#ualberta community

[facesofcsl]

Val C., Community Partner (Candora Society)

Val is the Executive Director of the Candora Society, an organization who has been hosting CSL students for many years. 

The Candora Society has been around for 31 years, we are a social services organization that works through a community development lens. Candora actually stands for “Can-Do Rundle and Abbottsfield” because those are the two main communities that we serve. Most of our participants live in these neighbourhoods. Candora was founded by a group of local women who were concerned with some of the social issues they were seeing in their neighbourhoods and wanted to help. They started out with simple actions like picking up trash and advocating for street lights. Candora has always been a grassroots organization, informed by the needs of our community and that is how our programs have expanded over the years. Today we offer a variety of programs including employment preparation, financial literacy, preschool programs, parent-child programs, English language learning, and more. All of our programs are strength-based; we work with participants on what they’ve perceived as an area where they require assistance. 

We have been working with CSL students from the U of A for quite a few years. Recently we have hosted students from Human Ecology, ALES, and Marketing courses. We have also hosted students through the Non-Profit Board Internship Program. The projects that our CSL students have completed have far exceeded my expectations. We run a bare-bones organization, so it’s great to have students come in and work on the creative projects that we don’t always have the time and resources for. 

One of the projects that has been on my plate for quite some time now is our website. It badly needs an update. The work that our ALES students have done can all be applied to our website redesign, and I am optimistic that their contributions will help lower the cost of that project for us. It’s really interesting how all of these things interplay together, without us even realizing it. These projects have been a huge help for me because the tools created are multipurpose, and will be useful in the overall marketing and communication strategy we are creating.

With our most recent projects, I was surprised to see how much students learn by applying their knowledge to their CSL placements at Candora. For example, we had a Human Ecology class that developed a really extensive program for us. They gave us a package with all the information we would need to start running that program, and in the process, they learned a lot about developing programs in a human services organization. Candora is a very organic organization, so it’s never just a cookie-cutter approach and our students realized some of the complexities that they needed to consider.

Our board interns have also made great contributions to our organization. Our very first board intern helped us to develop a board orientation manual that we still use today. The second intern we hosted presented us with a fund development framework, and he even came back after his internship had ended to attend our annual general meeting.

CSL students learn a lot in their placements here, and they also provide us with a fresh set of eyes. They ask new questions and bring in creative ideas that provide a new perspective on our organization. Their contributions linger beyond their time here as volunteers; we have been extremely grateful for the work that our CSL students have done. They have advanced us in a way, and at a pace, that I wouldn’t be able to get to on my own. 

We think a lot about if/when we should bring in CSL students because in many ways they do help our organization, but this involvement is also something that weighs on our time. The reason that I keep bringing in CSL students is because I am a lifelong learner myself. I believe in reflective practice, and I believe that our world view should always be impacted by the people who help us learn our lessons. It is the people that we interact with who are our teachers, and at Candora it’s really our participants who are the teachers.

[facesofcsl]

Paris G., Student

Paris Gerow is a third year sociology student aspiring to be a front line social worker. Her first CSL placement was at the Elizabeth Fry Society, specifically in the courthouse.

“[The placement] was very helpful for me moving forward professionally, but also personally, [because] there were a lot of emotional cases that [were] eye opening to see...I don’t know, the life that I wasn’t very used to.” 

When asked what brought her into CSL, she reflects, “I had a lot of volunteering experience, but I never really reflected on that, and I wanted to get involved in volunteering at the U of A.”

“I had found [CSL] last year, but it didn’t fit into my schedule. I kind of knew what it was, but there were a few surprises, like discussion based stuff-- I didn’t know there would be that much discussion.”

“Everyone was surprised by the amount of self-reflection and discussion a we had to go through. But, I think that it was very helpful. Especially for the people where [this] was [their] first-time volunteering experience, because then you kind of learn what you want out of volunteering, and what you should be providing, and if you’re being intrusive or helpful. I never really thought about that before, I thought, “well, I’ll just go out and get my volunteer hours and do my thing.”

“I think that a lot of people who took the class just wanted a volunteer experience. They’d never volunteered before and didn’t know how to go about it. So they thought ‘oh this course will introduce me to that,’ and it would be easier if they got connected to that through a class.”

To answer what makes CSL unique, Paris replied, “It seemed to me like a practicum placement where you didn't have to be in a specific program for, so I thought that that was really good. There’s a lot of different placements, [there’s] something for everyone.”

“[CSL] was very informative, and eye opening. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about why I volunteer, and I think that’s very helpful for me moving forward.”

“I’m much more aware of how I’m learning and what I think about the things I am learning. Before, I was just trying to take in information as much as possible, but now I’m kind of like ‘Oh what do I think of that? Do I agree with that?’  I'm just more reflective in general.”

[facesofcsl]

Chris P., Community Partner (CJSR)

“I would probably trace my involvement with CSL actually to a different University in a similar program.” As part of Chris’ International Development degree he had the chance to take part in a research placement which had him get quite interested in making the academic world useful to the larger community.

“The first time I encountered the UofA equivalent, to the Community-Service Learning program, was through my old job at ACGC, the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation.” Chris supervised CSL students at this placement, and when he began working with CJSR, that supervising role followed closely.

While working at CJSR, the number one reason for incorporating CSL students with the organization has been to help develop more spoken word programming. “We’re always looking for new content; that’s my job as programming coordinator, making sure there is always stuff to go on air. But also, [our] program mandate is to produce programming that challenges the status quo. So, it’s nice to have students come with ideas of stories that haven’t been told enough or have never been told and they finally get a chance to reveal that story, and share it with the world. It’s neat that CSL students come in with their own ideas and passions, and stuff they have learned in the classroom, that they then want to dig deeper into.”

From his experience with CSL, it has been reemphasized for Chris, that “you really get out what you put into an experience like [CSL]. It’s not about whether you have an immense amount of skill at the beginning, it’s really about your dedication and commitment to learning about the process, and discovering things along the way.”

“I hope some students who aren't already in CSL read this, because it adds so much to education, to have some opportunities outside of the classroom, to think about what you’re learning. I don’t know what it is that pushes people over the edge from doing the bare minimum of coursework, to going out and learning more, but it’s so worth it and also way more fun!”