When Natasha Pei got a Research Assistantship (RAship) with the Poverty Reduction hub of CFICE in 2013, she never could have predicted the impact it would have on her career trajectory. She attributes her success, in large part, to the community-first skills she gained as a result.

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“When I first started studying social work, I thought I was going to get into child protection services,” explained Natasha. “Learning about systemic issues facing society through my Master’s, combined with my community engagement work with CFICE, broadened my horizons about how I could contribute to addressing the larger, structural barriers people face every day.”

While many RAships entail completing literature reviews, assisting with data entry, and occasionally contributing to academic articles, Natasha’s RAship with CFICE was focused on studying and building the skills necessary for creating deep and meaningful partnerships between communities and academics.

“Like many students starting in community engagement work, I was eager to share what I’d learned in university to help solve community issues,” said Natasha. “My experience with CFICE taught me how to listen to and learn from the expertise in the community, and how to develop long-term relationships that lead to far greater change.”

The experience gave Natasha skills that set her apart from her fellow Master’s students.

“I was a core member of the team,” Natasha recalled fondly. “I helped organize meetings. I liaised with multiple community and academic partners from across Canada, presenting our research information back to the community members to discuss implications with them. Where other students were reading about community engagement models like collective impact, I was actually part of collective impact projects. It was a lot of responsibility but it was a great experience.”

Pei graduated her Master’s of Social Work degree with a job waiting for her at Tamarack Institute’s Vibrant Communities, a core partner of CFICE’s Poverty Reduction Hub. And her CFICE experience didn’t stop there.

“I transitioned straight from being an RA for CFICE’s Poverty Reduction hub to being the hub’s community co-lead! It was great because I brought continuity to the projects, and I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learned, both in my position at Vibrant Communities, as well as with my ongoing work as part of CFICE.”

Patricia Ballamingie and Natasha Pei at the CFICE Community Impact Symposium, January 2017.

Through her co-lead position, Natasha has continued studying effective ways to maximize the benefits of community-campus engagement for the community. She has also witnessed firsthand the impact of using a community-first approach in engagement, especially in her position as Community Animator with Vibrant Communities.

“You can actually see the difference this work makes for our community partners. So often in social work, you put your heart and soul into helping people escape poverty or homelessness. With this job, I am in the privileged position of helping people pass knowledge back and forth so people can build the work from each other, and do work more effectively to move policy and systems, as a result of our conversations.”

When asked how CFICE’s community-first ethos has changed her expectations and methods as a community partner, Natasha responded, “When we’re engaging other community members, asking them to share their experience and expertise, we take the time to truly listen to and learn about the issues that they are facing. We are prepared to meet them where they’re at, rather than imposing our own assumptions.”

Natasha encourages other students to learn community-first practices as well.

“For students working with communities, it’s incredibly important to start by looking inwards, to value the community’s perspective, and then identify how your role can best contribute to bigger relationship and overall goals.”

Become more community-first!

To learn more about how to make your work more community-first, check out our list of actions for all community-campus engagement practitioners!

Alexandra Hine is CFICE’s newest, and arguably, most enthusiastic addition to the team! Alex’s search for “an opportunity to help support the ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´/Ottawa community in a meaningful way” was successful in landing her a position as the next Administrative Research Assistant to the CFICE Secretariat.

Alex is a full-time Anthropology graduate student at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, and keeps herself exceptionally busy with this work–on top of her current teaching and research assistant positions.

“When I’m not at CFICE enjoying the incredible views from Dunton Tower, I can usually either be found meeting with my supervisor, in class, marking papers or drinking coffee!”

Alex is an activist, a passionate student, and an engaged member of her community. Her concern with reproductive justice, women’s health and medical anthropology are the guiding themes in her Masters research.

Alex’s keen interest in engaged social research has provided her with ample experience in community involvement. Alex has been a Peer Mentor with the Centre for Student Academic Success at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´, a Social Media Coordinator for the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network and has also spent many years supporting and assisting her various communities in Ottawa, Toronto, and within ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´, in any way possible.

When asked what excites her about working for CFICE, Alex stated, “What excites me most is getting a chance to support the Canadian communities alongside an incredible team of really dedicated researchers and community partners.”

“I hope that my role in CFICE will allow me to help support all the amazing work being done by the various working groups and help to foster more equitable relations between major post-secondary institutions like ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ and community at large.”

Alex brings with her a vigor, zeal and passion that will definitely benefit CFICE and CFICE is happy to welcome her to the team.

As students we’ve all heard the very ‘tumblr’ quote “You all have a little bit of ‘I want to save the world in you’. That’s why you’re here in college”. But, did you know that participating in community-campus engagement can actually help you cultivate that ambition and actively help you make the world a better place?

So, what is Community Campus Engagement (CCE) and how can it improve the world?

Community-campus engagement (CCE) is when members of the community and members of post-secondary campuses come together to reach a common goal. When the community and campus is unified in purpose, society’s best minds and hearts are at work to improve humanity!

For example, one student working with CFICE–Zhaocheng Zeng–had a great opportunity to impact her community when she partnered with the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction in 2014 to study living wage in Hamilton, Ontario. This collaborative research project contributed to a better understanding of employee motivations at work, and also led to more employers signing up to be living wage employers.

Participating in CCE can help you make the world a better place by:

• Generating new perspectives on how to best improve society
• Strengthening community capacity, particularly for vulnerable groups
• Providing an incubator for open-minded and engaged citizens
• Constructing networks that improve access to capacity and resources
• Addressing local challenges with new solutions.
• Sharing knowledge
• Enhancing contributions to social change
• Fostering community!

Members of the GottaGo! team, including student volunteers ŠGottaGo!

How can you get involved?

• Talk to an academic advisor about your interest in seeking a placement/ internship in a community organization relevant to your study/ interests
• Keep your eyes peeled for on-campus posters, brochures and tables that advertise volunteer opportunities
• Visit or to find local volunteer opportunities
• Check out CFICE’s piece on  for more ideas

What best practices will help you be the most effective partner?

• Stay open-minded and respectful of all partners.
• Focus on listening before sharing your ideas so you fully understand the community partner’s needs and expertise.
• Seek to make connections for long-term projects and networks.
• Take every opportunity to seek training on skills and competencies for effective CCE.
• Take pride in your CCE work! Share your experiences with friends, and be willing to be a mentor for future students.
• Stay up to date with all of CFICE’s latest by

Your desire to “save the world” is something that makes you great! Take it, cultivate it in CCE, and go make the world a better place!