One of the key reasons the Liberal Party of Canada invests so much time and energy into organizing on campus is that we have seen the writing on the wall; youth of today are a more engaged and active political group than the last several generations. We know that investing our time on campus, with populations that number anywhere between six thousand and sixty thousand, means beginning a relationship with students that will carry on from now until the next election. We held almost a hundred thousand conversations on campus during the 2015 election, all for the purpose of hearing what issues Canadian Youth feel strongly about.
The campus club branches of political parties are becoming an essential element of political organization; with the increasing numbers of youth between 18 and 24 participating in politics, (as many as 57.9% in 2015) increased attention is being paid to how university students organize themselves on campus. More political parties have realized that the current generation is both increasingly political, while becoming less partisan. The growing challenge has been to demonstrate to youth how their political aspirations and beliefs are reflected in partisan systems. Primarily, many students are issues driven; their primary organizing impetus is structured around a central political issue they feel passionately about. One common example found on nearly every campus is environmental activists, students that feel strongly about lobbying the government and other actors to craft policy that focuses on creating a greener future. The common issue for a political party in the face of such a narrow political focus is to show how the values that these student activists hold are reflected in a partisan context, and how we engage and broaden that focus to incorporate other issues. One way that we have attempted to appeal to issue-specific activists is by co-hosting events with other clubs on campus. By demonstrating to these clubs that we share the same values, environmental protection for example, we are then able to present ourselves to their membership and make our case for why we are the partisan group that is best able to deliver on their desires for environmental action. It also allows us to broaden our network and begin a conversation individually with these students that will continue throughout the semester, be it through email, phone calls, or other event invitations. The hope is that through continued conversation, interaction, and engagement, we will be able to identify other issues these students value, and demonstrate our commitment to being the best possible representative for those issues to our political party at large. Ultimately, the goal of our partisan campus clubs is twofold; to continue the movement of the Liberal Party of Canada on campus, and to increase our membership, and thus the amount of youth voices to give young people a chance to have a say in partisan politics. Peter McCauley, National Youth Organizer Liberal Party of Canada
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Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest community service volunteer organisation with almost 47,000 clubs in 210 countries. We are men and women of all ages and cultural backgrounds that simply care about improving lives and bettering our communities. In particular, we do a lot of work in the area of vision, recycling eye glasses for instance. We want to give students the opportunity to join our vast, community service network, but in Canada we face one large but simple barrier: tabling.
In my nine years of experience dealing with campus clubs, I have found that schools in the US are far easier for outside organisations, like Lions Clubs, to obtain permission for a table from which to hand out information and recruit members for new campus-based Lions Clubs. In general, Canadian schools either charge high fees (something that is not in our budget) or simply prohibit outside NFPs to get a table on campus. Some Canadian schools have an annual volunteer fair at which we are able to have a table, which is a fantastic opportunity, but these are few and far between. I would love to see universities, colleges, and student unions develop more inclusive and accessible policies to allow NFPs to table at least for one day in order to gain interest from students. Indeed, any effort towards making rules more consistent would be welcome since right now rules from one school to the next are drastically different. This would greatly help national and international organisations that offer the kinds of volunteer positions students are looking for. Indeed, Lions Clubs provide many scholarships but often cannot reach student candidates. The most immediately available solution would be if universities and colleges, who don’t currently do so, could have a volunteer fair at the start of each semester and invite NFPs to have a table at it. I understand their thinking when they say if they open the door, there would be many requests, but standards could be set that ensure the highest quality opportunities for students. In the end, our communities will be stronger for it. There are currently fewer than 15 Campus Lions Clubs across Canada! Paul Baker New Club Development Consultant Lions Clubs International Lindsay King, Club Support Coordinator at Kin Canada, and some other members of the team shared some of their practices and struggles in starting and working with their existing clubs across Canada.
