Stacey Harker
\nRoyal Roads University
\nEDLM 540
\nLisa Read
\nJanuary 7, 2013<\/p>\n
Taking Stock of Community Resources: The Oneness of School and Community<\/strong><\/p>\n The Vancouver School Board (VSB) operates six Adult Learning Centres that offer free high school completion and upgrading to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and refugees. Although intended for adults, many youth attend VSB Adult Learning Centres because they find the social atmosphere or flexible schedule more suitable. Hastings Education Centre (Hastings) is one of the smaller of these six schools and is located in the inner city. Hastings is designed as a neighbourhood school but does not have a designated catchment. As such, an estimated 15% of Hastings students hail from neighbouring cities. With the exception of the Academic Advisor, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) does not fund non-enrolling teachers in Adult Education, so students must access specialized support within the community. However, the school does have an Outreach Worker, a support staff member charged with helping students connect with services they may need. At this time, the Outreach Worker has established relationships on behalf of the school with over 100 community services. What follows is an inventory of these resources, an overall evaluation of their strengths and shortcomings, and a discussion about student connection to school and community development.<\/p>\n Community Resources Accessed by Hastings Education Centre<\/strong><\/p>\n Addiction Resources<\/strong> Cultural Resources<\/strong> Education and Training Resources<\/strong> Employment and Income Assistance Resources<\/strong> Family Resources<\/strong> Health Services<\/strong> Housing Resources<\/strong> Immigrant Resources<\/strong> Mental Health Resources<\/strong> Municipal Resources<\/strong><\/em> Evaluation of Available Community Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n Adult Education students are a diverse group. They represent all ages, cultures, socio-economic realities, educational experience, and learning abilities. Where they are similar is in their desire to acquire skills leading to high school graduation, usually as quickly as possible. Students are also generally united in feelings of being overwhelmed by their educational circumstance, but it should be noted that these feelings are based in a diversity of root causes. This means the students all want the same thing but in different ways. Adult schools must be flexible enough to offer individualized support to their students, and this influences their connections with the community.<\/p>\n Offering a relevant service is key to creating meaningful experience in Adult Education. Many adult students have forged their own connections with their communities, so it is often redundant for a community organization to connect directly with the adult schools. Furthermore, students are commonly challenged with limits on their time. As adults, they must care for themselves, their families, and their jobs while they are studying. Offering students opportunities to be partners in community development can be burdensome to people with limited time and resources. Nevertheless, many adult students can achieve significant personal and academic success from positive connections with the community. Adult schools respond to this conundrum by facilitating these connections on an individual basis. Key to this facilitation is the Outreach Worker, who connects students with services in the community. The extensive list of community services connected to Hastings would make it appear that students are well served. In many ways, this is true, but there exists a chronic problem with continuity. Many of these services have different eligibility requirements. For example, our students are not permitted to collect employment insurance while they attend our school. Another problem is long wait lists. Many important health services are so overburdened that they can only respond to emergency situations, so our students in need can find that they are not appropriately needy to access some services. Furthermore, each community service has its own social tenor. Our school is small and prides itself on personalized, supportive connections between staff and students. Many of our students are intimidated by larger, impersonal organizations and return to our school without having successfully accessed the required community service. In each case, the school facilitates student connections with community but has negligible influence over the community supports available. At first glance it may seem ironic that a school that prides itself on flexible and relevant programming pays little attention to its School Improvement Plan (SIP). Although the SIP is revised by the principal and a teacher every year and requires a student to sign off, it is not actively connected to professional development. VSB Adult Education responds to students\u2019 individual needs with minimal resources. This means that the school\u2019s focus on being flexible can be inhibited by concrete plans. It would not be false to say that Adult Education has achieved its measure of success by avoiding binding agreements. The down side is that student involvement in school planning is rendered irrelevant. The social and structural determinants that make life difficult for people without high school leaving skills are not easily altered. Even with an ideal symbiotic relationship between the school and its community, it would be simplistic to think that these challenges belong only to those without a diploma. Indeed, the abundance of the entire community is affected by the hardship of some. In the end, the most effective resource to involve students in school and community development is the high school courses themselves. Citizens need basic skills to thrive. Adult Education offers these skills and facilitates connections with relevant special services available in the community. By increasing their proficiency and connecting with the community, students improve their lives. In turn, students with lives improved by their education go back into the community with an elevated potential for positive input. It is these contributions that strengthen the community and bolster the school\u2019s community presence. By reducing the impact of structural and social determinants, education itself becomes a community resource for the school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did I miss any? Here is an inventory of Hasting Education Centre’s community resources, an overall evaluation of their strengths and shortcomings, and a discussion about student connection to school and community development. Continue reading
