Draft 10

May/08 Learning in and for community

A Discussion Paper

Introduction
This discussion paper is an invitiation for CCEDNet members to join a conversation about using
learning for social outcomes within your organization, neighbourhood or community.

This paper is one of a series of peer learning tools within CCEDNet’s national project on Community
Development Service Learning. The project aims to:
 Situate people as citizens within their learning experience
 Connect individual and community learning to social change

The paper discusses theory about learning for social outcomes. This paper also shares some of the
questions we hold about learning for social outcomes. The paper gives some examples of how
learning for social outcomes is being facilitated within CED work across Canada. We believe that CED
provides an excellent container for fostering civic engagement and using learning as a tool to realize
CED goals. If this concept interests you then please read this paper and join some of our peer learning
strategies to discuss and debate theories as well as share practices about learning for social
outcomes and the relationship between learning in the community and CED.

This paper was written by practitioners. This paper shares our understanding of learning theories,
offers questions we often ask ourselves as we attempt to link theory and practice, and describes ways
we, and others, have put these theories in to action in order to create change in our local
neighbourhood or community.

What is this paper about?

This discussion paper is the first peer learning tool within a CCEDNet national project, Community
Development Service Learning Initiative. The purpose of this project is to strengthen service learning
opportunities in CED organizations for students, build youth engagement in CED, and facilitate
effective experiential learning partnerships between community organizations, educational
institutions/organizations and youth. For more information on the project refer to the “CEDNet News”
section on the home page of the CCEDNet website or contact the project coordinator, Kerri Klein.

This discussion paper is organized in to three sections. The first section describes theory and
principles around learning for social outcomes. The second section describes an experiential form of
learning called Community Development Service Learning and the third section highlights how
learning is being used for social outcomes locally, regionally and at the national policy level. The first
two sections framed two tele-learning conversations that happened during March and April. These
tele-learning calls included practitioners from CED organizations, universities and community learning
organizations. The discussion, questions and ideas generated on the calls have helped us plan the
next steps for this project (detailed at the end of this section)

What is the intent of this paper?

The intent of this discussion paper is to stress how important learning, particularly informal education,
is to Community Economic Development. And, to generate thoughts, opinions, ideas and eventually a
plan for action on how the Canadian Community Economic Development Network will continue to
support local organizations to use learning as tool for social and economic change.

The paper focuses on informal education and three key aspects (conversation, informed action,
reflective practice) of this educational approach that ensures participation from people in
neighbourhoods and communities that may be disadvantaged and excluded from contributing
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solutions to local, regional and national issues. CED has a particular focus on such neighbourhoods
and, therefore, requires an educational component to support community and neighbourhood
members to increase their capacity to take action on local solutions.

How this paper is organized?

This paper is organized in to three sections:

Section One describes a context for learning in community.

Section Two describes two forms of experiential learning that connect service to community with
learning for social outcomes. This section also highlights the differences between service learning and
community development service learning

Section Three describes four different situations where an organization is intentional in using learning
to create change either locally, regionally or at the national policy level.

How might I get involved in other project activities?

Other project activities include:

a) Sharing tools and networking people and organizations that are interested in service and
learning. This is facilitated through electronic communication including tele-learning calls and
email bulletins. It also happens through conference presentations.
b) Testing the tools we’ve developed and soliciting tools and ideas from others through a
testing/mentorship project. This involves CCEDNet and Storytellers’ Foundation supporting
community organizations to test the tools for us, provide us with feedback and ideas for
replication of the tools. This will take place from Sept 2008 to March 2009.
c) Facilitating dialogue sessions between universities that offer CED programming, universities
that offer Community Service Learning, community learning organizations and community
economic development organizations. The focus of this dialogue will be around learning
outcomes and what is necessary for building equitable and fair community – institution
partnerships. This will begin in the Fall 2008.

Contact Kerri Klein, project coordinator for information on any other project activity.

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Section One: Living and working in community
Across Canada communities are organizing their work within comprehensive frameworks because
they recognize that economic, environmental and social challenges are interdependent, complex and
ever changing. To be effective, solutions must be rooted in local knowledge and led by community
members. This approach is known as Community Economic Development (CED). CED promotes
holistic approaches in addressing individual, community and regional levels recognizing that these
levels are interconnected. CED has emerged as an alternative to conventional approaches to
economic development. It is founded on the belief that problems facing communities - unemployment,
poverty, job loss, environmental degradation and loss of community control - need to be addressed in
a holistic and participatory way1. In our work, we are always asking ourselves how we can include
more community members in the thinking, questioning and decision making around local control. We
wonder if this is true for you in your work and/or neighbourhood?

