Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning (CACSL)

Background

CACSL is a national association of faculty and professional staff from post-secondary institutions based at the University of Guelph and dedicated to supporting community service learning (CSL) across Canada. It supports knowledge sharing and promotes community service learning as both an approach to post-secondary pedagogy and as a service to communities.

Grant description

Foundation funding has been provided to establish CACSL as a professional organization. Among other activities, CACSL will support knowledge sharing in connection with the Foundation’s University-Based Community Service-Learning initiative.

In the first year of the grant, CACSL set up its administrative and corporate structures, and developed a clearing house and a bilingual website for comprehensive access by CSL partners to resources, information and expertise, as well as technical assistance.

Through the grant, CACSL will also support faculty, students and community members to engage in research both about and through CSL, focus on strategic development, and develop a national evaluation framework for community service-learning.