Grassroots Leaders Building Skills
Grassroots Leaders Building Skills
The Henson College Certificate in Community Development
“Empowerment is the word. I’ve been forced to break out of my own circle and see more. I have a direction now in my community, more involvement in activism.”–student evaluating the Henson College Certificate in Community Development.
This course was designed to sharpen social analysis and develop skills in leaders of low-income and marginalized communities in Nova Scotia. Taught by two experienced community workers and funded by two major Canadian foundations, it graduated 50 students over four years. Many joined the program’s advisory committee and helped the course evolve further. Grassroots Leaders Building Skills includes the complete course, with agendas for 25 three-hour sessions, detailed directions for facilitators and spiral-bound handouts for photocopying. Many sessions can stand alone as workshops on topics such as diversity, ideology, community development and building strategies for social change. Plans are included for adapting the sessions to middle class participants, post-secondary classroom settings, or as a series of intensive workshops. Introductory essays explore the theories behind the program and its pedagogy, the logistical organization and the experience of graduates. This powerful course is a valuable resource to anyone teaching social analysis and community organization skills.
Anne Bishop has been working toward social justice through adult education and community organizing for more than 50 years. Her activism aligned with making an income for three years as coordinator of development education for Canadian University Services Overseas and for a decade developing community leadership education through a university continuing education department. The rest of the time, she earned her living through freelance writing, editing, teaching, facilitation, research, union organizing, farm labour, restaurant hostessing, managing a used clothing store, supporting worker cooperatives, working on the line in a fishplant and an industrial sewing shop and, for twenty-five years, raising sheep, chickens, fruit, berries and veggies. She has a passion for spinning and knitting wool.
Anne has co-authored four books on popular education and one on the Canadian food system and is the author of two books about allies, Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression in People (1994, 2002, 2015) and Beyond Token Change: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression in Institutions (2005). In 2019, she published her first novel, Under the Bridge.
- ISBN-13
- 9781552661499
- Publisher
- Fernwood Publishing
- Imprint
- Fernwood Publishing
- Publication date
- 31 December 2004
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 256
- Dimensions
- 229 x 152 mm
- Language
- English