Collaborative acts and partnerships are at the core of community economic development work.
Partners, at the local level, are offering their labour, use of facilities and equipment, their knowledge
and many other resources in order to draw people into participating as citizens reaching for the public
good. These acts and partnerships rarely emerge simply because someone’s idea was good or that
collaboration was a more efficient and effective use of resources. In fact there are many projects that
are good ideas and efficient and effective yet they don’t get off the ground. It is becoming widely
recognized that projects that do not move to action fail when time or effort is not put into building the
relationships necessary to sustain the movement of these ideas into action. However, we often
struggle to take the time to build these relationships – sometimes because we are nervous or
concerned about the difficulty of such work and other times because we just don’t have the resources
to support this and we are already “maxed out” in what we do. We’d like to know if you take the time to
build relationships before project work begins? And, if so, how do you manage this? If not, why don’t
you build these relationships?

As human beings we are born into social relationships and we live in relationship with others for the
rest of our lives. Our sense of self and a sense of community are formed through interaction with
others. Through our conversations, and our reciprocal exchanges, we develop relationships with
others. These relationships in turn help us create a sense of attachment, a sense of belonging and a
sense of communion with others. Like dropping a pebble into a pond, there is a rippling affect that
broadens out the sense of community and our participation in it, person-by-person, interaction-by-
interaction, relationship-by-relationship. These direct and informal relationships create a level of trust
that is essential to creating the norms of reciprocity and building of social networks that lead to acts of
collaboration. Trust and reciprocity are the pillars of any sound partnership. These qualities enable us
to take risks and deal with the uncertainty that is inherent in community economic development
efforts2. We live and work in a remote-rural community. The reality is that we often know “too much”
about each other. Our sense of self and our sense of community is very much shaped by interactions.
Sometimes these interactions have been painful and so our sense of self is weakened. We find we
must take a lot of time to foster relationships of care, kindness and love. When we do this we all grow
and our confidence to create change in community grows too. We wonder what it is like for others? Do
you recognize a need to relate as humans working together in community? Or is your work more
removed and focused on goals and objectives? Do you work to foster “communion” with colleagues or
do you focus more on products than human process?

James Coleman and Robert Putnam have studied the importance of relationships to the quality of life
in communities. Robert Putnam uses the term social capital to refer to “connections among
individuals—social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. In
this sense social capital is closely related to what some have called “civic virtue”. The difference is that
“social capital” calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a network

1
www.cednet-rcdec.ca
2
Storytellers’ Foundation (1998) Learning Happens Everywhere. A Final Report to the Office of Learning Technologies. Hazelton
3
of reciprocal social relations. A society of many virtuous but isolated individuals is not necessarily rich
in social capital.”3 Coleman, in turn, talks about the importance of social capital to the development of
human capital. Human capital is the skills and capacities of each member of society. Coleman argues
that people’s ability to develop skills and capacities that allow them to act in new ways is supported
where trust is exercised by the mutual acceptance of obligations, there is an open exchange of ideas
and information and where norms and sanctions encourage people to work for a common good. In our
work we call this “validating rural lifestyles” and yet we know that these relationships exist in urban
areas. It is the interaction between human and social capital that creates the dynamic for the
emergence of a learning community.

Finding ways to enhance the quality of these relationships and networks is at the core of work “in
community”. The fundamental purpose of such work is to create the conditions that let reciprocity,
honesty, trust, ideas, shared action and a sense of communion emerge from the community so that in
the words of John Dewey, “people can build a shared life together.” The quality of life in the
community is dependent upon the quality and nature of our relationships with others. We firmly believe
that if we didn’t have the closeness of relationships with colleagues and neighbours we wouldn’t be
able to sustain the work we do. We, like many others in community learning and CED, aren’t paid
professional wages, volunteer as much as we perform paid work, and continue with our work
regardless of whether there is project funds or not. We can do this because we support each other in
profound ways, emotionally and physically. What relationships do you have in your work? How do they
sustain you through the difficulties of struggling for justice? When do these relationships help your
work? And, when do they hinder your work? How do your relationships influence the quality of your
community’s life?

Working in relationship is a critical component of community economic development. In CED we want

to build a “shared life together”. This requires relationships that are inclusive – we want each individual
within a community or neighbourhood to build both their human and social capital. To ensure this
happens CED requires an educational component so that all community members have the capacity
to contribute. This educational component demands that we learn with and from each other,
regardless of social or economic circumstance. This educational component requires process and
conversation rather than curriculum to highlight the knowledge that is held locally so that the ideas and
action for change come from local people. This approach to education is known as informal education
or popular education. Three key elements to this approach include; the space for conversation
between people so that ideas, thoughts and opinions are animated and shared; informed action where
it is the ideas and knowledge generated by conversation in the community that inform social and
economic action; reflection so that experience becomes a teacher, it is through the progressive stages
of reflection that an individual can learn from within and use experiences to increase personal and
interpersonal power. Informal educators believe that these three elements need to be fostered for
transformative change (that is change that comes from within rather than from outside of an individual
or group) to happen. What do you think of this theory? Do you agree that, for transformative change to
happen, conversation, informed action and reflection must be part of a process? Can you think of
examples from your own work experience where conversation, action or reflection has played an
important role?

