Community Economic Development (CED) Graduate Diploma

Admission Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent with a minimum GPA of 2.70. Minimum one year's paid or unpaid experience in community economic development, defined broadly to include initiatives such as collective enterprise, community organization, social movement organization, advocacy group, labour union.
Students without a postsecondary degree may be considered but require a minimum five years experience in community economic development, community organizing or social movements.
Basic understanding of what community economic development stands for.

Language requirements: Students enrolled in a French year of study must be able to speak, read and understand spoken French; they must be able to write in English or French. Students enrolled in the English year of study must be able to speak, read and understand spoken English; they must be able to write in English or French.

Additional Admission Requirements

Degree Requirements

Fully-qualified candidates are required to complete a minimum of 30 credits and obtain a minimum GPA of 2.70.

Please see the School of Community and Public Affairs Courses for course descriptions.

Community Economic Development (CED) Graduate Diploma (30 credits)

credits of Core Courses:

• SCPA 500 Intersectionality, Anti-Racism and Indigenous Perspectives, Dialogue / Intersectionnalité, antiracisme et perspectives autochtones : dialogues (3.00)

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• SCPA 501 Introduction to Community Economic Development and Solidarity Economy / Introduction au développement économique communautaire et à l’économie solidaire (3.00)

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• SCPA 503 Beyond Capitalism for a Better World / Au-delà du capitalisme pour un monde meilleur (3.00)

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• SCPA 504 Community Organizing  / Organisation communautaire (3.00)

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• SCPA 505 Collective Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship / Entreprises collectives et entrepreneuriat social (3.00)

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• SCPA 5060 Field Project Preparation / Préparation au projet sur le terrain (1.00)

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• SCPA 507 Participatory Management/Gestion participative (3.00)

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• SCPA 508 Financing CED Initiatives / Financement d’initiatives de DÉC (3.00)

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• SCPA 510 Field Project and Mentorship / Projet sur le terrain et mentorat (3.00)

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• SCPA 512 The Arts for Community Organizing and Social Justice / Les arts au service de l’organisation communautaire et de la justice sociale (1.00)

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• SCPA 536 Indigenous CED/Le DÉC en milieu autochtone (3.00)

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• SCPA 543 Special Topics in CED / Thèmes ciblés en DÉC (1.00)

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Please see the Développement économique communautaire (DEC), diplôme page for the French version.

Additional Degree Requirements

Structure of the program

A typical progression through the program takes one year (three terms):

Fall Term: three 3-credit courses and one 1-credit course to prepare for the field project;
Winter Term: three 3-credit courses, including the field project and one 1-credit course;
Summer Term: three 3-credit courses and one 1-credit course.

Additional information

The program:

Is structured to enable students to continue their work, activism and/or personal commitments while studying. Offers all courses during one extended weekend per month (all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday once a month, as well as Thursday afternoon once per term).
Includes a practical field project that is based on students’ learning interests, helpful to a community and realistic for them to undertake.
Alternates annually between English (starting in fall of even years) and French (starting in fall of odd years)
On a full-time basis, takes one year to complete over three consecutive terms: Fall, Winter and Summer. As the functional language of courses is different in the following year, a strong motivation usually exists to complete the program within its framework of three consecutive terms.

Academic Regulations

Academic Standing. Please refer to the Academic Standing section of the Calendar for a detailed review of the Academic Regulations.
Time Limit. Please refer to the Academic Regulations page for further details regarding the Time Limits.
Graduation Requirement. To graduate, students must have completed all course requirements with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.70.