by Isabelle Kim, CFICE CCEC working group member, and Director of the Centre for Community Partnerships at University of Toronto
Community-Campus Engage Canada (CCEC), the legacy of the CFICE project, is a national network of community engagement practitioners. CCEC works with CFICE to host national and regional roundtables to bring together a wide range of community-minded stakeholders, including grassroots partners, engagement practitioners, post-secondary institutions, policy makers, and funders, with the overarching goal to expand on community-campus engagement in Canada.
Toronto CCE regional roundtable participants deep in conversation.
CCEC’s first regional roundtable, co-hosted by the University of Toronto, was held at the university‘s Centre for Community Partnerships (CCP) on May 1, 2018.
The day started with a thought-provoking cross-sectoral panel on the community-campus engagement landscape in Ontario from policy, higher education, and community partner perspectives: Cecilia Brain, Economist and Senior Policy and Data Analyst, Council of Ontario Universities; Peter Andree, Principal Investigator, CFICE; and Sarah MacPherson, Director of Philanthropy and Communications, Oakville Community Foundation respectively.
Listening to a guided walking First Story Toronto tour led by Jill Carter at the Toronto CCE Regional Roundtable.
Lunch was followed by a powerful guided walking First Story Toronto tour led by Jill Carter, theatre practitioner and Assistant Professor with the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies; the Transitional Year Programme; and Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. (First Story Toronto provides public tours that build awareness and pride in Indigenous presence and contributions to the city http://firststoryblog.wordpress.com).
Over fifty participants representing diverse community, academic and policy stakeholder perspectives worked in groups to identify sector-specific needs and gaps; explore cross-sectoral opportunities and aspirations, and develop recommendations for advancing community-campus engagement in the region. Discussions were lively and fruitful and many connections were made.
The recommendations from this roundtable will be captured in a brief discussion paper and contribute to the national roundtable in Ottawa on June 20.
For more information regarding this event please contact the CCP Director, Isabelle Kim: isabelle.kim@utoronto.ca. For more information on the other regional and national roundtables to come, please contact CFICE at cfice@carleton.ca.