Q: How do you initiate relationships on campuses on which you don't already have a presence? What are the biggest barriers? What sort of practices have you found make things easier? A: Our clubs are not widely known at the moment and we are starting to work on evaluating the program. Some Districts (see map below) and most of the clubs actively use Facebook and sometimes Twitter to make themselves known. Currently, to start a club, a student would need to approach a local Kin Club, District leadership or National Headquarters for support in starting a new club on their campus. They would need to gather potential members to be part of the club and then start the chartering process. Other than this, if an established Kin Club in the community would like to initiate a Campus Club on a local campus they would need to work on contacting the school, setting up in a space where they are able to hold a membership drive, tell students about Kin Canada and work on gaining members through that avenue. The biggest barrier would probably be the time people have to commit to the start-up of a new club with the established Kin Club already having their own projects and the limited time that students have today. The easiest way to gain traction on a campus today is to have a “Kin Kid” (an established Kin Club member’s son or daughter) on the campus already who has been raised with Kin Canada, knows what it stands for and is inspired to start their own Club and gather members. Additionally, when the traditional Kin processes aren’t forced upon a club and they are left to make their own decisions on how a meeting should be run and set their own rules and guidelines they are more independent and can function better. Q: What, if any, strategies do you use to integrate club members into the operations and decision-making of your broader organization? A: All members have the opportunity to progress within the association when the opportunity presents itself. Members are given the opportunity to run for club president, and District leadership (i.e. as a Governor, Vice Governor). Beyond this, members are also able to join National committees and apply to the National Board when the opportunities come about. Campus Club members are also given the opportunity to be involved in the awards program and are invited to conventions around the District and nationally to make sure they have a say in the organization and provide them with full voting rights at these conventions. Additionally, if the Campus Club has a sponsor the sponsor is encouraged to work with the Campus Club and create synergy. Q: Is your programming consistent across your clubs, or do they have considerable autonomy in deciding what to do? If the latter, how do you balance this with the need to uphold organizational standards? A: We don’t program for our clubs, they are part of the larger service organization that is Kin Canada. We give our clubs autonomy and make them responsible for their own programming based on the needs of their campus and surrounding community in line with our mission, vision and values. Although, they can call on the help of their sponsoring Kin clubs in the community or District leadership. They are also able to call on other leadership whether it be at the District of National level for assistance from afar in programming/events/service/fundraising project ideas or any other member of the association across Canada. Isabel Deslauriers, Manager of Let’s Talk Science Outreach, was kind enough to share some of their practices in working with their clubs across Canada.
Let’s Talk Science Outreach sites can be found at over 40 university and colleges across Canada. Available free of charge, more than 3,500 post-secondary student volunteers and a growing number of industry partners engage youth in hands-on/minds-on STEM learning experiences in both school and community settings. Q: Is your programming consistent across your clubs, or do they have considerable autonomy in deciding what to do? If the latter, how do you balance this with the need to uphold organizational standards? A: We provide two big guidelines for the program: it’s volunteer-driven, and it emphasizes hands-on experiences. Within that, the volunteers and local coordinators have tremendous leeway to create their own initiatives that fit in well within their community. For example, volunteers have developed workshops related to their own interests and in response to local teacher requests - everything from a DNA whodunit workshop to rocket launching and robotics. Volunteers have also created a series of on-campus symposia based on the research specialties of their university: StemCellTalks started at the University of Toronto, and Let’s Talk Nanotechnology at the University of Alberta. Our philosophy is to support our volunteers’ passions. Q: What, if any, strategies do you use to integrate club members into the operations and decision-making of your broader organization? A: For a volunteer-driven program in particular, it’s important for the participants to shape the program around their passions and their needs, so we put a high priority providing a voice to our members. As an example, every year local coordinators have the opportunity to participate in a regional and a national conference, which are two of the key events where coordinators have a voice in shaping the national program. Sessions where we raise current issues and problem-solve them together feed directly into national planning and resource allocation. Another big part of the conference is about meeting representatives from other locations to discuss challenges and share ideas. This is how many of the key initiatives on the national level started to spread. For example, the Let’s Talk Science Challenge was originally presented by McMaster University at the national conference, where three other universities adopted the idea. As the event continued to spread, the national office put more financial and logistical support behind it, and helped it grow to 24 locations. Q: What are some of the frustrations of coordinating campus clubs? What practices have you used to overcome these? A: The most difficult aspect is the fact that as students, coordinators and volunteers are only around for a few years. This can make it challenging for a local program to maintain continuity, but being a part of a national organization can help overcome this. Our regional coordinators (who are staff members) have a huge role in helping with continuity. We make sure that the program keeps going after even after a key coordinator finishes their term – preserving and building on their legacy. Once the graduating coordinator has left, the regional coordinator acts as a mentor to the new coordinator, and they help transfer local relationships and understand long term projects and challenges. The first few universities that joined the program have now had groups operating for more than 25 years! Michelle DeJardine, Manager of Public Engagement (Youth) at Plan International Canada, was kind enough to share some of their practices in working with their “Because I am a Girl” clubs across Canada.
Q: Is your programming consistent across your clubs, or do they have considerable autonomy in deciding what to do? If the latter, how do you balance this with the need to uphold organizational standards? A: Our Because I am a Girl Clubs have quite a lot of autonomy for how they would like to run their Clubs. They use educational toolkits located at http://plancanada.ca/resource-centre to guide them as they plan out their year, fundraising goals and which initiatives they would like to focus on. Q: Do you maintain relationships with club members after they graduate? If so, how? A: Often Club members join other initiatives at Plan International Canada when they no longer keep their Club active. Many past Club members have joined our Speakers Bureau and our Youth Advisory Council. Also, Club members that have graduated High School and have opted not to start a Club at their University still fundraise for Plan International and keep in touch through their own fundraising initiatives or through sponsoring a child – which is really exciting for us. Q: How do you manage the succession in club leadership from year to year? A: I reach out to Clubs at the end of the school year to see if the Club leader or teacher supervisor are planning to continue their role for the next school year or if someone else will be assuming the role. I reach out again in September to confirm any change overs. |
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