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Admission
Requirements and Fees
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Student success in college requires well developed learning skills and attitudes (such as being able to work independently,
participate in a team, be well-organized, develop good work habits, and show initiative). These skills are as important as prior academic
achievement. Applicants should have thoroughly developed these skills and attitudes before beginning their college programs.
List of Courses
OUR PROGRAM
For the past 35 years (since 1975), Community Worker program students, graduates and faculty have been helping to build and strengthen communities in Toronto. Students with a commitment to social justice and human rights will develop their knowledge and skills for work with individuals, families and community service organizations.
Students will have an opportunity to acquire theoretical concepts, practical skills and training in group work, counselling, community engagement, organizing and development. The program encourages analysis, creativity and active participation in all courses. In addition to classes, students will gain 600 hours of field experience in two different community organizations. Our program has developed relationships with over 200 community agencies in Toronto willing to host students on field placements as community workers. Some international placements may also be available.
Note: Some of our student placement partners require students in this program to have a police reference check completed before their field placement. These reference checks, which can take up to four months, are done to protect the clientele of these agencies, who are considered “vulnerable persons” under the law. The fees for the reference checks vary and must be paid by the student. Students are responsible for ensuring that the check covers appropriateness for “individuals being employed and/or volunteering who will be working with vulnerable person(s).” Students without a clear police reference check may find that their choice of placements is limited.
FACULTY BIOS
Pramila Aggarwal, Ph.D ( candidate), M.A, M.Ed, has been a professor in the Community Worker program since 1995. She has worked for over twenty years as a community organizer and labour activist, including playing an instrumental role in the founding of the Worker’s Action Centre. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, her research is on Punjabi grandmothers and their role in Canadian society. Additional research includes work with both a Community University Research Alliance/SHRCC project on precarious employment in Canada and with the Bancroft Research Institute on issues of workers’ compensation in Ontario. Pramila is a recipient of George Brown College’s Board of Governors’ Award for Excellence in Service to the Community as well as the recipient of the City of Toronto’s William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations.
Resh Budhu, M.A. Based in the Community Worker program since 2004, Resh comes from a background in popular education, activism and theatre. Her work in the area of social justice, for over two decades (at home in Canada and abroad), has been mainly focused on issues relating to gender equality, anti-racism and community development. She has worked with the Government of Canada Millennium Initiative, the YWCA Week Without Violence, and the Beijing Forum on Women ‘95. Where issues of social justice, anti-oppression, diversity and equity are core to her teaching practice, the classroom continues to be an extension of her prior community worker life. She enjoys critical (outside-the-box) thinking, medium-double-doubles, genre-bending literature, political vision, the ‘80s, and being a mystery…
Lynne Brennan, M.Sc., teaches courses in community work theory, interpersonal communication, group dynamics, and field practice. She has more than a dozen years of international experience in Nepal, Zambia, Thailand, Samoa, and Bosnia working with communities and organizations as an adult educator and gender specialist. She has conducted social audits and evaluations, facilitated strategic planning exercises for non-profit groups, and organized fundraisers for Nagarik Aawaz (a community-level, peace building non-governmental organization in Nepal). She is a qualified Life Skills Coach, and serves as a Board Member at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts. Her research interests include peace-building and feminist theology.
Robin Buyers, M.A., has combined her work as a teacher with front-line and behind-the-scenes roles in social justice organizations and movements for over 30 years. A committed, and always learning, ally to struggles for Indigenous rights, Robin facilitated the Coalition for a Public Inquiry into Ipperwash from 1997 to 2004; collaborated in Professor Lynne Davis’ Coalitions and Alliances Project for the Department of Indigenous Studies at Trent University; and co-authored Learning About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian Classrooms (2002). At George Brown College, she co-founded the School of Social and Community Services Destination Cuba program, and is a recipient of the Centre for Community Services Award for Excellence in Service to the Community and the Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence. For the past 10 years, she has served in a variety of capacities with the international human rights organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).