Paulo Freire may be the most well known of popular educators. His book, Pedagogy of the
Oppressed4, highlights the contrasts between education approaches that treat people as objects (the
banking approach) rather than subjects (experiential approach) and describes education as cultural
action. He describes the three key elements to this educational approach as:

1. Dialogical. It is conversation rather than curriculum that drives the learning activities.
2. Praxis. Through conversation comes informed activity. The activity is linked to both theory and
action.

3
Putnam, Robert. (2000) Bowling Alone. The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon and Schuster. P. 19
4
Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin
4
 3. Conscientization5. By engaging in conversation people share an understanding of ideas.
People begin to recognize that they hold power. In turn, this understanding leads to actions
that contribute to transformative change.

In this educational approach the action is drawn from the lived experience of the participants. This is
known as experiential education. Experiential education is a natural approach for CED participants. It
is participatory and grounded in local needs and opportunities. By using experience rather than
curriculum for learning we can work with each other rather than working “for” others. And we can learn
with and from each other, rather than only “teach” others.

This approach creates opportunity for people to learn what they need when they need in a way that
serves their level of understanding. There is a process in place, locally, to ensure that those who
aren’t engaging in public life have support to do so. It is a system that nurtures and promotes citizen
curiosity, reflection and informed action. It requires local control where decisions start locally and are
then supported by further removed decision makers. It demands flexible and open systems for
learning. What processes are you part of that allow you and others to learn when you need to in a way
that serves your different levels of understanding? What does this look like? And, why is it important?

The next section of this paper describes a form of experiential education that combines learning and
service. By combining learning and service we open up opportunity for people to “build a shared life
together”. We use education as a tool for social outcomes. As learners we reflect on our lived
experience and we look to this experience for ideas and action that will lead to change in our
communities and neighbourhoods.

This form of experiential education, when facilitated by post-secondary institutions, is described as

Service Learning. In service learning students apply the skills and knowledge from course work to help
community organizations create change locally. In Service Learning the post-secondary institution
determines and evaluates the learning objectives. Service Learning is becoming a recognized
approach to learning and promoting citizen engagement.

A similar form of experiential education is Community Development Service Learning. In Community

Development Service Learning the community organization determines and evaluates the learning
objectives along with program participants who are people from the local neighbourhood or
community. This form of experiential education is often delivered in partnership with a non-formal
learning organization such as a literacy organization. Community Development Service Learning is an
example of how learning might look if local citizen action and needs were truly recognized by
governing bodies

The next section of this paper describes both service learning and community development service
learning.

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Conscientization involves identifying contradictions in experience through dialogue and becoming part of the
process of changing the world. Wikipedia.
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Section Two: Learning and Service
Service Learning is a form of experiential education. It is applied in partnership between post-
secondary institutions and community service organizations. Service Learning allows the student to
apply their classroom based learning in real-life settings. The legacy of service learning is the increase
of social capital within a community. Ron Faris defines service learning as6:

The integration of formal learning (academic, vocational-technical etc.) with student service in
the voluntary or not-for-profit sector, in Canada or abroad, for academic credit. It is a form of
experiential education/learning that emphasizes reflective thinking, reciprocal benefits to the
student and the community/body involved.

The Candian Alliance For Community Service learning defines service learning as an educational
approach that integrates service in the community with intentional learning activities. Members of both
educational institutions and community organizations work together toward outcomes that are mutually
beneficial.

Across Canada educational institutions are organizing themselves to offer service-learning

opportunities to students. The intent is to use learning for transformative change for the
democratization of citizenship. The vision is for students, educators and communities to learn together
to strengthen the individual and society.

“I’ve learned about issues in class. We talk (about issues) but mainly
academic stuff. This [service learning] lets me deal with issues first hand,
it’s different”
Service Learning participant

Service learning is evolving in Canada and is still being adapted to a variety of cultures and contexts.
Foundations such as McConnell are supporting post-secondary institutions in efforts to create a fair
and just society. And, to foster an attitude in young citizens that the knowledge and skills learned in
the institution can be applied for the common good both within and outside of Canada.

“Being able to just do work -- physical and simple work that was helping
others so much, and also to think about it was different. I got to learn
how to reflect, to step back and reflect on how simple actions lead to
bigger change.”
Service Learning participant

In January 2005, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation launched it's National University-Based
Community Service-Learning Program. They have provided funding to ten Canadian institutions to
integrate CSL within their curriculum and to build strong partnerships with their local communities. The
Foundation also funds the Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning7.

