In the past year, the Centre for Community Partnerships (CCP) successfully transitioned into a new model of operations as a “Centre of Excellence” in community-engaged learning and research (CEL/R). As a Centre of Excellence, the CCP will collaborate with community partners, students, faculty and staff to advance CEL/R through building community, enhancing capacity and learning together.
As part of this transformation, a Staff Networks and Development portfolio was created and will be stewarded by a new coordinator position. This portfolio provides programs, services and resources to U of T staff, to support community-partnered experiential learning across the institution. This work is being informed by the valuable contributions of the new Staff Advisory Committee.
A major milestone was the launch of the new CCP institutional website, designed to address the needs of faculty, staff and community partners. This digital platform is a hub for promoting CCP programming, sharing resources and showcasing exemplary work in community-engaged learning.
Furthering its commitment to faculty development, the CCP also initiated a series of Faculty Guides to CEL, with the inaugural guide focusing on CEL in the Health Sciences. Additional guides in development include Respectful and Reciprocal Engagement with Indigenous Community Partners and Co-Designing CEL with Community Partners.