Apply the Community Change Model

MSU Extension’s Six-Step Community Change Model

The MSU Extension Community Change Model helps community champions create thoughtful, lasting improvements that make it easier for people to make positive choices. It offers six simple steps to guide planning, action, and reflection, along with practical examples and tools you can use right away.

Health is shaped by the places where people live, learn, work, and play. When communities improve access to healthy food, safe places to move, and supportive environments, even small changes can lead to lasting benefits for individuals and communities.

The model helps you make practical, realistic changes that save time, reduce the need for retraining and support long-term success. It can also help you strengthen everyday practices, meet funding or quality requirements and improve community wellbeing.

Because the process is flexible, you can start where you are, build on what already works and choose actions that fit your capacity.

While many examples in the Community Change Hub focus on nutrition and physical activity, the six‑step process can be applied to a wide range of community improvement efforts. Community champions can use the same steps for projects like downtown revitalization, arts and culture, emergency preparedness, transportation and more.

Explore the six steps below to see how the Community Change Model works and how community champions help move change forward.

See the Six Steps in Action

Discover four nutrition and physical activity areas of practice that highlight how community champions drive meaningful, health‑improving change across the lifespan.