As part of the , which takes place May 25 to 27 at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Volunteer Alberta is hosting a networking series where academics, volunteer centres, and community organizations can share their knowledge and experiences.

Katherine Topolniski, Creative Director at Volunteer Canada ©kbtphotography

“We are intentionally setting the scene for integrated dialogue and productive networking between [these three groups],” says Katherine Topolniski, Creative Director for Volunteer Alberta.

“In one of the Network Sessions we are focusing on discovering possibilities and creating opportunities to work together,” explains Topolniski. “We’re working to create the space in this session for participants to begin to shape the next steps they might take after the conference to initiate, grow, deepen, or scale current and/or emerging work. This is an opportunity for participants to move from recognizing the potential to beginning to harness it.”

In addition to this series of networking events, the conference will be exploring the theme of “Impact for Sustainability” with presentations from a number of Community Service Learning (CSL) and Community Engagement (CE) organizations – including those associated with CFICE.

Confirmed speakers for the conference include:

• Patti H. Clayton, an with over fifteen years of experience as a practitioner-scholar and educational developer in community-campus engagement and experiential education
• Chelsea R. Willness,��a passionate champion of community-engaged scholarship who currently holds two national research grants (SSHRC) for her research focusing on how stakeholders respond to organizations’ environmental practices and community involvement
• Leah K. Hamilton, a Principal Investigator (SSHRC Insight Development Grant) and Co-Investigator (SSHRC Insight Grant) for two research projects focused on various ways to facilitate the settlement and integration of immigrants in Canada
• Stephen Hill,��an associate professor in the new School of Environment at Trent University whose research focuses on environmental and renewable energy management and policy in Canada

The conference will also feature engaging lunch panels focused on inter-organizational collaboration in environment sustainability, community engagement with��First Nations communities, and a panel on Community Prosperity.

For more information about the conference, or to register, please visit

Final registration is Thursday, May 19.

CACSL and Mount Royal University (MRU) will be hosting the from May 25-27, 2016 at MRU in Calgary, Alberta.

The conference will be offered over three days, with the first day dedicated to two streams of activities for which conference attendees may pre-register. The two streams on the first day will be dedicated to the Volunteer Centre Network (VCN) and the TransCanada Forum for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) which will be focused on��sharing and developing teaching and learning research about CSL.��Conference tracks for concurrent sessions on May 26 and 27 will be structured to address a��full spectrum of topics including discussion of the partnership relationships between community organizations and academic institutions.

To present at the conference, please submit your proposal by January 31, 2016 via the .

Healthy Resilient Communities

Community Service Learning and Community Engagement Conference Call for Posters, Papers, Workshops and Storytelling Volunteer Canada, Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning, Algonquin College, and Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement are pleased to host the 2014 CSL and CE Conference. The conference theme will be to explore the contributions of community campus partnerships in supporting the development and maintenance of healthy resilient communities.����The conference will be held in Ottawa, May 28 to 30 2014.

Social, environmental, political, economic, and physical factors combine to support the development and maintenance of healthy resilient communities. Community resiliency is the ongoing ability of a community to work together, to identify their strengths and challenges, to mobilize their assets, and to work collectively to achieve their vision.

Community agencies and educational institutions working together contribute to healthy resilient community.�� This Conference encourages participants to explore a wide range of issues related to research, curriculum design, and assessment of impact upon community partners, institutional support, community connections and partnerships, student development, and faculty or community partner motivation and development, with the goal of providing participants with perspectives of how we can facilitate healthy resilient communities. The conference focus will be to share research, ��successes, and ideas for collaboration through multiple methods. We encourage joint academic/community submissions.

Please indicate whether you intend to present in English, French or bilingually.

We welcome your proposal, which should be submitted by e-mail to Victoria Calvert, Program Co-Chair, at VCalvert@mtroyal.ca�� Deadline for submission of proposals: February 28, 2014 Your proposal or abstract should include: 1. Presenter information (names, titles, organization or institution, e-mail addresses, phone number) 2. Selected format of presentation (oral presentation, poster, storytelling circle, workshop, consultation or other) 3. Proposal or abstract (not to exceed 300 words) Deadline for submission of proposals: February 28, 2014

We look forward to sharing stories of your successes and ideas in Ottawa.

Conference Co-Chairs:

Jane Trakalo, Algonquin College�� and Jane Hennig, Kitchener-Waterloo Action Centre