Our Community Economic & Social Development Program
Algoma University’s four-year Bachelor of Arts in Community, Economic, and Social Development (CESD) is the only undergraduate program of its kind in Canada!
Community economic and social development provides students with the tools and knowledge to make meaningful change within their community and the around the world. This distinctive interdisciplinary program integrates several disciplines including CESD, social work, Anishinaabe studies, economics, and business administration. Due to the broad-based structure of the program, students will develop a holistic perspective of the world around them and develop the knowledge and understanding to work to advocate for positive change, fight for economic and social justice, and defend human rights, with a specific focus on smaller urban, rural, northern, and Indigenous communities. Students can also complete a specialization in either local economic autonomy, or community services and equity studies.
In students’ third-year of study, they will complete a 150-hour work placement, while in their fourth-year, they will be required to complete a 300-hour placement and a major paper or project. Students have been placed in organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Community Development Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie, Batchewana First Nation, Garden River First Nation, NORDIK Institute, United Way, the City of Sault Ste. Marie, and more. These placements allow students to apply concepts, theories, and methods from their coursework in the community, advocate for change, and implement new strategies to improve people’s lives, making the degree action-packed and very hands-on.
Graduates of the Local Economic Autonomy specialization will be eligible for the Technician-Aboriginal Economic Developer professional designation certification from the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Offices (CANDO), and earn points toward writing the exam for the Economic Developer designation from the Economic Developers’ Association of Canada (EDAC).
Graduates from the CESD program have gone on to work in the local, provincial, and federal government, not-for-profit and cooperative agencies, youth development agencies, rural and urban economic development associations, have worked as researchers, advocates, and more graduates have also been accepted into prestigious graduate programs in geography, education, sociology, sustainable development, and community economic development.
Hear what professors from the CESD program have to say about this distinctive interdisciplinary degree!
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What You Can Expect
Hands-on learning, a close-knit campus community, and caring faculty.
Be a changemaker in your community
Fight for social and economic justice, defend human rights, and bring about positive change – that’s what CESD is all about. If you want to make a difference while making a living, CESD is the program for you!
Get hands on experience
In your third and fourth year of CESD, students will participate in a 150-hour and 300-hour field placement, which will apply concepts, theories, and methods learned in the classroom to real life. You’ll get real hands-on working knowledge, valuable experience to add to your resume, and you’ll have already started building your professional network before you even graduate.
An interdisciplinary Career
With courses in CESD, social work, economics, Anishinaabe studies, and business administration, students will earn a well-rounded and holistic degree that opens them up to countless career paths. Your options are endless with a degree in CESD.
Spring Institute
The CESD Spring Institutes provide education and professional development in Community Development with a specialized focus on northern, rural and Indigenous communities. These annual week-long condensed courses offer interactive, hands-on learning experiences and unique university course credits that can be applied to a degree at Algoma U or professional development for those already working in the field.
Local Economic Autonomy Specialization
The specialization in Local Economic Autonomy provides students with a deeper expertise and practice of the skills associated with local economic development. It supplements the core degree in CESD with a focus on the values of local autonomy and sustainability, analysis of place-based socio-economic challenges, and skills like engagement, fundraising, grant writing, financial planning, evaluation, and navigating all levels of public and Indigenous government. Graduates with the Local Economic Autonomy specialization receive the Technician-Aboriginal Economic Developer professional designation from the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers and receive their first year’s membership in CANDO paid by the university.
Community Services and Equity Studies Specialization
The specialization in Community Services and Equity Studies provides students with a deeper understanding of social structure and expertise in issues of diversity and identity, processes of social change, and human services delivery. It supplements the core degree in CESD with a focus on the role and function of public and social organizations in the delivery of services like income assistance, health, and housing, analysis of how forms of human diversity relate to social structure and hold implications for service design, and how colonial systems contribute to inequity, marginalization, and exploitation. The specialization also helps students build skills for community advocacy and raising awareness for social justice.
International Experiences
With program links to social movements and universities throughout the globe, CESD students have taken part in international learning experiences in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and taken part in international gatherings like Slow Food International’s Terra Madre event in Turin, Italy. CESD students Professor Dr. Sheila Gruner is also a founding director of the Institute of Peoples, Territories, and Pedagogies for Peace (IPTP), a non-governmental organization that fosters decolonizing, intercultural dialogue and grassroots diplomacy efforts in Canada, Colombia, Bolivia and other countries across the Global South. Students can become involved with the IPTP in a variety of ways, including as volunteers, field placement students, through work study programs, and through graduate studies supervision. For more information, please visit the IPTP’s website. LEARN MORE
NORDIK Institute
A community-based research institute with longstanding links to the CESD program, NORDIK has been instrumental in investigating key issues which directly affect Northern Ontario and helping communities strategize to achieve the futures they aspire to. Students can become involved with NORDIK in a variety of ways, including as volunteers, field placements, interns, summer students, through work study programs, and through graduate studies supervision. For more information, please visit NORDIK’s website. LEARN MORE
The People’s Garden
The People’s Garden is an initiative started and maintained by CESD students with support from CESD and other program faculty,in partnership with the Algoma U Student Food Pantry, Student Services, and Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig. The People’s Garden was undertaken in an effort to address student food security, as well as to provide an arena for fun on-campus events and community-building activities.
Community Based Delivery
The CESD Department has been delivering Community Based courses in partnership with communities and organizations for more than a decade. Past Community Based Partnerships included working with Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, Kenjgewin Teg Educational Institute (KTEI), Fort Albany First Nation and Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation. Our current partner for the First Nation Social Service Administrators Certificate is The Ontario Native Welfare Administrators Association (ONWAA). Reach out to [email protected] to inquire how we can tailor program delivery to your community or organization.
Our Courses
Please visit the Student Portal or the Employee Portal to access the Course Catalogue via “Self-Service“.
For members of the general public who wish to learn more about Algoma University’s academic programs and course offerings, please visit our Academic Calendar webpage.
Experience Maps
Are you ready to apply theory and academic content to real-world experiences? It's time to make your plan!
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Dr. Sheila Gruner
Associate Professor, Department of Community Economic and Social Development; Director, Institute of Peoples, Territories and Pedagogies for Peace (IPTP)
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Dr. Laura Wyper
Associate Professor, Department of Community Economic and Social Development; Faculty Chair, Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies
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Dr. Sean Meades
Associate Professor; Department of Community Economic and Social Development
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Melissa Jones
Lead, Field Education & Strategic Initiatives, Department of Community Economic and Social Development
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Dr. Ushnish Sengupta
Assistant Professor, Chair, Department of Community Economic and Social Development
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Dr. Tamanna Rimi
Adjunct Professor, Community Economic and Social Development
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“In my fourth year placement, I organised an advisory committee for the Soup Kitchen to change into a Community Health Centre. It was such a great experience. The placement allowed me to bring the skills I had learned in class and apply them to the centre. I was given freedom to explore and develop new projects and analyse how effective other plans were. I was subsequently hired by the Soup Kitchen.”
Allyson Schmidt
MA, Sociology, BA, CESD
“I loved the passion in the students at Algoma. I did a lot of social and environmental activism and volunteer work while at school, from gathering like-minded individuals to tackling today’s issues on campus with the CESD Club to helping grow organically produced food, free to the student population. This all added to my future and my degree. It stretched me as an individual and gave me the hands on experience that I needed to solidify what theory was learned within the classroom.”
Carly Breckenridge
BA, CESD
“We receive a lot of hands-on experience and placement opportunities outside of the classroom, which really helps to apply what we are learning in real-life situations.”
Johnathan Lalonde