Community Development Service Learning (CDSL) is a similar form of experiential education. In

Community Development Service Learning people in their neighbourhood or community decide what
the learning outcomes and the service need to be. This is a key difference between CDSL and Service
Learning. The community group may approach an education institute to partner in the service but the
community determines the learning objectives. In CDSL the emphasis is mainly on informal and non-
formal education. Informal education involves fostering understanding, knowledge and skills outside of

6
Service-Learning in Canada: A survey of policy and practice in the public education systems of Canada and the practice of using voluntary
service as a means of earning post-secondary tuition credit. Prepared for the Learning and Literacy Directorate of HRDC by Ron Faris
Ph.D. September 15, 1999
7
http://www.communityservicelearning.ca/
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the curricula of formal institutions. Within the informal arenas of community, practitioners consciously
create learning opportunities for people to engage with each other to bring about change that
enhances local life. These informal arenas of community such as community kitchens, recreation
clubs, community gardens, festivals and potlaches are used as teaching grounds. Community
Development Service Learning is usually offered in partnership with a non-formal learning organization
such as a literacy organization or an informal education storefront and local social and economic
agencies. Community Development Service Learning aims to create conditions so more people can
take better control of their personal life and the life of their community. Community Development
Service Learning demonstrates how lifelong learning is integrated throughout community life. And, it
makes concepts such as social capital, democratic citizenship and civic engagement tangible and
easier to understand.

“People now stop me in front of the Post Office and ask me about
community issues and I can talk with them – I even get invited to events.
That’s new for me.”
Community Development Service Learning participant

In Community Development Service Learning individuals, often youth, learn about the benefits and
responsibilities of belonging to a local community. It is citizenship education where individuals are
taught how to develop, respond to, and incorporate a set of expectations that instil a sense of pride in
attitude, outlook and behaviour, and provide a framework for daily life that leads to greater individual
responsibility as well as a sense of ownership around the greater health of community. These
expectations become the norm of behaviour for the individual.

In Community Development Service Learning an individual is part of planning, preparing,

implementing and evaluating a community project. The community project is decided based on the
interests and needs of the individual and the interests and needs of the local community. Community
Development Service Learning has been most effective in communities who face social and economic
hardship. Community Development Service Learning provides opportunity for engagement when
employment is not an option. Community Development Service Learning takes a resiliency approach
where projects are not decided for individuals but rather with and by the individual or group.
Community Development Service Learning supports people to make decisions and take action to
affect greater control over their lives.

“To realize that I was sitting with my neighbour, not a student, and share ideas
on what we need to learn as a group was very significant for me. Then we
moved these learning goals into shared action and activities. It changed the
power relationship for sure.”
Community Development Service Learning mentor

In Community Development Service Learning the teacher/coach is also a learner and recognizes the
learning relationship that exists between themselves, colleagues and Service Learning participants. It
is within these relationships that critical learning, as citizens and neighbours, takes place. The
individual/group drives the learning and service, and the teacher/coach helps and supports them, links
them with community resources and facilitates reflection and evaluation. In this process, participants
learn how to evaluate their project, their performance and identify the learning that took place for them.

In Community Development Service Learning individuals develop such skills as communication,

problem solving, critical thinking, self-assessment, how to plan, organize, work as a team member,
meet expectations and, most importantly, identify themselves as a needed member of a local
community who can identify issues, problems and opportunities and put ideas in to action for change

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Community Development Service Learning Service Learning
Key Characteristics: Key Characteristics:

- Heightens connection between individual and other. - Within curricular CSL, service links to academic content
- Individuals consciously recognize the activity as and standards, and is appropriate to student learning goals.
learning. - In extra-curricular CSL programs, service links to student
- First and foremost it aims for results in the community. learning and development goals.
- It is both action and process oriented. - Involves collaboration between faculty/staff, students and
- Aims to empower people to feel more confident and community organizations to determine and meet real,
gain more skills to take an active role in changing defined community needs.
oppressive situations and structures. - Reciprocal in nature, benefiting both the community and
- Uses daily experience as “curriculum”. the service providers by combining a service experience
- It is inclusive of the relational aspect of learning. with a learning experience.
- It is place based, and therefore, encourages and - Integrates a strong reflective element in order to maximize
documents the collective memory of the group working meaningful learning.
for change. - Can be used in any subject or program area so long as it
is appropriate to identified learning and/or development
goals.

Whether it is Service Learning (applying skills and knowledge from course work to help community
organizations working for change locally) or Community Development Service Learning (local people
learning with and from each other for outcomes that are first and foremost for the benefit of
community) individuals involved in either process are engaging in important acts as citizens, that is
learning and giving service to community. The principles for learning and service are immersed in the
principles of CED. It is an alternative approach to making change. CED provides a mechanism or a
vehicle in which to further evolve learning and service in Canada.

