Community Corners is evolving
What began as an internal EDI-R initiative is growing into something bigger, more intentional, and deeply connected — a bridge between the University of Waterloo campus and our broader Waterloo-region community.
Through earlier iterations of Community Corners, we learned that our campus and region are already home to incredible people, groups, and grassroots organizers doing meaningful, community-building work.
Now, Community Corners is evolving to support and uplift them — offering space, access, visibility, and connection. Our role moving forward is simple but powerful: to bridge their work with ours, to amplify their impact, and to make their efforts more accessible to our students and campus community.
Community Corners is where students, staff and faculty can meet the people, movements, and community organizations shaping our region and where community groups gain easier access to our campus, our space, and our networks. By opening our doors to existing groups, we’re positioning EDI-R as a connector: helping students expand their networks, deepen their sense of belonging, and engage with real community-driven work happening beyond campus.
Community Corners creates space for:
- Connection — bringing together students, staff, faculty, and community organizations.
- Exposure — showing students the grassroots initiatives happening across Waterloo Region.
- Access — offering community groups a welcoming entry point to campus.
- Collaboration — building relationships that can spark mentorship, volunteering, learning, and shared action.
Collaboration requests
Over the past year, we’ve supported community-based groups whose work aligns with our commitments to equity and anti-racism. These collaborations have reflected a wide range of focus areas from entrepreneurship and creativity to youth advocacy and social justice organizing, to community-engaged dialogue.
Our support has included offering space for regular gatherings, connecting groups with students and campus partners, promoting their initiatives, and creating opportunities for our on-campus community to engage in learning grounded in lived experience, community leadership, and collective care.
Together, we've been able to connect on-campus and off-campus communities, strengthen local networks, and create pathways for students, staff, and faculty to learn from the important work already happening across the region.
If you’re a student, staff, or faculty member connected to a community organization in the region or beyond and want to collaborate, please reach out.