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Meet Diversity Scholarship recipient Carolyn Conrad

Published November 09, 2021

Carolyn holding up a Diversity Scholarship signCarolyn Conrad lives in the unceded territory of Mi’kmaki. Her vision centres on genuine practice of reconciliation. To that end, she works tirelessly to educate, learn, and understand. Through discovering the sources of inequity, Carolyn hopes to dismantle barriers, promote inclusion, and transform her co-op into one which is fully accessible and which reflects the demographics of the city.

At the age of 50, Carolyn became a student again and her training scholarship will be used to offset tuition costs in her program at Dalhousie University where she is enrolled in Indigenous Studies and is working towards a Certificate in Intercultural Communication.

Carolyn received one of CHF Canada’s training scholarships, which were offered for the first time this year to board and committee members of any age.

Through volunteer work at the YMCA, she has helped newcomers to Canada with language learning, and navigating their new city as well as municipal and provincial services. Carolyn also lived in rural Costa Rica from 2000 to 2009, where she was able to informally help her neighbours learn English.

Vice-President of Longhouse, where she has lived with her son since 2010, Carolyn applies her diversity training in both her co-op and neighbourhood as she encourages targeted membership, promotes the creation of wheelchair-accessible units, speaks for those who are not always represented, seeks to neutralize the effects of neighbourhood gentrification, and considers how to adopt inclusive practices without falling back on assimilation or tokenism.

CHF Canada’s Diversity Scholarships are available to young members (35 and under) of CHF Canada member housing co-ops in Manitoba, Southwestern Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. Training scholarships are available to board and committee members of any age.

The scholarship program across all federations is made possible by donations from over 70 companies, organizations and individuals. 

Thank you to the sponsors of our Diversity Scholarship program: Bluenose EngineeringCo-operators, the Community Housing Management NetworkThe Zock Group Inc., and Village Canadien Co-operative. If you are interested in sponsoring this program, please contact jlapalme@chfcanada.coop.


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