Graduate diploma in Community Economic Development

The Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development (CED) Program strives to further equip practitioners to take on the challenge of strengthening local communities in an era of globalization and to participate in the process of progressive social change.

Community economic development (CED) is understood in its widest sense, as an emerging, diverse field of practice accompanied by analysis of the social-economic context. CED promotes a holistic approach to practice issues and recognizes the complex, long-term nature of individual and collective empowerment processes. CED as a means to achieve social justice goals is critically analyzed and challenged from a range of perspectives.

This program seeks to respond to the realities of community-based practitioners from a diverse range of fields. It is designed to enable participants to continue working while taking the program, whether full-time or half-time. As well, the program is structured to encourage Canada-wide participation while participants continue to be based and active in their home communities.

Structure

The Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development (CED) program:

• is offered by the School of Community and Public Affairs (SCPA), of Concordia University’s Faculty of Arts and Science, based in downtown Montreal;
• leads to a 30-credit graduate diploma, with all courses offered at the graduate level;
• on a full-time basis, takes one year to complete over three consecutive semesters: Fall, Winter and Summer;
• when taken half-time it takes two years to complete the program: two consecutive years if a participant can take courses in English and French or, if in only one language, two non-consecutive years;
• offers all courses during one extended weekend a month (all day Friday, all day Saturday and all day Sunday once a month, as well as a Thursday afternoon every once per term) integrates site visits and resource-oriented internet communication;
• includes a 6-credit practical project related to a participant’s work or volunteer activity;
• is geared to people working within marginalized and capital-poor communities, or people wanting to work with such communities;
• alternates annually between English (Fall 2008) and French (Fall 2009);
• requires applications by February 1 for the Fall term, however applications may be considered after that date if places still remain after the initial selection process.

Content and teaching/learning approach

The Graduate Diploma in CED program:

• views the contribution of knowledge and experiences brought by participants as essential to learning within the program
• seeks knowledge and skill development in a context of critical questioning and ethical considerations
• takes into account the ‘bigger picture’ of the social and economic context, policies and relations when analyzing and strategizing local economic intervention
• includes several Areas of Concentration per year, based on the group of participants’ priorities and the program’s resources, including: International Development and CED; Aboriginal CED; Financing CED Initiatives; as well as Housing and Land Use from a CED Perspective
• offers a series of 1-credit courses, including some on Feminist Approaches to CED
• favours methods that encourage participants to return learning to their communities
• encourages networking among participants to support ongoing learning, practice, and an expansion of each person’s resources.
• strategic questions and considerations over the purely technical,
• community organizing processes within community economic development, and
• the relation between wider policy issues and political/economic processes, such as globalization, and local realities and initiatives.

The Graduate Diploma in CED program offers a structured opportunity for participants to step back and critically explore their practice or community experience with others. Such exploration engages with the complexity of practice and nourishes hope and action within social justice efforts. Through participating in the program, critically reflective practitioners push themselves further, challenging the limits of their analyses and practices.

Instructors within the program are significantly involved in both community-based and university settings. They bring practical experience, theory and research to classes.

For full-time participation, the courses are taken in the following progression:

• Fall semester:
  three core courses (9 credits total) and one open session course (1 credit);
• Winter semester:
  three core courses (9 credits total), and one open session course (1 credit);
• Summer semester:
  two courses within an elective Area of Concentration (6 credits total), plus a credit course related to the practical project course (3 credits), and one open session course (1 credit).

Required courses (3 credits each, unless otherwise noted):

• SCPA 501: Introduction to Community Economic Development
• SCPA 502: Organizational Development and Conflict Resolution within CED Contexts
• SCPA 503: Fundamental Skills for CED Practice
• SCPA 504: Community Organizing and CED
• SCPA 505: Social Enterprise Development and Social Entrepreneurship
• SCPA 510: CED Field Project I (3 credits: Winter)
• SCPA 511: CED Field Project II (3 credits: Summer)

Elective Open Session courses (1 credit each, one taken from a selection each term),

• SCPA 543A-Z: Open Sessions. A range of course topics are set each year. They have included: Feminist Approaches to CED: Parts I, II and III; and CED within Black Communities of Canada, Art and Social Change.

Elective Area of Concentration courses (3 credits each, two taken from a selection offered during the Summer term)

Each participant chooses two courses from the range of those Area of Concentration courses offered in a given year. Each Area of Concentration includes two 3-credit courses (Part I and Part II), notably:

• International Development and CED (SCPA 529 & SCPA 530)
• Aboriginal CED (SCPA 536 & SCPA 537)
• Financing CED Initiatives (SCPA 508 & SCPA 509)
• Housing and Land Use from a CED Perspective (SCPA 515 & SCPA 516)

 

Class Schedule: 2008 - 2009

Thursday September 11, 2008 at 15:00: Program launch: essential for all participants to attend

Schedule of core courses (3 credits)
Given on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays (once per month)

• Fridays: from 9:00 to 12 :00 and 14:00 to 17:00
• Saturdays: from 9:00 to 12 :00 and 14:00 to 17:00
• Sundays: from 9:00 to 12 :00 and 13:00 to 16:00

Schedule of optional courses (1 credit)
Given Thursday afternoons (once per term)

• All students must register for one 1-credit course per term
• Thursdays: from 13:00 to 19:30

Lunch hours
A time for eating, connecting, relaxing, and for:

• learning circles addressing course assignments, readings or CED practices/themes
• other informal, independent activities as structured by participants.

Almost all classes take place at the School of Community and Public Affairs, 2149 Mackay Street (annex CI) on SGW campus. Please note that that this year’s graduate diploma program is given in English only.

	Thursday 13:00	Friday 9:00	Saturday 9:00	Sunday 9:00
Fall 2008	Optional 1 credit course	SCPA 501 Introduction to CED	SCPA 503 Fundamental Skills for CED Preactice	SCPA 502 Organizational Development and CED
September	11 (orientation)	12	13	14
October	-	10	11	12
November	13	14	15	16
December	-	12	13	14
Winter 2008	Optional 1 credit course	SCPA 505 Social Enterprise Development	SCPA 510 CED Project course Part I	SCPA 504 Community Organizing and CED
January	-	15	16	17
February	(12)	13	14	15
March	(12)	13	14	15
April	-	17	18	19
Summer 2008	Optional 1 credit course	SCPA 511 CED Project course Part II	Areas of Concentration course options	Area of Concentration course options
May	-	15	16	17
June	(11)	12	13	14
July	(16)	17	18	19
August	-	14	15	16

 

1 credit optional courses, given on Thursday afternoons from 13:00 to 19:30

• November 13: SCPA 543AA - Feminist Approaches to CED, Part I
• February 12: SCPA 543BB - The Arts and CED
• March 12: SCPA 543CC - Feminist Approaches to CED, Part II
• June 11: SCPA 543DD - to be determined
• July 16: SCPA 543EE - to be determined

If you have any questions regarding the Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development (CED) program, please call the School of Community & Public Affairs at (514) 848-2424, extension 2575, or e-mail scpa@alcor.concordia.ca

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