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Section Three: Learning and transformative change
This section highlights four organizations that are using and/or supporting experiential education for
social outcomes. Although each organization described in this section is using/supporting experiential
education in different ways they share a common philosophy about CED. That is, the belief that
problems facing communities - unemployment, poverty, job loss, environmental degradation and loss
of community control - need to be addressed in a holistic and participatory way. And, that by applying
participatory approaches to education such as combining learning and service, we open up
opportunity for people to “build a shared life together”.

Each organization described in this section is using learning as a tool to build human capital (individual
skills) and social capital (relationships and reciprocity). The third commonality between these
organizations is that they are using/supporting experiential education so that more action is being led
by people locally to create economic opportunities and better social conditions, particularly for those
who are most disadvantaged.

The first two organizations described in this section, Storytellers’ Foundation and Santropol Roulant,
are applying experiential education at the community and neighbourhood level. These grass roots
organizations recognize the need for experiential educational activities to increase employment,
increase local control, and connect young people into their community and/or neighbourhood with a
particular emphasis on increasing intergenerational relationships. These two organizations are also
using reflection for participants to recognize the life experience they hold, learn from this experience,
and use their learning for community transformation.

The second two organizations described in this section, McConnell Foundation and CCEDNet, are
working with community organizations on a regional and national scale to organize and advocate for
enabling policy so that communities can address problems in a holistic and participatory way. These
organizations are supporting experiential education both through service learning and community
development service learning, and are facilitating peer learning among community practitioners.

The first organization highlighted is Storytellers’ Foundation. The Storytellers’ Foundation is a non-
profit society operating in Hazelton. This region, also known as the Upper Skeena, is in northwestern
BC. The organization operates an informal education storefront called The Learning Shop. The
storefront offers experiential education programming as a means to increase civic literacy, particularly
among young adults. Most of the participants are members of the Gitxsan First Nation. The Gitxsan
First Nation makes up 80% of the Upper Skeena population. Of this population, 70% are under the
age of 30. To read about Community Development Service Learning in the Upper Skeena go to page
10.

The second organization highlighted is Santropol Roulant. This organization is situated in the centre
of the island of Montreal. This local non-profit society offers meals-on-wheels to seniors. It also
introduces young people to a variety of food security initiatives happening around the neighbourhood
of Santropol. The organization operates with young volunteers who assist the elderly or people who
are living with a loss of mobility. The organization aims to increase food security while breaking down
social isolation and promoting an inclusive intergenerational community. To read about Learning for
social outcomes in Montreal go to page 13.

The third organization highlighted is the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. This charitable
foundation, situated in Montreal, funds projects in Canada that foster citizen engagement and build
resilient communities. The Foundation is particularly interested in projects that have relevance
nationally. The McConnell Foundation supports formal educational institutions to engage in
experiential learning, that is, school- and university-based activities that take place in, or in partnership

9
with, the surrounding community. To read about Fostering Citizen Engagement in Canadian Schools
go to page 15.

The fourth organization highlighted is the Canadian Community Economic Development Network.
CCEDNet is a national based organization that is member driven. Its main office is in Victoria, BC and
it has regional coordinators supporting members across the country. CCEDNet seeks to increase the
scale and effectiveness of community economic development (CED) - helping organizations and
individuals strengthen their communities and create solutions to local needs. CCEDNet has an interest
in experiential education, particularly peer learning, where members can share their experiences and,
therefore, learn with and from each other. CCEDNet wants to focus on experiential education where
the results of social and economic change are seen first and foremost in the community. The
organization also wants to advocate for policy reform so that the membership can apply a CED frame
to their work with more support than is currently being provided from provinical and federal
governments. To read about Peer Learning for Transformative Change go to page 17.

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Community Development Service
Storytellers’ uses informal education to increase civic
Learning in the Upper Skeena literacy, which the foundation describes as citizen
engagement. Storytellers’ offers many types of
experiential education. Community Development
Community Development Service Learning is Service Learning is offered as a full-time program over
offered in partnership within the Upper Skeena. six months. Each program accepts up to nine
Each program offers environments for learning; participants per intake. The program uses conversation,
service; workplace mentorship and social reflection and shared service to work with participants in
networking. Storytellers’ Foundation has an a holistic manner. All program activities are within the
food citizenship initiatives of Upper Skeena
informal education storefront called The communities.
Learning Shop. It is the learning partner. Many
different community partners offer the opportunity for service and workplace mentorship. An initial
series of conversations ensures that each partner is clear on roles and responsibilities before any
program begins. Most often, the social networking is facilitated by the traditional kinship of the
program participants and staff. In this region the extended family network of the Gitxsan First Nation is
known as the, wilp. The wilp infrastructure offers opportunity for connecting with traditional teachers,
extended family and hereditary chiefs.

