Neighborhood Photo Album
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the assignment, students will:
- Apply theoretical knowledge to community learning and investigation
- Build knowledge of community space & gathering hubs.
- Highlight community problems and needs.
- Catalogue community strengths, assets and resources.
- Interact with group members in positive ways that reflect the values of community work and contribute to the achievement of goals.
Assignment Objective
The objective of this assignment is to research and visit a neighbourhood improvement area of interest and become an observer of life within the community to build knowledge and understanding.
Neighborhood Photo Album
Instructions
- Select a community to visit and study from the list of 31 Neighbourhood Improvement Areas in Toronto.
- Research your community in advance and learn why it was identified as a neighbourhood improvement area. What problems or challenges is this community working to solve?
- Create a fulsome list of community programs, hubs and points of interest to review and discuss with the goal being to select key spots to visit.
- Visit the community with your team and create a photo album. Include a minimum of ten unique and interesting photos of your team members at different key spots in the community. Remember, to be respectful when photographing in a community and always ask folks for permission outside your group if they will be identifiable in your photo.
- Write a short narrative about each of the ten photos your team chose and explain why each location is important to the community. Include corroborating evidence supporting your assertion that the space is important and refer to your research on community problems that folks are working to solve – IE: Why is this space important? For whom? How is the space an asset to solve or address a community issue or why is it a problem area that needs addressing? Explain.
- Be prepared to ‘show and tell’ your album and photos at the conclusion of the course. We will draw upon your location examples to summarize key learnings in SSW 212.