Social Innovation and Community Development: A Rundown
Do you want to bring your perspective to the decision-making level?
With an education in Social Innovation and Community Development, you can help generate community-based solutions to barriers, design a business plan to launch your future in entrepreneurship, and hone your expertise in policy-making to address systemic barriers at the institutional level.
If you’re committed to…
- Life-long learning
- Problem-solving
- Adapting to challenges
- Social justice and reconciliation
- Innovative community solutions
… Social Innovation and Community Development can help you build the foundation you need to launch your career in creating positive social and economic impacts for communities at both the local and global scales. Whether you want to generate community-based solutions to barriers, become an entrepreneur, or effect change at the policy level, Social Innovation and Community Development can get you there.
Prepare for a Career in Social Innovation and Community Development
Social Innovation and Community Development has wide applications and specializations which you will explore in-depth in the first-year stream.
Once you finish the general first year, you can exit with a one-year certificate or continue into one of the two second-year specializations: Community Development or Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship. With Community Development, you can become an agent of change in communities experiencing barriers to development using community assets, promoting inclusion and participation at all levels, and understanding structural dynamics and ethical issues. With Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship, you can transform your values and passions into a venture that positively impacts the world.
First-Year Outcomes
Once you complete the first-year stream, you may exit with the one-year certificate to start your career early. You’ll be able to advise on and facilitate responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action; use business administrative skills to support, build, monitor, and report on economic development opportunities and initiatives; and apply communication techniques to mobilize and empower communities through facilitation, education, capacity building, and advocacy. The first year provides a strong foundation to start your career early, or to strengthen your direction once you choose a second-year specialization. The Indigenous Academic Advisor can help guide you on what course of action can best suit your career goals.
Careers in Community Development
Incorporates Indigenous worldviews to articulate economic and organizational goals – including mission, vision, and values.
Recognizes and interprets different governance structures, regulations, and Indigenous traditional knowledge systems to develop business models and philosophies within the Social Enterprise sector.
Creates business solutions to social problems by applying theory, models, and tools, along with innovative and critical thinking to enhance opportunities for Indigenous communities.
Potential roles could include:
- Project coordinators
- Program managers
- Policy analysts in all levels of governments
- Community developers
- Political policy researchers and writers
Learn more about Community Development in the Catalogue.
Careers in Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship
Supports community planning by designing, implementing, and reporting on research conducted to map assets, assess needs, and monitor trends and new practices in community development
Work with communities to build and maintain social capital that supports socially-inclusive community ownership and teamwork.
Identifies funding sources to generate revenue for community development initiatives. Writes grant proposals to secure funds for various community initiatives.
Potential roles could include:
- Business owners
- Activists
- Social responsibility managers in for-profit business
- Customer relations and sales managers
- Cultural program planners
Learn more about Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship in the Catalogue.
At-a-glance descriptions to help you know what to expect
Year 1
Term 1 (fours months)
- Communication Strategies: You will enhance your interpersonal skills, intercultural competence, and digital fluency by engaging in project-based activities that encourage critical thinking and collaboration.
- Computer Applications for Social Innovation: You will explore various current software applications supporting community development and social innovation, learning essential networking, collaboration, research, and project management tools alongside them.
- Indigenous Knowledge and Leadership: You will on Indigenous community practices, exploring traditional knowledge systems, protocols, ceremonies, relationships with the natural environment, worldviews, leadership structures, and international agreements on a local, federal, and global scale.
- Foundations of Social Innovation: This course provides an understanding of how new ideas are generated, developed, and applied to address social inequality through community-based initiatives, introducing you to various social enterprises and community development agencies, while emphasizing values, principles, concepts, and strategies for effecting change.
- Financial Literacy: This course will introduce you to different banking products, budget creation techniques to strengthen their financial knowledge and skills – teaching you how to manage income, personal debt, and track expenses.
- Project Management for Social Innovation and Community Development: This course provides the fundamental aspects and principles of project planning including initiating, planning, executing and controlling a project from start to finish, on budget and on time.
Term 2 (four months)
- Financial Documentation: In this course, you will learn fundamental accounting principles used in community development and social entrepreneurship, including budgets, cash flow projections, monthly financial statements, and annual reports.