Upper Skeena Community Development Service Learning

Agriculture Program
Community Development Service Learning provides people with an
opportunity to gain work and service skills while working within the emerging
economic opportunities of the community. All developed skills are completely
transferable. Typically, a program is delivered for six months. During this
time the participants are supported to identify personal interests and then
match these interests with both jobs and services needed in the community.
After an initial orientation the participants work three days each week on a
community service project. One day each week the participants are
mentored to work in a community development project that is suitable to their
current attitudes, experience and skills. As skill sets develop work
placements become more challenging and demanding. And, one day each
week the participants reflect and evaluate the learning and service through
experiential and reflective programming. Although projects and work
experience change slightly from program to program, the following elements
are always weaved into programming:

• cultural immersion work;

• work placements in food distribution
and food action initiatives;
• mentoring relations in which they, in
turn, mentor children in healthy
eating/active living camps;
• food regulations and policy
research;
• human and social capital
development; and
• public education strategies to increase others’ awareness about food
policy and regulations

A community teacher (coach) supports the learning that takes place as the group gives service. A
partner organization provides the supervision, direction and evaluation of the service. And, sometimes

11
the local high school and/or community college partners so that students can apply classroom based
learning within real life situations. Throughout Community Development Service Learning, participants
are supported to build a relationship with family, extended family, peers, wilp members, and with local
service providers. Each participant develops a Learning and Work plan that is implemented with the
support of a local service provider and/or teacher, and with the support of an extended family member
so that social networking continues beyond the life of any one program.

The process is as important as any resulting action

Reflecting on Action helps us “wake up”.

We become aware of holding personal power

The program recognizes that food is central to the development of a healthy society for a land-based
people who celebrate an oral culture. This program helps to connect young people who have not had
the opportunity of extended connection to build healthier social capital through food initiatives that will
open up opportunity for better personal, social, cultural and economic health. This model is holistic in
its approach in that it uses food as the central vehicle to increase the human and social capital of
youth while increasing awareness, productivity and engagement in local food action.

The model highlights the interconnectedness of social and economic issues and opportunities

Personal Work Social

Power [garden, kitchen, Connection
distribution..]

Family Healthy Eating

Self expression FOOD Moving ideas to action

Public Children’s HE/AL camps

Education

Literacy development Public Policy

Cultural Health Intergenerational

Connection Relationships

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Applying Praxis

Storytellers’ Foundation designs, organizes, and implements experiential education within the informal
arenas of community. Within these informal arenas people are learning all the time and, in doing so,
are changing existing power relationships. This is learning for social change and it is occurring outside
of the formal educational institutions. In their conversations, Freire and Horton8 say:

“Real liberation is achieved through popular participation. Participation in turn is realized

through an educational practice that itself is both libratory and participatory, that
simultaneously creates a new society and involves the people themselves in the creation of
their own knowledge”.

Learning in community helps us to find meaning in the world around us.

When the learning happens in the informal arenas of community our natural
ways of relating and our natural practices inform us of what is necessary to
know. Our learning happens in relationship and, through these
relationships, we learn for change. In the Upper Skeena, we have the
comfort of knowing that the learning relationships are life-long because, as
rural and land based people we aren’t leaving home any time soon. And,
we are far removed from the pull of urban living. This lets us be intentional
and it lets us be organic. We have time to evolve and nurture relationships.

Storytellers’ Foundation recognizes the interconnectedness of local issues

and opportunities. It is from working in diversity that we are better equipped to see and understand this
interconnectedness. Diversity in worldview is critical for a just society. The ecosystems that we are
part of demonstrate how diversity is necessary for survival. If we learn to work in diversity and stay
mindful that we are connected to place and to each other, we can create a just and healthy society

Storytellers’ Foundation recognizes that community development service learning is a key tool for
social change. People are learning throughout their lives. If this learning is highlighted then experience
becomes a great teacher. If people are given opportunity and tools to reflect on their experience
together, we can learn with and from each other to create better social and economic equality in our
community. We can use our local knowledge to fulfill community visions.

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We Make the Road by Walking, Conversations on Education and Social Change. Myles Horton and Paulo Freire, edited by Brenda Bell,
John Gaventa and John Peters

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 Santropol Roulant uses informal education to support young
people to connect with community issues. Through the use of
Learning for Social Outcomes in conversation, question and reflection the organization is
fostering intergenerational relationships while addressing
Santropol Roulant issues of isolation, hunger and food insecurity. By offering
experiential education the organization is increasing both the
human and social capital of young and old alike. By building
in an educational component to its work Santropol Roulant is
ensuring that outcomes are first and foremost in the
Santropol Roulant is primarily a meals-on- neighbourhood. And, it is fostering citizen activism among a
wheels program. In this program young people youth population.
deliver meals on wheels to local seniors. The
program is a community organizing initiative, which offers young people an introduction in to various
community food security initiatives while building intergenerational relationships. Santropol Roulant
delivered its first meals in 1995. Since then, the Montreal community and other partners have
welcomed it with much enthusiasm. Its programming has expanded to many projects including a Roof
Top Garden, Kitchen and Bike workshops, Worm Composting and an Eco challenge. Projects are
determined by many of the volunteers. This is able to happen because the organization supports
young people to identify, and act on, their passions for community. Whatever the project, the
organization focuses on building intergenerational relationships and breaking down isolation while
increasing food security.

