Community Development Programs Train Professionals for Unique Opportunity
1. 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 development
program in Canada 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.
For more information visit Centennial College at
http://www.centennialcollege.ca/Programs/ProgramOverview.aspx?Program=1230
