Partnerships in Community Development

By Silvina Antunes, 2nd year MDP student

Part of the business case process

Since classes finished at the end of the semester, I have been at my field placement full-time and I am able to get much more done and really engage with the work! My primary task since I began working full-time is to build a business case document for a visiting artists housing program that is going to be located in a new UWCRC owned and operated building that is currently under construction. This involved doing research on similar programs, completing financial projections, and analyzing and outlining the expected benefits that a program like this could provide.

Aside from this, I had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with Indigenous communities interested in conducting community development projects in partnership with UWCRC. These meetings were very insightful because I had the opportunity to learn more about certain issues that are important to communities as well as learn about opportunities that exist and the methods of conducting community development in when organizations and communities partner together.

All in all, I am so grateful to have completed my placement at UWCRC. I learned so much about project management, project planning, research and report writing however, I think the most important lesson I will take with me is the importance of partnerships. It sounds obvious, but it was very inspiring to see first-hand what projects and programs arise when organizations partner together to create solutions to issues that are important to both of them! 

Claire Reid (L) MDP Director and Silvina (R) at the site of the Arts District building

Sustainable Community Development at UWCRC

By Silvina Antunes, 2nd year MDP student

For my domestic field placement, I have been fortunate to work at the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation (UWCRC) learning about project planning, project management, and self-sustaining community development projects. 

My office at UWCRC

 UWCRC is an amazing not-for-profit organization that is focus on community revitalization both in the university context and in the greater Downtown Winnipeg community with parallel organization, UWCRC 2.0. One of the most exceptional things about UWCRC is that they are focused on projects which are self-sustaining, meaning that they do not require ongoing funding to continue operating, but are instead able to continue functioning as a result of the income they generate. Development projects often have a limited lifespan due to limitations in terms of available funding so it is very interesting to see this innovative model being used within our community right here in Winnipeg!

My work at UWCRC is related to a visiting artists program that is planned to be implemented in a new UWCRC building and is a result of a partnership between UWCRC and a Winnipeg arts organization. As part of my work, I have so far had the opportunity to report on research surrounding the feasibility of this program, as well as do some market research. Currently, while classes are still in session, I am only completing my placement part-time but I look forward to more work that is to come as school ends and I begin my placement full-time!

Capacity Building in Indigenous Communities

By Nathan McCorrister, 2nd year (part-time) MDP student

As I shared in my first blog for the MDP program, this past summer (2013) I had the privilege of undertaking my domestic field practicum at the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation (UWCRC).  Prior to my field practicum with the UWCRC, my home community of Peguis First Nation entered into a unique partnership to develop a long term land purchase plan and strategy.  It is through this partnership that we were able access the expertise needed to develop such a plan utilizing expertise from the Institute of Urban Studies and the UWCRC.  It was through this planning that our community also needed to not only gain experience with this type of planning but also to identify and plan for the capacity development needs to implement the strategy.

 As many Indigenous peoples and nations are marginalized because of colonization that resulted in loss of land, resources and culture, communities here in Canada continue to struggle with poverty and have scarce resources thus there human capacity is limited.  As a result these communities often have a much lower standard, or baseline, to start from in terms improving governance, economic development, health programs and services, etc. Communities often have to use already scarce human resources to initiate new programs, improvements to governance and other aspects of community development.  Often many leaders or staff of Indigenous communities may find themselves wearing different “hats” to assist in addressing the new initiatives or the extra work needed to accomplish improvements to the community.  

Courtesy of CESO 2013

As there is a need to access expertise and to build capacity within Indigenous communities, many communities here in Canada are turning to outside parties to access expertise and to build capacity. Consultants and other experts can be costly, as such, some communities are turning to other groups for partnerships, groups such as universities, colleges, non-profit organizations (e.g. environmental groups), cooperatives, various levels or government, etc.  One such non-profit organization, the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO), is a group of mainly retired professionals who for the most part donate their time, or at a reduced fee depending on level of service, actively offer their services to Indigenous communities and other marginalized groups.  They can offer services ranging anywhere from planning, engineering, communications, etc. CESO has been very active in Canada since 1969 and have worked on over 30,000 assignments across Canada (http://www.ceso-saco.com/Where-We-Work/Canada.aspx ).

Access to expertise and lack of capacity in Indigenous communities is a common problem but there is opportunities to begin to start a foundation upon which to build the required capacity.  Along with capacity building, there are also many tools and options for training of Indigenous peoples, through various programming and hands on experience with partnerships.  In the development field while working in Indigenous communities this should always be expected thus we as development practitioners should become knowledgeable about capacity building in terms of options to develop it and to be ready to experience it in the field.

Planning for Indigenous Communities

By Nathan McCorrister, 2nd year (part-time) MDP student

 

This past summer (2013) I had the privilege of undertaking my domestic field practicum at the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation (UWCRC).  I was pleased to be able to receive approval from the University of Winnipeg (U of W) Masters in Development Program (MDP) to choose my field practicum with the UWCRC given my personal interest and area of focus in community economic and business development.  Given a past working relationship with the UWCRC with my current career (I’m a part time student) and my knowledge of the work the UWCRC does in terms of community and business development for the U of W, it was an obvious choice for my domestic practicum.    

      

The UWCRC is a non-profit charitable corporation, created to support the U of W by developing a sustainable university and is guided by a four pillared concept of sustainability: environmental, social, economic and cultural.  The UWCRC is mandated to develop partnerships with community, private and public sector organizations.  The UWCRC developed a comprehensive campus development plan that has and continues to expand the campus and the land scape of downtown Winnipeg (The University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation, 2013).  

Wayne Flamand (L) and Nathan McCorrister

I was given the opportunity to work with senior staff, particularly Mr. Wayne Flamand, on a few of the projects the UWCRC is currently developing including work on the Merchants Hotel redevelopment considering various options and uses for the building and developing a new business proposal within a new public institution developing financial projections and cash flows based on market conditions and other related factors.  One of the valuable lessons learned working with UWCRC is that in any business venture careful planning and assessment must completed and followed through to increase successful outcomes.

As many Indigenous communities are turning to social enterprise economic development as one of the tools to improve social conditions in their community, there is an increased amount of Indigenous communities that are venturing into new businesses.  As there is such a scarce lack of resources, monetary and human resources, with Indigenous communities, all the more effort and time that should be given to careful planning and assessment of any business idea and or plan. Many Indigenous communities across Canada have great examples of successful business ventures and related business or community economic development plans.  As some of my experience and research has shown, business success takes time it doesn’t happen overnight, it will take careful planning and foundation building both from governance and business perspective.

Just as important as planning and assessment is, our sustainable development course work, and as experienced by some of you had in the field, has proven that it’s also important to take the time ensure a participatory approach to community economic development.  The participatory approach can often take some time and or a community may already have a good vision or plan that they would like to see occur or implement, in any event it’s important to take the time to meet and communicate with community members in identifying a community’s vision, goals and objectives whether for economic development reasons or other.  Here at the UWCRC this is an approach that was undertaken with its comprehensive campus development plan and that is now successfully being implemented.