This May, Volunteer Alberta is excited to participate in CACSL Conference 2016: Impact for Sustainability, an exciting conference bringing together community and post-secondary on the topic of Community Service Learning.
Our Creative Director, Katherine Topolniski, explains why Volunteer Alberta got involved in the conference:
“One of the most exciting trends in volunteerism is Community Service learning. The education system is moving quickly in this direction, students are being encouraged and supported to explore avenues for learning in their community. Students are enhancing their education with real world experiences, while making a difference.
This is an exciting new trend in Canada with benefits we have yet to fully comprehend. Will students become advocates, catalysts and influencers for community and the nonprofit sector? How will the experiences of today’s youth emerge as they explore career paths and embark on their professional journey?”
Katherine spoke more about the Impact for Sustainability conference to Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE), another organization participating in the conference. Below is their blog about the upcoming conference, originally published on their website:
Volunteers often serve as the backbone of community initiatives, and the Volunteer Canada network wants to help organizations maximize their potential.
As part of the CACSL Conference 2016, which takes place May 25 to 27 at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Volunteer Alberta is hosting a networking series where academics, volunteer centres, and community organizations can share their knowledge and experiences.
“We are intentionally setting the scene for integrated dialogue and productive networking between [these three groups],” says Katherine Topolniski, Creative Director for Volunteer Alberta.
“In one of the Network Sessions we are focusing on discovering possibilities and creating opportunities to work together,” explains Topolniski. “We’re working to create the space in this session for participants to begin to shape the next steps they might take after the conference to initiate, grow, deepen, or scale current and/or emerging work. This is an opportunity for participants to move from recognizing the potential to beginning to harness it.”
In addition to this series of networking events, the conference will be exploring the theme of “Impact for Sustainability” with presentations from a number of Community Service Learning (CSL) and Community Engagement (CE) organizations – including those associated with CFICE.
Confirmed speakers for the conference include:
- Patti H. Clayton, an Independent Consultant with over fifteen years of experience as a practitioner-scholar and educational developer in community-campus engagement and experiential education
- Chelsea R. Willness, a passionate champion of community-engaged scholarship who currently holds two national research grants (SSHRC) for her research focusing on how stakeholders respond to organizations’ environmental practices and community involvement
- Leah K. Hamilton, a Principal Investigator (SSHRC Insight Development Grant) and Co-Investigator (SSHRC Insight Grant) for two research projects focused on various ways to facilitate the settlement and integration of immigrants in Canada
- Stephen Hill, an associate professor in the new School of Environment at Trent University whose research focuses on environmental and renewable energy management and policy in Canada
The conference will also feature engaging lunch panels focused on inter-organizational collaboration in environment sustainability, community engagement with First Nations communities, and a panel on Community Prosperity.
For more information about the conference, or to register, please visit http://cacslconference2016.ca/
Final registration is Thursday, May 19.