What are they teaching those planning students? The State of Accreditation of Planning Programs 

I knew little about planning until I was hired by a municipal planning department as their environmental staff person. It is not a well known profession and has limited accredited schools. You need to get kids involved at public meetings so you might spark an interest, especially where you have diverse populations. All professional associations want to improve diversity but if nothing is known about the planning profession it will be difficult, like many other professions. Kids grow up wanting to be an accountant, attorney, police officer, etc. because that is what they see and know. Similarly with the accreditation process, schools that are or desire to become so are unlikely to have barriers to diversity in that program. Planning could easily be a fallback major for similar disciplines, especially if coursework is required from those disciplines - engineering, landscape architecture, architecture, etc. Give students that cannot get through the often difficult majors due to math or other requirements another option with planning. Offer a planning general education course for non-planners to teach them about zoning and other issues that might impact them as adults even if they don't become a planner. That type of course could spark a deeper interest, especially for persons that are undecided on a major. So many opportunities but also barriers to overcome.

I strongly believe there should be three mandatory courses in any planning program. One would be a public presentation skills class teaching theory and practice in how to effectively communicate planning ideas or cases to various constituencies. Another would be a basic course on infrastructure. Drainage, water and sewer, road planning, utilities.... And finally, a course on real estate development... how to do a pro-forma, lending, the cost of time and money, site research, etc. This so we can develop an appreciate of how our ordinances and procedures impact real-world opportunities for investment in your community.