Over the past ten years through working and serving a variety of neighbourhoods in Montreal,
partnerships and collaborations have developed naturally. Santropol Roulant is ideally located close to
educational institutions. Links between the organization and nearby universities formed rapidly, in
particular with McGill University, the alma mater of Chris and Keith, the two founders of Santropol
Roulant. The two succeeded in involving young people who want to know more about their
community, mostly students who come from outside of Montreal and are in the city for their studies.
This has led to ongoing relationships with the university and with a continual supply of volunteers from
the student-body. The organization has an extensive network and is linked with over 1,000 community
collaborators.

The Organization is for Everyone

Santropol Roulant describes themselves as a “living organization”. This means that everyone involved
in the organization gives and receives. No one is merely instrumental. No one is simply "serving"
someone else. Volunteers, staff, and clients all contribute to the organization and are enriched by it.
The organization says it doesn’t look for ways to simply balance competing interests. “We look for
ways to integrate them, so a meaningful experience for a client becomes a meaningful experience for
a volunteer or staff member - and vice-versa.”

A Continual Development Process

Santropol Roulant does not offer a stagnant project nor is it an organization that charts its course with
long-term development plans. Rather, it is a project that is constantly in evolution and is directed by
the energy of its current and former employees and volunteers. The diverse activities that have
shaped the organization have happened because certain employees and volunteers – and even
certain clients (by their critiques and observations) – have believed in the organization and in the
importance of its contributions.

Gradually, Santropol Roulant has evolved its activities beyond the original project. This improvement
was made possible by the organization’s efforts to inform itself about the satisfaction and the concerns
of its employees, volunteers and clients. This process has been formalized in a document entitled
”organic evaluation”: The organic evaluation allows for the natural emergence of problems through
conversation, questioning and reflection. A close connection to the problems results in energy, speed
and appropriateness in addressing them. It also allows the organization to get to the root of a problem.
The approach of Santropol Roulant promotes the development of a stimulating environment where

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exchange, reflection and questioning are valued. Every week, the organization takes the time to
update its activities, improve the quality of its services and allow for the emergence of new ideas.

Applying Praxis

That process of continued development is promoted by the organizational culture, in particular in the
flexibility given to staff and in the participatory approach toward volunteers and employees. The
organization takes the time to consciously promote learning, allowing young people and seniors to
reflect on their experience and find meaning from that experience. By using conversation, question
and reflection, the human capital of each individual involved with the organization is developed. And
by building time in to each project activity for people to spend time together, the social capital of the
neighbourhood is also being developed.

By using reflection, the organization is continually applying informed action in their work. Santropol
Roulant uses the knowledge of the seniors and the youth to shape and transform project activities.
The organization then uses this knowledge to connect issues such as food security, isolation, health,
and employment.

Facilitating a rigorous experiential learning component to their work means that Santropol Roulant
ensures all those engaging with their projects are involved in detecting problems and suggesting
solutions to organizational and neighbourhood issues. This participatory approach is even more
successful because of the recognition and attention to an educational component.

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Fostering Citizen Engagement in The McConnell Foundation supports formal institutions to
engage in experiential learning. Through funds from this
Canadian Schools Foundation, high schools and post-secondary institutions can
offer students the opportunity to apply classroom-based
The purpose of The J.W. McConnell Family learning and skills for the benefit of community. The
Foundation recognizes experiential learning as a critical tool in
Foundation is to improve quality of life by developing citizen engagement and addressing social,
building communities that help people to economic and environmental issues in Canadian communities.
The Foundation seeks to create a culture of innovation and
develop their talents and contribute to the inquiry.
common good.

The Foundation, through its grant contributions, stresses its role as a learning organization. It looks for
innovative projects that can be replicated or have implications across Canada. The Foundation shares
its learning and the learning of its grantees. It emphasizes a responsibility to knowledge sharing and
knowledge management and so highlights learning in a comprehensive way on its website as well as
links to grantee websites.

The Foundation has a strong emphasis on active citizenship and social capital. It offers opportunity for
young people to get involved, for leadership to be diversified, and for people to take action on issues
and activities that matter to them. With this in mind, the Foundation has funded many initiatives; one of
these initiatives is Service Learning.

The Foundation refers to its service learning initiatives as Community Service Learning. Its intent for
supporting Community Service Learning is to promote both a pedagogy for experiential learning and a
tool to enhance contribution to community through active service. The Foundation recognizes that
service leaning has had a long experience in other countries, notably the US, but has only started in
Canada relatively recently.