- Communication for Social Innovation: You will further develop their communication skills in social innovation and community development by mastering professional, inclusive, collaborative, and empathetic communication techniques across various written and spoken channels to effectively engage diverse audiences.
- Social Innovation Capstone: You will be matched with a community organization to undertake a project addressing the client’s challenge, providing work-integrated experience and an opportunity to work closely with a potential employer.
- Applied Economics: You will be introduced to different perspectives on, and examples of economic reconciliation, and throughout this course, you will develop your own understanding of reconciliation.
Elective Courses
Additionally, you may choose elective courses to build a learning plan suitable to your career goals:
- Accounting Fundamentals
- Financial Accounting
- Introduction to Canadian Business
- Research Methods
- Introduction to Supply Chain Management
- Business Law
- Organizational Behaviour
- Communication Skills for Business and Applied Arts 1
- Accounting Fundamentals
- Financial Accounting
- Introduction to Canadian Business
- Research Methods
- Introduction to Supply Chain Management
- Business Law
- Organizational Behaviour
- Communication Skills for Business and Applied Arts 1
- Anishinaabemowin Culture and Language 1
- Anishinaabemowin Culture and Language 2
- Conversational Anishinaabemowin
- Business Mathematics
- Conflict Resolution
- Marketing Foundations
- Project Management
- Basic Project Management
Year 2
Terms 3 & 4 (Community Development)
Term 3
- Communications for the Workplace: You will apply speaking, writing, and collaboration strategies to get the job, adjust to the job, and develop long-term career goals.
- Community and Economic Development: You will explore local examples of Community Development initiatives through guest speakers and field trips, and you will complete a multi-course project with an opportunity to develop the skills required to plan, organize, and facilitate a community event.
- Working Across Differences: You will examine the mechanics of oppression and privilege, and various learning techniques that help us work together more equitably, inclusively, and respectfully as allies and agents of change.
- Facilitation in Community Development: You will learn facilitation techniques including the ability to set objectives, design and plan empowering group sessions and meetings, lead groups to work together in collaborative ways and finally to gather feedback to evaluate community gatherings, workshops and other types of community meetings.
- Community Development Capstone 1: Teams will consult with organizations, define the project, design a plan for completion, assign responsibilities, monitor progress, and present the completed project to the CD organization, the class, and invited guests. The project will provide you with work-integrated experience and an opportunity to work closely with a potential employer while gaining transferable experience in the community development field.
- Human Resources and Operations Management: You will study the activities and functions of community development organizations and explore ways to analyze common problems, manage strategic planning, and create a positive culture in a flexible organization.
Term 4
- Current Trends and Best Practices in Community Development: You will study the activities and functions of community development organizations and explore ways to analyze common problems, manage strategic planning, and create a positive culture in a flexible organization.
- Funding Community Initiatives: You will expand the skills required to participate in the full cycle of funding proposals, including defining and documenting business models, responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), maintaining organizational transparency and accountability, and negotiating with financial institutions and project stakeholders.
- Healthy and Sustainable Communities: You will be introduced to the universally accepted determinants and models of human health and the health of the planet. The course will introduce various schools of thought about creating healthy and sustainable communities through design and development.
- Governance Structures: You will be introduced to a range of governance models traditionally adopted in community development organizations. This focus will expand to incorporate innovative governance models used in social innovation organizations.
- Community Development Capstone 2: You will be matched with a community development organization, or coalition of organizations, which will serve as mentors for the project and receive the project design for their own use. The team will define the project, design a plan for completion, assign responsibilities, monitor progress, and present the completed project to the organizations, the class, and invited guests.
- Research and Managing Projects: You will explore human resources functions and operations management using examples from community development and social enterprise settings.
Terms 3 & 4 (Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship)
Term 3
- Communications for the Workplace: You will apply speaking, writing, and collaboration strategies to get the job, adjust to the job, and develop long-term career goals.
- Social Enterprise: You will explore the meaning and purpose of social enterprise, including the origins, structures, scope, principles, and potential, using examples of social enterprise for illustration.
- Design Thinking for Social Innovation: You will learn to place the needs and interests of our ecosystem at the centre of the process and why this is essential to success in social innovation, how to cultivate creative confidence in yourself, your colleagues, your clients, and the community.
