Fundraising Manager
- Senior Planner
- Social and Community Service Manager
- Social Services Director (Management)
- Social Work Case Manager
- Support Services Manager
- Youth Coordinator
Meet your Faculty
Marcella De Veaux
Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Journalism
Alicia Ivonne Estrada
Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chicana/o Studies
Steven M. Graves
Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Santosh Khadka
Ph.D.
Professor, Department of English
Karen Morgaine
Ph.D. Social Work
Professor & Chair, Department of Sociology
Daniel Omos
Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Roland Palencia
M.A.
Instructor
Zeynep Toker
Ph.D.
Professor and Graduate Adviser, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Career Opportunities
Unlock a world of career possibilities with our comprehensive support system. From internships to networking events, we empower students to thrive in their professional journeys and achieve their aspirations.
Students Success stories
CSUN has an unmatched reputation for helping their students successfully achieve their educational goals. I would not have chosen any other university.
Deborah Price
DCDL
I have learned the history of race and its lasting impacts that have rippled into our current communities of color and are woven inter current laws and policies.
Alexandra Reyes
DCDL
The most professionally valuable thing I learned in the program is that creating a community takes time.
Marisol Torres
DCDL
A desire to be a part of social change and forward my career inspired me to earn this degree from CSUN.
Kira Bunker
DCDL
