As UWinnipeg's Inner-City Work Study Program celebrates a decade of success connecting students with community organizations in the city's core, it is also saying thanks to the outgoing Winnipeg city councillor whose idea sparked its creation.
Students, staff, and faculty in the Department of Urban and Inner-City Studies gathered at Merchant's Corner on August 6 to mark 10 years of the program, which runs each year from May to August.
Students in the program spend four days in a paid work placement at a community-based inner-city organization, and one day in the classroom, learning theories of community practice in urban settings. Placements are tailored to students' skills and interests.
We pack a whole lot of learning into just three and a half months.
Lorie English
City of Winnipeg Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) and Dr. Shauna MacKinnon, Professor in the Department of Urban and Inner-City Studies, reflected on how the program has benefited the city by training the next generation of grassroots urban leaders and deepening connections between the academy, civic organizations, and communities.
Kerniel Aasland, Coordinator of the Work Study Program, said 190 students have completed the six-credit-hour program, collectively contributing over 124,000 hours to 90 different community organizations. It would take one person 66 years to contribute that many hours, Aasland said. Two-thirds of students who complete the program maintain contact with community organizations through subsequent work or volunteering.
Mayes, who is concluding his final term on council, said the idea for the program came to him in the early 1990s, when he encountered City Year, a community service program in Boston, Mass. Elected to council in 2011, he brought the idea forward in 2015.
From left: Dr. Jino Distasio, Interim President & Vice-Chancellor; Coun. Brian Mayes; Dr. Shauna MacKinnon, Professor of Urban and Inner-City Studies; Kerniel Aasland, Inner-City Work Study Program Coordinator.
Another source of inspiration for the program was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's 94 Calls to Action, which note reconciliation requires "sustained public education and dialogue, including youth engagement."
Mayes' vision aligned with the Department of Urban and Inner-City Studies' commitment to urban renewal and place-based experiential learning. Faculty developed the program, while Mayes helped secure annual funding. It launched in 2017 as Youth United.
Today, the program depends on a network of funding from the University, the City of Winnipeg, RBC Future Launch, and Mitacs.
Dr. MacKinnon said the program counters polarization by bringing together people with different experiences and perspectives Indigenous and non-Indigenous, urban and suburban, newcomers and lifelong Winnipeggers to work and learn together in Winnipeg's inner-city.
Bridging theory and practice, students learn from instructors with experience in the field. They apply what they learn in the classroom to the community around them. In turn, they bring that community experience back into the classroom, where it informs further learning.
"We pack a whole lot of learning into just three and a half months," said Instructor Lorie English, Executive Director of the West Central Women's Resource Centre, who has been teaching in the program for a decade.
Students emerge from the program with more than course credit. They learn hands-on skills like grant writing, de-escalation, and harm reduction, and gain a better understanding of themselves, each other, the workforce, and Winnipeg's social landscape. Students often remark it's the best course they took at University.
"We're really proud of this program," Dr. MacKinnon said, adding it's a great example of how remarkable things can be done by pooling resources and forging partnerships.