- Human Resources and Operations Management: You will explore human resources functions and operations management using examples from community development and social enterprise settings.
- Marketing Principles: You will be introduced to marketing principles including primary and secondary markets, demographics, psychographics, messaging, brand identity, marketing strategies, and marketing campaigns.
Term 4
- Governance Structures: You will be introduced to a range of governance models traditionally adopted in community development organizations. This focus will expand to incorporate innovative governance models used in social innovation organizations.
- Capstone Project for Social Entrepreneurship: You will work in small teams matched with a social enterprise (SE) and will build or improve an organizational process, project, or infrastructure determined by the needs of the SE. Using current project management tools and procedures, teams will define the project, design a plan for completion, assign responsibilities, monitor progress, and present the completed project to the SE, the class, and invited guests.
- Finance: You will explore financial management in order to develop the financial infrastructure to launch a social enterprise.
- Marketing Campaigns: You will plan a marketing campaign, set realistic and motivating campaign goals, launch the campaign, define the marketing metrics to track the campaign goals and measure the performance of the campaign.
- Customer Relations and Sales: You will learn how to set up and use a customer relationship management (CRM) system to store customer and prospect data, track customer interactions, and manage customer relationships.
Elective courses
Term 4 of Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship includes a selection of electives to help shape the foundation for your upcoming career:
- Introduction to Canadian Business
- Research Methods
- Introduction to Supply Chain Management
- Business Law
- Organizational Behaviour
- Client Relationships
- Impact of Climate Change on Communities
- Conflict Resolution for Community Development
- An Introduction to Anishinaabemowin
- Conversational Anishinaabemowin
- Project Management
Check out the Catalogue Pages for Social Innovation and Community Development (first year), Community Development, and Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship for complete details on each of the program courses. The Indigenous Academic Advisor can help you build an academic plan that will suit your future goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Social Innovation and Community Development cost?
The total cost of Social Innovation and Community Development for the first year is about $7,430. The prices are broken down into tuition ($5,175); books, laptop, and supplies ($2,000); and health and dental coverage ($255).
The second-year Community Development stream costs about $5,377, which is broken down into tuition ($4,877) and supplies ($500).
The second-year Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship stream costs about $5,377, which is broken down into tuition ($4,877) and supplies ($500).
For a two-year diploma, the total cost over two years will be about $12,807.
If you need help locating financial aid, you can connect with one of our Navigation Coaches or the Financial Aid Officer through the Indigenous Student Support Team. They can also help you navigate processes for awards, scholarships and bursaries, which you can start researching to help offset the cost of tuition.
Some Indigenous-specific and entrepreneurship-specific awards include:
- Business Council of Manitoba Indigenous Education Awards ($2,000+)
- Canada Post Indigenous Education Incentive Award ($2,000)
- Indspire Post-Secondary Education Bursary Award (multiple)
- The Southern Chiefs’ Organization Every Child Matters Scholarship ($1,500)
- Manitoba Hydro Bursaries (multiple)
The Library and Academic Services have a laptop-loaning program for a period of 4 weeks in case you need more time to secure a reliable laptop. You can see the laptop specifications here if you’re not sure what you’re looking for.
When does the program start? Where is it?
Social Innovation and Community Development starts on August 26, 2024, at the Exchange District Campus in Winnipeg.
Is the program in-person?
Delivery is based on course by course. Some courses will require you to be present in-person, and other courses will allow you to work remotely as part of the college’s current hybrid approach to content delivery.
What do I need to apply?
You’ll need a Future Student Account with RRC Polytech so you can keep track of any document submissions you make. You can sign up here and everything will be displayed on your account. You can submit documents via PDF files using a digital signature or you can scan your physical paper document using a scanner or a scanner on your phone. Linked here are tutorials on both creating a digital signature in Google Docs and using the scanner on iPhones in the Notes app.
You’ll need to provide proof of completion of the admission requirements within 15 days from when you applied.
Where can I find more information?
You can check out the program explorer page on our website for Social Innovation and Community Development as a source for accessing all the information you need. If you prefer to talk to a person, you can contact an Indigenous Student Recruiter at indigenous.recruitment@rrc.ca.
If you’re ready to apply for Social Innovation and Community Development, contact an Indigenous Student Recruiter at indigenous.recruitment@rrc.ca.