About the SFU Surrey – TD Community Engagement Centre

What is the CEC?

As our society faces increasing social, environmental and economic challenges, universities as place-based institutions have a significant role to play in contributing to the development, vibrancy and sustainability of the local communities where they are situated. The SFU Surrey – TD Community Engagement Centre as a place-based entity provides an opportunity for SFU to connect with people and organizations in Surrey in a genuine way through collaboration, the sharing of resources and the co-creation of ideas and solutions to build more resilient communities. 

The SFU Surrey - TD Community Engagement Centre (SFU CEC) operates with generous funding from the TD Bank Group, and offers programming in partnership with community organizations with a focus on supporting children, youth and families and Newcomers to Canada.

Vision

We believe in an interconnected community where people and organizations are valued for their unique skills and knowledge and work together equitably to address complex social challenges.

Mission

To build resilient partnerships and relationships in order to identify and address the key social challenges affecting Surrey’s City Centre and closely surrounding neighbourhoods.

How do we do this?

We collaborate with people and organizations in Surrey to co-create programming, share resources, and take action on key challenges. Our initiatives focus on education, mentorship, connection and skill development, primarily reaching children, youth and newcomers to Canada.

Values

The following values guide our work with communities:

• Relationships: Healthy relationships provide the foundation for our work and lead towards effective collaboration and partnerships for the co-creation of knowledge and impact towards a shared purpose.
• Responsiveness: We are committed to ongoing listening and learning from our activities and community partnerships, and to being flexible and adaptable in a complex, interconnected and dynamic environment.
• Respect: All relationships and activities are built on a foundation of respect for community culture, history, language, practices, processes, experiences and diverse forms of knowledge.
• Reliability: We build community trust through a focus on stability, authentic engagement and operational sustainability.
• Responsibility: We strive for accountability to our partners and the wider community through ongoing exploration of methods for the responsible, meaningful evaluation of community-engaged practice and partnerships.