A Trent student from a farming community was distressed that many of her peers knew little about agriculture and about the position of Canadian farmers in the globalising food economy. At the Farmers' Market she met and spoke with local farmers who shared her concern. With the help of the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education she found a sponsor for a project to help to build an understanding within the community about how our personal food choices will affect the future of agriculture, food production and consumption locally and across Canada. Her extensive research resulted in the publication of Harvesting Justice: A Guide to the Canadian Food System (2000) which has been circulated widely among schools in Peterborough. This is merely one of many success stories to emerge from a new partnership between Trent University and our community.

A few years ago a group of Trent faculty combined with colleagues at the Peterborough Social Planning Council (PSPC) and the Community Opportunity and Innovation Network (COIN) to create a collaborative enterprise called the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education (TCCBE). From the office located on London Street, in the heart of Catharine Parr Traill College, the TCCBE administers a program of "service learning" whereby Trent students are matched with organizations and small businesses in the Peterborough region to assist with a diverse range of research, planning and development projects. Students gain practical experience in their fields of study by helping to address challenges in the community.

The program has been designed to complement established curricular strengths at Trent. Public agencies or small private businesses interested in sponsoring projects are invited to submit proposals outlining their research needs. These are reviewed by the TCCBE Management Committee - a group of dedicated people affiliated with various community organizations or with Trent - to guarantee their appropriateness and manageability. The proposals are then circulated to those Trent academic departments and programs where it is felt that combined student and faculty expertise exists to address the research problems raised. Students undertake the rigorous research and writing demands of the placement, in the process completing a course credit. Agencies and businesses receive the benefit of the students' hard work and, in turn, provide their practical expertise and guidance. In addition, the TCCBE offers workshops for students involved in placements, creating opportunities for them to discuss their work with each other and with invited specialists. No fees are levied for student research.

In its pilot phase the TCCBE has seen approximately 200 students complete 150 major projects for over 100 community organizations in Peterborough and the surrounding area. In the current year the TCCBE expects 80 students will partner with 40 agencies and businesses. Examples of completed projects include the development of displays for local museums; organizing and cataloguing the archive at a local church and training the congregation to maintain it; examining a variety of environmental concerns on local lakes and rivers; evaluating the effectiveness of a number of community social service agencies; and searching out opportunities for local economic development. In a project sponsored by the YWCA in 1996, a Trent student examined computer literacy among children living in poverty to determine the access of children at risk to the job market in later life. A recent sponsor of student work undertaken at the Canadian Canoe Museum wrote that "without the resources made available by this program, many of the museum's initiatives could not have been carried out. The information that is produced is quite often applied and used in museum programming and fundraising activities." David Wells, a student participant in 2000, wrote that "The TCCBE offers students an amazing opportunity to take the skills that they have developed as part of a liberal arts education and build upon them by applying [them] to real world problems and issues. . . . Community organizations get to have energetic and talented students complete much needed work for negligible costs."

The TCCBE, in co-operation with Trent University, has successfully negotiated financial assistance from granting programs and private donors, from Trent, from the City of Peterborough, Human Resources Development Canada and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. All of the projects currently available and under way may be accessed on the TCCBE website (www.trentu.ca/tccbe) or by phoning the staff at 743-0523. The Centre may also be reached on email (tccbe@trentu.ca). Community groups and small businesses interested in enlisting student research assistance under this program are urged to contact the Centre and to speak with a representative. The TCCBE has recently joined with the Haliburton County Co-operative to create a sister organization for Haliburton County called U-LINKS which delivers precisely the same extensive services, again at no cost to the local community. Those interested in contacting U-LINKS may obtain further information from the TCCBE offices. The Trent Centre for Community-Based Education provides a unique opportunity for our university and our community to work together to solve problems and to help build a better future for all our citizens.