Programs

EngagedUNB – Community engaged learning

EngagedUNB allows students to gain experience with partners such as The Ville, while contributing towards UNB Sustainability goals

You can make an impact by doing hands-on, meaningful work that helps solve real, immediate issues.

Community engaged learning (CEL) engages us in activities designed to promote learning and development, while addressing human and community needs. Our community partners are active co-creators of experiences and opportunities designed to help find innovative solutions to some of our most pressing challenges.

Founded on UN Sustainable Development Goals

EngagedUNB opportunities reflect UNB’s commitment to sustainable contributions to our communities through community-engaged learning. By using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for action, our learning community is working to create a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future.

Sustainability+ Internship Program 

The Sustainability+ Internship Program is partnering with non-for-profit organizations across New Brunswick, to provide UNB students with community-engaged learning (CEL) opportunities that reflect UNB's commitment to sustainability. Placements are typically 8-16 weeks long, running in the summer from May to August. 
 
The Sustainability+ Internship Program is available to students in all faculties on both campuses. Priority is given to students from equity-deserving groups including but not limited to: Indigenous, visible minority, low income, newcomers, international students, 2SLGBTQIA+, women, mature students, parents/caregivers, students with disabilities.   
 
The Office of Experiential Education at UNB offers wage subsidies for students in the Sustainability+ Internship Program through a variety of funding partners.

Course-based opportunities

Community Engaged Learning/Community Service Learning

Activities designed to promote learning and development, while addressing human and community needs. Engages a community organization as an external partner.

Field Experience

Students work in an authentic setting to study and apply theoretical or academic knowledge and concepts.

Land-based Education

Recognizes Wabanaki knowledge which fundamentally position land as a pedagogical framework. Land-based education opportunities engage participants in critical reflection on reciprocal relations and ethical practices while using Land as the site and object of learning.

Research-based opportunities

Community-based Research

Research that actively involves those affected by the issue being studied, for the purpose of finding useful results to make positive change. This engages a community organization as an external partner.

Compass

Compass is a flagship community-engaged learning opportunity offered through UNB’s Office of Experiential Education. The Compass program at UNB supports economic, social, and civic development in rural communities throughout New Brunswick. Interdisciplinary teams of students work with rural communities and regions to create innovative solutions to pressing challenges in those regions.

Community impact assessment

The Office of Experiential Education and the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data, and Training (NB-IRDT) offered an applied research opportunity for students in 2021, examining the community impact of experiential learning at UNB. We found over 230 ways that UNB is contributing to sustainability, equity, and prosperity in our communities.

Previous EngagedUNB opportunities

Through Social Science in Practicum (SOCS 4501), Natasha Taylor worked as a social impact analyst at Bee Me Kidz, an educational non-profit which seeks to give elementary-aged children and their families the social and emotional skills they need to succeed. The programs offered at Bee Me Kidz attempt to level the playing field when it comes to childhood poverty and the effects poverty can have on the chances of a child’s success in school. Natasha created and administered a survey to measure the most impactful parts and possible areas of improvement in this programming, analyzed the data and created a report, which Bee Me Kidz can use going forward in their efforts toward ending the cycle of poverty.

Third-year politics student Sarah Lunney was paired with The Saint John Community Food Basket by UNB Saint John’s Urban and Community Studies Institute for a summer internship. The Food Basket is the city’s oldest foodbank, which distributes food to the city’s other three foodbanks and serves 1,000 people each month. Sarah worked on advocating with local and federal politicians, helped the Food Basket work with other community agencies, found new ways to secure support from government, and helped propose new projects addressing the issue of food insecurity.

Maeve McNutt completed an experiential education opportunity working with No One is Illegal Fredericton, LA Henry Law and the Fredericton Legal Advice Clinic on a Community ID project. This project aims to provide community identification to marginalized or vulnerable individuals who may be without traditional forms of ID, including those with precarious immigration status, survivors of intimate partner violence and people experiencing homelessness, mental illness or other complicating factors. Without traditional government IDs, these individuals may not be able to access essential services available to other community members. Maeve was able to complete vital work to move the project forward, including securing a partnership with the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre, obtaining approval from the Minister of Social Development to accept the IDs and research on other community ID programs.