Community Development Programs Train Professionals for Unique Opportunity
Community Development programs are designed to train students to be fully comfortable with this form of social planning, which aims to enhance the social and economic well-being of people living in various communities. Empowering people achieves these aims by giving them the knowledge and skills to implement change in their own communities as well as promoting a sustainable community and managing/directing community economic development initiatives. The skills taught by professionals who have graduated from community development programs are often put into action by forming large social groups with common goals. More specifically, professionals who graduate from community development programs work in a range of areas such as the public, private and non-profit sectors, including government, voluntary organizations, corporations, and international community settings.
At Centennial College's community development programs
called Community Development Work, applicants are required to be in
possession of at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or
equivalent, or have mature student status (19 years or older).
Additionally, they must have finished the English Grade 12 C or U, or
equivalent (minimum grade required) or take the Centennial College
English Skills Assessment for Admission.
Once they are accepted, students spend
two years (four semesters) learning through a philosophy that believes
there is no single road map to community development practice and the
community itself is “organic by nature”. As such, covered in the courses
of this community development program are economics, politics, research
and an understanding of cultural diversity.
Among specific community develop program
courses included at Centennial College are: Theoretical Foundations in
Community Developments, Community Development in Action, Sustainable
Community Development, Foundations of Community Based Research,
Community Economic Development, Community Engagement and Participation;
and others such as Social Psychology (introduces students to theories,
research and applications that constitute the field of social
psychology. Instructors also describe important social phenomena in
order to demonstrate how social psychologists analyze and explain such
phenomena); Global Citizenship: From Social Analysis to Social Action
(each student develops a portfolio that displays personal and
professional development connected to social responsibility in the
context of program studies. These portfolios are introduced and
evaluated in a designated program course in the first semester of the
program, are anchored in this course, and evaluated as a final product
in a designated program course in the final semester of their program);
College Communications (offered at two levels in this community
development program, this course covers standards of college-level
English. It enables students to develop skills in grammar, sentence
variety, paragraph development, vocabulary, and reading comprehension);
and more.
To test what they have learned in a real
world application, students of this community develop program attend
two work placements during their third and fourth semesters. In the
field, community practitioners who are able to share their personal
experiences and help students to network supervise them.