On November 29th, 2024, CAFES and Carleton University wrapped up the 4th annual CAFES-Carleton Community Engagement Project in partnership with six Community Associations and Fletcher Wildlife Garden.
The intent for this annual project is for students in a 2nd-year sociology/anthropology course to partner with CA representatives and create products and deliverables that will ultimately benefit the CA's neighbourhood and address particular environmental concerns - with each year having a new topic. This year's theme was pollinator gardening, and the students partnered with the following CAs: Centretown, Glebe, Hintonburg, Overbrook, Westboro and the Bel Air's Maitland Area Pollinator Projects (MAPP).
The students' ingenuity was evident in their creation of "how-to" gardening videos, social media posts, garden maps, plant signs, infographics, posters, news articles, elementary school curriculum activities, and more! Throughout the term the students analyzed and discussed insights and experiences gained as they brought their conceptual learning from the course together with their experiences working towards real-world objectives in their chosen communities.
See photos below from the last day of class, when the student groups delivered excellent presentations about the deliverables they created for their CAs, and shared what they learned from this project.
For the CA leads, this project was an opportunity to learn and engage with important issues relating to pollinators, biodiversity and gardening in their community, connect with the students in their group, and have their neighbourhoods benefit from the deliverables the students are able to create for them.
A highlight from this year's term was a tour in the second week of class to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden (pictured below). Both CAs and students were able to see the different sites at FWG and learn more about pollinators from experts Sandy Garland, Ted Farnworth, and Dr. Heather Kharouba.
Another highlight was a walking tour in week four led by the CA representatives in each of the participating neighbourhoods. This was an excellent opportunity for the students to see the CA's community gardens, learn about particular issues experienced by the community, and visit important spots in the neighbourhood.
Stay tuned for a full project post coming in January which will document the students' projects and deliverables in detail!
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Want to see what we got up to last year? Check out the 2023 CAFES Carleton project here where we partnered with Safe Wings Ottawa to promote bird-window safety.