Justice Institute: A Valued Partner –
If you have been to any outreach events this summer in the Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood, there is a good chance that you chatted with our practicum students Ravleen and Brendan, both enrolled in the Law Enforcement Studies Program at the Justice Institute of BC (JIBC). The Hastings Sunrise Community Policing Centre (HSCPC) has been collaborating with the JIBC for many years, and mentoring practicum students each summer is just one part of it.
It is crucially important for both partners to help students learn more about social issues, equity and diversity and help them enter communities as leaders, especially if they want to pursue a law enforcement career. Enter Community Integrated Learning, an approach that focuses on the needs and desires identified by the community in which the students work. To make the summer practicum an experience for students that fosters connection and understanding while also ensuring reciprocity and longevity for both the program and the local neighbourhood, the JIBC has received a three-year grant from the College and Community Social Innovation Fund. The goal is to deepen the collaboration between community partners and JIBC to make the Law Enforcement Studies Program a hands-on experience that enriches students’ personal and professional development journeys and makes them more empathetic and capable leaders and role models.
As a community-based and volunteer-led organization that has been around for over 25 years, the HSCPC and other CPCs have been invited to participate in the pilot study “Beyond the Classroom: Work Integrated Learning in Vancouver Community Policing Centres and Community Impact” to better understand student and community partners’ experiences and their hopes for future versions of the course. “We’d like to provide opportunities for the CPCs to express their ideas and experiences working with students from the JIBC, and to see how well they see the principles of community engagement being implemented,” says Nina Bennett, work-integrated learning program manager at the JIBC. “The unique information that the community policing centres and other partners provide will be used to amend and improve future iterations of the Law Enforcement Studies Program.”
Clair MacGougan, executive director at the HSCPC, also sits on an advisory group for quality assurance for the program. They meet four times a year to identify emerging trends, provide advice on the student curriculum as well as act as ambassadors for the program and the JIBC. “We have had a positive experience with the JIBC practicum students and many of them stayed on as HSCPC volunteers, so we’re happy to add value to the program and the students wherever we can,” says MacGougan.
