What Can You Do with a Master's in Community Development?
Maureen Beauregard didn't go back to school because she needed a credential on her resume. When she enrolled in Carsey's Master's in Community Development (MCD) program, she had already founded Families in Transition, a nonprofit preventing and breaking the cycle of homelessness; led one of New Hampshire's largest human services organizations, Easterseals NH & VT; and built a $40 million Military and Veteran campus from the ground up. She pursued her MCD because she wanted to become a stronger leader.
What she learned at Carsey wasn't just theory; it was the glue that bound everything she was doing together. A framework for the work she had been doing for decades, a network of worldly leaders who thought the same way she did, and professors who had practical experience. For someone who entered the foster system at five—and graduated from it—the MCD wasn't just a box to check in her career impact. It was the next step in developing her leadership abilities.
What do you do in your current role as President and CEO of Easterseals NH & VT?
At Easterseals New Hampshire and Vermont, we work with people of varying abilities, helping them to become their best selves, whatever that is for them. My role varies hour by hour. I can be in a leadership committee meeting; I can be in a board meeting; I can be meeting with members of the community, and I love the relationships that I've developed over time. I talk with people who are in the program. I can go see a program. So, it really varies. Every day is not the same as the day before.
What does meaningful impact look like to you?
I would say meaningful impact to me at Easterseals New Hampshire and Vermont would be that the folks we serve—folks with those varying abilities, as well as families in the military and veteran community—feel like they're at a place where they're understood and where they understand that we're here to help them in whatever way they wish to be assisted. It's not what we want for people. It's what people want for themselves.
Can you share a specific example of how your work directly changes outcomes for the individuals or families you serve?
We created the Easterseals New Hampshire Military and Veterans Campus in Franklin, New Hampshire, and we have about $40 million invested in it. And this really takes our commitment to the military veteran and first responder community to a whole new level.
We provide housing to the veteran community. We have a retreat center, a conference center with accommodations where veteran service organizations and others can come and hold the retreats they have. We also have a recreational component to the campus, and people are able to access that.
The other thing I'd have to say is that we were able to purchase a home in Exeter, New Hampshire, and we were able to move eight adults with significant disabilities and health issues into this brand-new home, and they are exquisitely happy. And that, to me, is a really, really good day and a perfect example of the work we do.
What led you to pursue a Master's in Community Development degree?
"I thought it was a great opportunity for me to check myself. And I wanted to know what other people thought, and that's what this program is all about."
I felt like I had been in the sector for a long time, and I started Families in Transition when I was 29 years old, and I did my first round of undergraduate work in child and family studies. Along the way, I felt like there were some gaps, and there were some threads that needed to be made between certain things. And I always heard a lot about the Carsey School and the [MCD] program.
I thought it was a great opportunity for me to check myself. And I wanted to know what other people thought, and that's what this program is all about.
Yeah, you learn, but the people I went to school with—they're from other countries, from other parts of the United States, in different areas. And I loved it. I loved every minute of it.
What did you gain from the program that experience alone wasn't giving you?
I gained from the program the glue that really helped me to cement different parts of what I was doing together, and being able to come to a place that provided me with A through Z really helped me.
I'm also described as a visionary in the work that I do; that's my job. It's my job to look ahead and see what can be. And [in the program] I was like, oh, I'm with other people who are like me. I think about Professor Jolan Rivera and the work that he has done all over the world, not just in New Hampshire, and it really helped me to say I can do more. It is in New Hampshire, but I can do more, and I can do something bigger.
"I gained from the program the glue that really helped me to cement different parts of what I was doing together, and being able to come to a place that provided me with A through Z really helped me."
How did the MCD program change the way you think about community development?
It really helped broaden my scope. I love learning, and I love people,m and the program brought both of those together for me in a really exciting way.
What was one course or experience that had a lasting impact on your work today?
I'd say two classes. One is with Dr. Michael Swack, Integrative Approaches. The other was with Dr. Rivera, a project design class. And it's not just one semester; it's three semesters. And it really gave that detailed approach to truly developing a program on the basis of data, not thinking and feeling. Not that I hadn't done that before, but it gave me this entirely different lens.
And then I've known about Michael Swack for quite a while, and it was wonderful being in his class. It just opened my eyes to the theory behind the work that I had been doing. I learned a lot in my child and family studies [program] while I was at UNH. But I got to really look at the theories behind it. And at the end of the day, we had to write our own paper on our theory of change, and it was exhilarating doing that. I can be kind of geeky when it comes to research and stuff like that, but I loved doing it.
I loved going through that exercise. And having such wonderful teachers was amazing. They really care about how I'm doing and how you're doing. And they get the big idea about why we're here. And that was pretty special.
What are the most career-ready, practical skills you gained from earning your MCD?
For those of us who start nonprofits, who are founders, I think we can look at things in a segmented way. And seeing the bigger picture has been really helpful. I've always been visionary about projects, but this is more visionary about the organization. And I just feel like it made me more sophisticated as a leader. And I'm the kind of girl who's going to just work really hard. No matter what it takes, I'm going to do it. It's really nice to have had this experience to draw on.
Can you share a specific example of a project at work where your MCD training made a difference?
The work here absolutely informed our strategic plan, which we completed in 2022. It also informed business planning.
And I found it very exciting when I was here, and I found it very exciting to be able to pair up with consultants who thought that way—and, as a leader, to open the door and say, this is what we're doing. And I'm happy to say that today we do that for every program. Every program has rigorous business planning that is anchored in fact, is agile, and can move. And having the experience here was really helpful in that.
Is an MCD worth it?
I would say it's absolutely worth the investment, and to take the time to do this for yourself is super important. Getting the bigger picture from others in priceless.
It's really rewarding to be in a classroom with people from all over the world, learning from professors who have that worldview. I think we can become myopic in what we see, and as leaders, we need that bigger lens. And I think doing something like this program is a great way to help you keep moving.
"I would say it's absolutely worth the investment, and to take the time to do this for yourself is super important. Getting the bigger picture from others in priceless."