\n\u2022 Hey-Way\u2019-Noqu\u2019 Healing Centre
\n\u2022 Watari Youth Day Treatment Program
\n\u2022 ODYSSEY II, Substance Abuse Services for Youth and Families<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Burnaby Multicultural Society
\n\u2022 Chinese Cultural Centre
\n\u2022 Multicultural Family Support
\n\u2022 Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Western ESL Services
\n\u2022 VCC, ELSA Department
\n\u2022 Native Youth Learning Centre
\n\u2022 Native Education Centre
\n\u2022 Tradeworks Training Society
\n\u2022 UBC Learning Exchange
\n\u2022 UBC Life and Career Centre
\n\u2022 Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Society
\n\u2022 Vancouver Formosa Academy
\n\u2022 Aboriginal Community Career and Employment Services Society
\n\u2022 MOSAIC English Language Centre
\n\u2022 MOSAIC Employment Services<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 PACT (Coast Mental Heath) Employment Services
\n\u2022 New Start Bridging Employment Program for Women
\n\u2022 China Creek Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Fairview Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Killarney Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Dockside Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Grandview Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Kiwassa Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Mountainview Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Sunrise Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 Strathcona Disability Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 West End Employment and Income Assistance Office
\n\u2022 BladeRunners
\n\u2022 Drive Youth Employment Services
\n\u2022 First Nations Employment and Enterprise Centre<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Family Services of Greater Vancouver
\n\u2022 Family Services of Greater Vancouver, East Vancouver
\n\u2022 Family Services of the North Shore
\n\u2022 Jewish Family Service Agency
\n\u2022 Watari Research Association
\n\u2022 Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society
\n\u2022 PLEA Family Services
\n\u2022 East Side Family Place
\n\u2022 Ministry of Children and Family Development
\n\u2022 Mount Pleasant Family Centre
\n\u2022 YWCA Crabtree Corner
\n\u2022 Westcoast Childcare Resource Centre<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Raven Song Community Health Centre<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Raincity Housing ACT Team
\n\u2022 Ray-Cam Co-op Centre<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Immigrant Settlement Services
\n\u2022 Immigrant Services Society
\n\u2022 Inland Refugee Society of BC
\n\u2022 Kinbrace House
\n\u2022 Kingcrest International Neighbours
\n\u2022 North Shore Multicultural Society
\n\u2022 Pacific Immigrant Resources Society
\n\u2022 PICS Settlement Information & Support Services
\n\u2022 SUCCESS
\n\u2022 Vancouver Multicultural Society
\n\u2022 Multicultural Family Centre
\n\u2022 Multicultural Helping House Society
\n\u2022 MOSAIC<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 The Kettle Friendship Society
\n\u2022 Canadian Mental Health Association
\n\u2022 Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture
\n\u2022 West Coast Christian Fellowship<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Community Centres<\/strong><\/em>
\n\uf09e Britannia Community Centre
\n\uf09e Champlain Heights Community Centre
\n\uf09e Hastings Community Centre
\n\uf09e Hillcrest Community Centre
\n\uf09e Kerrisdale Community Centre
\n\uf09e Marpole-Oakridge Services
\n\uf09e Mount Pleasant Community Centre
\n\uf09e Renfrew Park Community Centre
\n\uf09e Strathcona Community Centre
\n\uf09e Sunset Community Centre
\n\uf09e Thunderbird Community Centre
\n\uf09e Trout Lake Community Centre
\n\uf09e YMCA Community Services
\n\u2022 Community Policing Centres<\/strong><\/em>
\n\uf09e Grandview-Woodland
\n\uf09e Hastings-Sunrise
\n\u2022 Libraries<\/strong>
\n\uf09e Britannia Library
\n\uf09e Hastings Library
\n\uf09e Mount Pleasant Library
\n\uf09e Strathcona Library
\n\u2022 Neighbourhood Houses<\/strong><\/em>
\n\uf09e Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Collingwood Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Downtown East Side Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Gordon Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Kiwassa Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Little Mountain Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e North Shore Neighbourhood House
\n\uf09e South Vancouver Neighbourhood House
\n\u2022 Politicians<\/strong><\/em>
\n\uf09e MLA, Jenny Kwan
\n\uf09e MLA, Shane Simpson
\n\uf09e MP, Libby Davies
\nWomen\u2019s Services<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u2022 Battered Women\u2019s Support Services
\n\u2022 Downtown Eastside Women\u2019s Centre
\n\u2022 Elizabeth Fry Society
\n\u2022 Helping Spirit Lodge Society
\n\u2022 SHE WAY
\n\u2022 Vancouver Status of Women
\nYouth Resources<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u2022 Aunt Leah\u2019s Independent Life Skills Society
\n\u2022 Broadway Youth Services Centre
\n\u2022 Gordon House Youth Search
\n\u2022 South Vancouver Youth Centre
\n\u2022 Urban Native Youth Association
\nOther<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u2022 The 411 Seniors Club
\n\u2022 The Grandview Cavalry Baptist Church
\n\u2022 The John Howard Society
\n\u2022 Union Gospel Mission<\/p>\n
\nThe Outreach worker acts as a liaison between students and resources. This function is very important because many of the services devote little funding to public awareness campaigning, so most are unaware of what is available. By being knowledgeable about how outside organizations work, the Outreach Worker can effectively advocate for students.<\/p>\n
\nSchool Planning in Adult Education<\/p>\n
\nConclusion<\/p>\n