Johanne Clare, Ph.D., has been teaching adults for over 25 years. Her work has centered on issues of social inclusion and marginality in literature, education, and social policy and has been supported by a SHRCC grant and a Canadian Federation of the Humanities grant. She is the author of John Clare and the Bounds of Circumstance (McGill-Queen’s) which explores the impact of poverty and class upon cultural aspiration. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, she examined patterns of alienation, advocacy, and dissent in selected texts. She has also taught at the University of Toronto in the departments of English and Women’s Studies and at Centennial College, where she developed a program in generic skills for at-risk students. She served for many years as a consultant to the CBC and Telefilm Canada and was lead writer on the TV series, No Place Like Home, a portrait of life on the streets of Parkdale. Johanne also has interests in personality theory, is a certified Enneagram trainer, and has conducted research on educating and testing for emotional intelligence.
Bill Fallis, Ed.D., currently the Coordinator of the Community Worker program, has been involved in adult education for many years as a practitioner, learner, and researcher. He has taught courses in adult education and community development at George Brown College, University of New Brunswick, Ontario Institute for the Study of Education, and Mount Saint Vincent University. He has a certificate in Distance Education from the Teletraining Institute, Stillwater, Oklahoma. As a program reviewer at George Brown College, Bill developed qualitative strategies to ensure faculty and student participation. Overseas, he has assessed the value of NGO literacy projects in India, developed a model for a high school equivalency program in Jamaica, strengthened a newly-revised adult education program in St. Lucia, and managed the George Brown - Samoan Second Chance Education project through the Commonwealth Secretariat. Bill has recently completed a secondment to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities as a Project Officer, where he reviewed or developed vocational standards for various community college programs.
 The
Power of One:
Community Worker student honoured for her outstanding contribution
Congratulations to Bridget Perrier, who was named the 2006 year's YWCA of Toronto Turning Point Woman of Distinction.
Each year, one exceptional young woman is honoured for her contributions to improving the lives of women and girls in her community.
[Find out more...]
YOUR FUTURE STUDY OPTIONS
Students who successfully complete this program may qualify for advanced standing in Community Economic and Social Development at Algoma University. Students wishing to pursue further study at York University should see the conditions for advanced standing from college programs at http://futurestudents.yorku.ca/requirements/college
For further information, see transferguide.georgebrown.ca.
YOUR CAREER
Graduates are employed in organizations that undertake community work, including but not limited to immigrant and refugee services, housing support, community development projects, international solidarity work, youth programs and neighbourhood services.
Graduates are eligible to apply for a certificate of registration with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. The Community Worker program has been approved as equivalent to community college Social Service Worker programs for professional registration purposes.
“The Community Worker program taught me that working in the community means working with the community, being an active part of it,
changing society by changing the way we think, act and work together. The support I received and the grassroots model taught by the faculty
inspired and encouraged me, preparing me for my career more than I could have imagined.”
Miranda Harpell (graduate)
Housing Support Worker
COURSES
SEMESTER 1
CWRK1006 Community Work Forum
CWRK1005 Human Rights
CWRK1008 Interpersonal Communications
CWRK1001 Introduction to Community Work
COMM1007 College English
GSSC1064 Sociology: A Critical Approach
GNED General Education
Elective
SEMESTER 2
CWRK1003 Understanding Community Organizations
CWRK1009 Group Dynamics
CWRK1011 Field Seminar II
CWRK1010 Fieldwork II
GSSC1089 Political Science
COMP1082 Computer Skills and Applications
SEMESTER 3
CWRK2012 Proposal Development
CWRK2019 Canadian Social Policy
COUN2003 Counselling
CWRK2009 Field Seminar III
CWRK2002 Fieldwork III
ELECT Program Options
SEMESTER 4
CWRK2014 Organizing Communities and Campaigns
CWRK2032 Global Politics
CWRK2016 Group Leadership
CWRK2018 Field Seminar IV
CWRK2017 Fieldwork IV
ELECT Program Options
GNED General Education
Elective
Program options may change according to student interest and community trends. Examples include: Anti-Racism Strategies, International Development, Community Legal Issues, Housing and Homelessness and Program Evaluation. There will be 600 hours of field experience during the program.
For more information
Call the School of Social & Community Services
at 416-415-5000, ext. 2185 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
e-mail
For updated information and course descriptions, call 416-415-2000 (TTY 1-877-515-5559) or long distance 1-800-265-2002.
George Brown College is continually striving to improve its programs and their delivery. The information contained in
this calendar is subject to change without notice. It should not be viewed as a representation, offer or warranty. Students are responsible for verifying
George Brown College admission, graduation, and fee requirements as well as any requirements of outside institutions, industry associations, or other
bodies that may award additional designations concurrently with, or after completions of, a George Brown College program.
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