The Foundation recognizes the role that learning and service can play in helping community
organizations. The Foundation has granted several million dollars over an extended period of time to
encourage post-secondary institutions to play a role in helping community organizations. The
Foundation hopes that Service Learning offers an opportunity for the universities to “leverage the
learning, passion and energy of students and faculty as a way to develop real, practical knowledge for
community organizations. “

The overall objective of this initiative is to build community resilience. It has four key goals:

 To enhance the learning experience for both students and faculty

 To create long-term commitment to community engagement for young people
 To encourage the academy to create institutional incentives for service learning
 To support the development of knowledge about service learning.

Experiential learning in a formal education setting

The McConnell Foundation in its Community Service Learning initiative focuses on formal education.
Within this setting it is encouraging the Institution to use experiential education as a form of practica.
In this form of experiential education, students apply their learning from courses by giving service to a
community organization. In this approach the institution has a responsibility to highlight how learning
can be used for the common good of society. This can help a student understand that learning is
about citizenship, rather than only passing grades in a course or program. It can also make tangible
for young people the benefits that come from contributing to society. This approach highlights a key
difference between Service Learning, which emerges from a formal educational context, and
Community Development Service Learning, which emerges from an informal educational context,
most often the community.

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Both forms of experiential education are beneficial to building healthy, resilient communities in
Canada. Through support of Foundations such as the McConnell Foundation, we have the opportunity
to deepen our understanding of how universities can partner with communities to share knowledge
and increase local community health.

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Peer Learning for CCEDNet both supports local organizations to use learning for social
Transformative Change outcomes and facilitates peer learning among its membership. As a
learning organization, the Network encourages its membership to learn with
and from each other. CCEDNet applies experiential learning in most of its
The Canadian Community Economic activities particularly action research, peer learning, and informal education
Development Network (CCEDNet) is a activities. It uses conversation, reflection, inquiry and shared experience to
national non-governmental charitable build capacity between the membership and also between staff of the
organization.
organization established to support the
work of community organizations that are
creating economic opportunities and enhancing social conditions in Canada. The membership of
CCEDNet is made up of hundreds of community groups, municipalities, foundations, and practitioners
from every region of the country.

The Network is a member-driven organization that seeks to increase the scale and effectiveness of
community economic development (CED) -- helping organizations and individuals strengthen their
communities and create solutions to local needs.

The vision is that the Network will strengthen community economic development in urban, rural,
northern and Aboriginal communities across Canada, and contribute to better social, economic and
environmental conditions at the local level.

The Network recognizes that social, economic, cultural and environmental issues are connected. Their
work demonstrates this – as a member-led organization there are many committees that direct
CCEDNet’s work. These committees include a focus on youth, immigrants and refugees, CED sector
strengthening, poverty reduction, international, policy and research.

The Network organizes a variety of learning activities and events for members to share experiences,
converse with one another and, ultimately, learn from one another. Learning events are organized
both by staff and member-volunteers. The focus is on participatory process and experiential
education.

The Network has an active website that is dedicated to peer learning. On this site there are tool kits,
case studies, research reports and resource links widely accessible to members and non-members
alike. This electronic peer-learning site also has a member area where members can e-chat and join a
selection of on-line learning activities.

The CCEDNet membership is organized into regions across the country. Each region has a
coordinator and a regional council. Similar to committees, each council uses electronic
communication to exchange information, plan advocacy work and engage in peer-learning. The notes
from each of these activities are available to all members. The local issues that emerge are then used
by CCDNet staff for advocacy work for policy reform.

The Network consciously tries to foster environments for transformative learning. Budd Hall writes,

Transformative learning is an attempt to conceptualize an inclusive educational process, which

describes the practice by which individuals within their social locations join together with each
other and others in order to take action. It aims to empower people to feel more confident and
take a leading role in formulating strategies that challenge oppressive situations and
structures. Therefore, it involves a high degree of participation, recognizes mutual learning,
stresses the creation of new knowledge and is directed towards social, economic or other
forms of justice and democracy. 9

9
"Transformative Education" by Hall and Sullivan for the "Transformative Learning Through Environmental Action" IDRC funded-
research project, 1993-1994.

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This is a fitting description of what CCEDNet aspires to achieve amongst its members. And it clearly
describes the fit between learning for social outcomes and community economic development.

Next Steps

Through this project, CCEDNet is supporting peer-learning opportunities for CED organizations to
engage in the informal education arena of community. The intent of the Community Development
Service Learning Initiative is to deepen our understanding of how community organization’s can use
learning for social outcomes, which are first and foremost determined by, and the results seen, in the
local community.

We want to explore the different implications on community when service learning is initiated by post-
secondary institutions and when it is initiated by organizations within the community. And, we want to
create a plan for peer learning so that CCEDNet can continue to support local organizations to use
learning as a tool for social and economic change.

If you are interested in participating in this dialgoue please contact Kerri Klein for information on
project activities.

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