Community development work includes empowering and supporting individuals, groups and communities to work towards improving their social and economic conditions. Basically, it is a multi-disciplinary field that incorporates an understanding of cultural diversity, research, economics and politics that is concerned with bringing about a positive and everlasting change in the social and economic conditions of troubled communities.

Although you don't need any formal education to serve people but it certainly helps you gain perspectives on how society works and understand how to work with individuals and communities to improve their situations, within the context of larger social institution. A course in community development work provides you with a strong grounding in social psychology and communication fundamentals, so that you can work effectively with individuals, groups and communities.

Community Development Education

A community development program helps you develop both the practical and analytical skills to work with people from diverse backgrounds to bring about a social change, while promoting justice, equality and mutual respect. It generally runs for two years through four semesters, preparing you for public, private and non-profit sector careers in wide array of positions.

You learn about a number of different approaches to career development. These include community economic development, community engagement and participation, community mobilization, community participation, community empowerment, political participatory development, community-based research and sustainable community development.

Aside from this, the program also lays a strong emphasis on business essential and communication fundamentals, as community development can be defined as a profession or occupation as well as a way of working with people to foster social inclusion and equality. Understanding of social psychology plays a crucial role in determining your success as a community development worker. And this is why the course offers a detailed understanding of how society and social systems work and how changes can be brought about.

Studying Community Development Work in Toronto

Although a number of colleges offer community development programs in Toronto but Centennial College offers you several unique benefits. A major differentiating factor is real world placements in different settings. You get excellent opportunities to apply your learning into practice and understand how to channel the knowledge, experience and resources into collective actions to achieve desired goals related to community development.

Opportunities also exist for international development placements, which further help you broaden your horizons and understand cultural diversity. This is an all-inclusive program that is geared towards preparing you for careers in community capacity building, promotion of sustainable community, community engagement, community empowerment, and directing and managing community economic development initiatives. In addition to this, you will also develop a portfolio documenting your engagement with global citizenship and equity competencies. The college is a recognized leader in global citizenship, equality and social justice education.

Enrolling in a Community Development Education Program

If you are genuinely interested in building a career in community development, you can send your application to the college, with all supporting including a copy of secondary school diploma certificate or equivalent and scores of English Grade 12 C or University or equivalent. You can also apply to this program even if you are currently attending high school in Ontario. Your midterm and final term scores will be automatically transmitted to the college.