NGO Education Survey

Voluntary/Nonprofit Sector Overview

Overview of voluntary sector and explores their key role in buildling strong, healthy and vibrant communities.

Applied Research Methods

This survey course will provide students with an understanding of varying approaches to applied research, including qualitative, quantitative, and ethnographic methods.

Business and Community Development

Provides the theoretical and philosophical foundations of community economic development

Business and Community Development II

emphasis on the dynamics of community interaction and participation in community economic development initiatives and administrative challenges posed by community economic development organizations.

CED Initiatives and Options for Organizaitonal Structure

Provides an opportunity for students to consider the strengths and weaknesses of varying organizational structures.

Communication and Social Change

The ideologies and conditions of the premodern, modern, and postmodern worlds through their manifestations in cultural and technological artifacts.

Community Organizaiton and Leadership Training Techniques

Explores what is involved in bringing a wide range of leaders and potential leaders into community economic development initiatives.

Comparative Development

This course employs a comparative approach in the assessment of alternative development philosophies in both the North and South, especially those which attempt to define a sustainable community. It examines the influence of natural resources and governance on development, it synthesizes concepts of development, and it examines strategies used to formulate action plans to achieve sustainability in communities. Learners will become skilled on thinking globally and acting locally, and on using qualitative and quantitative indicators of sustainability.

Fieldwork Methodology and the Research Essay Proposal

Students will consult with their advisers to develop a research paper proposal and to identify fieldwork methods appropriate to their area of interest.

Government, Business and Third Sector Relations

This course will explore the multi-layered relationships between government, business, and the third sector, in order to detail the political, institutional, and societal context in which businesses and non-profit/community economic development organizations operate. This exploration will provide a lively theoretical introduction to government/business relations. The course will discuss a wide range of ideological perspectives, which attempt to inform us as to what those relations should or should not be based upon. The course includes an agenda setting exercise, by which participants attempt to project possible medium-term policy outcomes, regarding the most important issues concerning government/business/third sector relations.

History of CED in Canada

Looks at how communities in Canada have adapted to economic and social change in creative ways in the past

Leadership Training and CED

The course uses a combination of lectures, discussions, cases and presentations to focus on leadership training techniques. It covers major issues in leadership, and presents practical techniques for implementation. Learners will be able to analyze typical leadership problems and develop options for solutions, including means for conflict resolution and mediation. Emphasis is placed on cultural and political differences in the conduct of community organization and leadership training, and their effect on outcomes.

Organizational Behaviour: Management and Policy Making

Reviews empirical studies of varying management styles, organizational structures, and morale and productivity. Special attention is paid to the roles played by community members

Principles of Finance: Applications to CED

Provides students with a comprehensive body of knowledge concerning management of the firm?s financial affairs with a special emphasis on issues relevant to CED enterprises.

Principles of Marketing: The CED Approach

Explores the marketing dimension of venture analysis through the basic concept of product, price, distribution, and promotion.

Principles of Venture Analysis: The CED Context

Places venture analysis methods within the context of values and attitudes and underscores that profitability is not the only factor to be considered in analysis of a venture.

Public Policy

This course will examine the major theories relating to the policy-making process, the institutional, political and socio-economic contexts in which decisions are made and how those decisions have been implemented. Understanding the variety of means in which policies can be implemented is as important as the designing of public policy. In this respect, attention will be paid to the policy relationship between government and community economic development (CED) organizations. A number of CED public policy case studies will be used as pedagogical tools, in order to understand how the policy-making process has occurred, the other types of policy options which were available and what the results have been from particular policy decisions.

Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship refers to initiatives by citizens and community groups to respond to social needs. Social enterprises are blurring the lines between the sectors, taking for-profit, non-profit, and hybrid forms of organization. The objective of this course is to introduce students to the concepts, practices, and challenges of social entrepreneurship. Students will learn from examples of regional experiences and from case studies that illustrate the application of business skills in the social sector. The course discusses the impact of trust and social capital in communities, and the use of the Balanced Scorecard to strengthen the management of the enterprise.