Community Development

Community Development: Introduction

Admissions to this collaborative specialization have been administratively suspended.

Lead Faculty of the Collaborative Specialization

Public Health

Participating Degree Programs

Adult Education and Community Development — MA, MEd
Counselling and Clinical Psychology (Clinical and Counselling Psychology field) — MA
Counselling Psychology — MEd
Geography — MA
Planning — MScPl
Public Health Sciences — MPH
Social Work — MSW

Overview

The Collaborative Specialization in Community Development provides students with a multidisciplinary graduate education in community development. Community development involves working with community members and groups to effect positive change in the social, economic, organizational, or physical structures of a community that improve both the welfare of community members and the community's ability to direct its future.

Students must first apply to and register in one of the participating master's degree programs listed above, and then apply to the collaborative specialization. Students must follow a course of study acceptable to both the home unit and the collaborative specialization. Upon successful completion of the degree requirements of the participating home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization, students will receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Community Development” on their transcript.

Contact and Address

Web: www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/program/collaborative-specialization-in-community-development-cdcp
Email: blake.poland@utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 978-7542

Collaborative Specialization in Community Development
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
155 College Street, 6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7
Canada

Community Development: Master's Level

Admission Requirements

  • Collaborative specializations are administered under the auspices of the School of Graduate Studies.

  • Applicants must be accepted for admission to a participating graduate unit and comply with the admission procedures of that unit before applying to the Collaborative Specialization in Community Development.

  • Applicants must submit the following to the collaborative specialization committee:

    • A copy of the letter accepting you into one of the participating graduate units.

    • A resumé or curriculum vitae (CV).

    • A letter explaining how your plan of study, your specific interests, and your career goals relate to community development (i.e., why you want to enrol in the Collaborative Specialization in Community Development); maximum length: 500 words. Include reference to any relevant experience (volunteer, work, education, etc.).

Specialization Requirements

  • Students must register in the master's degree program through one of the participating home graduate units. They must meet all respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and their participating home graduate unit.

  • To fulfil the requirements of the Collaborative Specialization in Community Development, students must complete the following:

    • The core course UCS1000H Community Development.

    • An additional 1.0 full-course equivalent (FCE) in the subject area of the collaborative specialization, to be approved by the collaborative specialization director, of which at least 0.5 FCE must be external to the student's home graduate unit.

    • Participation in a non-credit coordinating seminar on community development.

    • Where required by the home degree program, a thesis or the major research paper (as designated by the home degree program) on a topic related to community development; a member of the thesis committee or the reader of the major research paper must be a faculty member associated with the collaborative specialization. Or where required by the home degree program, a practicum placement with community development content as approved by the collaborative specialization director or core faculty member from that home degree program.

  • Normally, the required courses listed below are taken as options within regular departmental or faculty degree requirements, not as additional courses.

Community Development: Courses

Core Course

Course Code Course Title
UCS1000H
Community Development

In addition to the core course (UCS1000H), students must take an additional 1.0 FCE in the subject area of the collaborative specialization, to be approved by the collaborative specialization director. The following is a list of the currently approved courses; the list is reviewed annually and posted on the Community Development website.

Adult Education

Course Code Course Title
LHA1102H
Introduction to Community Development
LHA1182H
Nonprofits, Co-operatives, and the Social Economy: An Overview
LHA1190H
Community Healing and Peacebuilding
LHA1194H
Cyberliteracy and Adult Education
LHA1196H
Walking Together, Talking Together: The Praxis of Reconciliation
LHA5100H
Special Topics in Adult Education and Community Development: Master's Level (with approval of the Director)
LHA6100H
Special Topics in Adult Education and Community Development: Doctoral Level (with approval of the Director)

Counselling Psychology

Course Code Course Title
APD1290H
Indigenous Studies in Mental Health and Disability Justice

Nursing

Course Code Course Title
NUR1047Y
Community Participation and Health
NUR1083H
Comparative Politics of Health Policy in a Globalizing World

Planning

Course Code Course Title
JPG1507H
Housing Markets and Housing Policy Analysis
JPG1512H
Place, Politics, and the Urban
JPG1518H
Sustainability and Urban Communities
JPG1615H
Planning the Social Economy
JPG1812Y
Planning for Change: Community Development in Practice

Public Health Sciences

Course Code Course Title
CHL5126H
Building Community Resilience
CHL7001H
Directed Reading

Social Work

Course Code Course Title
SWK4210H
Promoting Empowerment: Working at the Margins
SWK4304H
Social Work Policy Practice and Advocacy in the Context of Neoliberal Globalization
SWK4306H
Theoretical Approaches to Defining Social Injustice and Engaging in Social Change
SWK4422H
Social Housing and Homelessness
SWK4512H
Research Knowledge for Social Justice