John Abbott College
EN-10: Community Partnerships

In Spring of 2022, John Abbott College signed a formal agreement with WWF Canada. As part of this agreement, JAC committed to the following:
- Student and campus participants will sign up to take action for wildlife and resilient habitats on the WWF-Canada Living Planet @ Campus website. Students and campuses can call others into action and lead hands-on initiatives offered by Living Planet @ Campus. The contributions of students and campuses on reversing the decline of wildlife and habitat will be recorded and measured uniquely based on the activities of choice, all of which will be captured in the Living Planet @ Campus website.
- Participation in individual, team, and leadership activities on campus, with WWF-Canada and in their community, can contribute to a student certification in environmental sustainability offered through Living Planet @ Campus called Living Planet Leader.
- As a campus partner, the Organization helps to lead 2-3 initiatives offered by Living Planet @ Campus each school year. As a campus partner, the Organization is provided with administrative access to student registrations at their institution, the Organization’s WWF engagement and conservation results, opportunities to promote related campus initiatives to their Living Planet @ Campus students, and opportunities to support student success in the Living Planet Leader certification.

The institution provides material support to students who engage in the program with WWF. Students are encouraged to organize events to promote sustainability and take up their own eco-habits. Our staff is responsible for helping them to coordinate these endeavours.

At JAC, all students are engaged as equal partners. As stated in the school's strategic plan, John Abbott strives to "be informed about and is resolving structural and systemic discrimination faced by minoritized students and staff at the College, and works to address systemic barriers."
For more information about the Living Planet program: https://campus.wwf.ca/

John Abbott College works with the Canadian Wildlife Federation's "Wild Outside" program to organize barrier-free activities to students. "WILD Outside is a national conservation-based youth leadership program designed for youth ages 15 to 18. The program is open to all regardless of physical or economic barriers; this is a no cost program with free enrolment that encourages youth of all levels of physical capability to join. By participating in this unique and flexible program, youth across Canada will experience opportunities for personal growth while developing and encouraging their own “conservation ethic.”" Source: https://cwf-fcf.org/en/explore/wild-outside/
John Abbott College provides materials and resources when needed to organize the activities. In Spring of 2022, "Wild Outside" animators did a birdhouse making activity and a Trivia lunch on our campus. The partnership will continue next year.

John Abbott College has has been collaborating with Héma-Québec since 1992 for its annual blood drive on campus. The College has had an ongoing commitment to supporting Héma-Québec’s mission and raising awareness about need and the positive impacts of donating blood. Héma-Québec is a non-profit organization that supplies blood and other biological products of human origin to hospitals for the province of Quebec.