Adult education for social change at immigrant organisation

Shibao Guo
ADULT EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL
CHANGE: THE ROLE OF A
GRASSROOTS ORGANISATION
IN CANADA^
Abstract
This study examines the role of adult education in bringing about social change
through community development initiatives at a grassroots organisation called
SUCCESS (United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society), an
immigrant community organisation in Vancouver, Canada. It adopts a case
study approach. The study focuses on the historical development of SUCCESS,
the provision of programmes and services, major changes in SUCCESS, and the
social forces behind the changes. The study reveals that SUCCESS was
founded in 1973 in response to the failure of govemment agencies and
mainstream organisations to provide accessible social services and adult
education programmes for newly arrived Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong.
During its first 25 years of existence, SUCCESS helped build a community for
adult immigrants where they felt they belonged. It played multiple roles with a
three-pronged focus: providing professional services and adult education
programmes, advocating on behalf of immigrants, and facilitating citizenship
education and community development. This study exemplifies the role of adult
Convergence, Volume XXXIX, Number 4, 2006
107

education for social change. It demonstrates that grassroots organisations are
important sites for emancipatory leaming and social action.
Introduction
The role of adult education for social change and community development has
been addressed by a number of adult educators (Lindeman 1926; Freirie 1970;
Cunningham 2000). However, in an immigrant country like Canada, the
changing demographics in recent years have posed both challenges and new
opportunities for further development in adult education. The 2001 Census of
Canada (Statistics Canada 2003) reveals that as of May 15, 2001, 18.4 percent
of the total population were bom outside the country, and that 13.4 percent
identified themselves as visible minorities. As new citizens to Canada, they
need educational programmes to help them navigate the complex paths that
citizenship entails and to upgrade their language, knowledge and skills to fully
participate in Canadian society. This research attempts to address the role of
adult education programmes in bringing about social change through
community development initiatives at an immigrant community organisation in
Vancouver, Canada, called SUCCESS — United Chinese Community
Enrichment Services Society. It focuses on: (i) the historical development of
SUCCESS, (ii) the provision of programmes and services for adult immigrants,
(iii) major changes in SUCCESS, and (iv) the social forces behind the changes.
Theoretical framework
This study was informed by three theoretical constmcts: (i) adult education for
community change, (ii) inclusive citizenship, and (iii) programme planning as
the negotiation of power and interests. As early as in the 1920s, Lindeman
(Brookfield 1987) deliberated on the social role of adult education. He viewed
adult education as an agency of social progress and the most reliable instmment
for social actionists. An early Canadian example of community development
was the Antigonish Movement led by Moses Coady and Jimmy Tompkins
(Welton 2001). After Lindeman and Coady, critical adult educators such as
Freire (1970) and Cunningham (2000) further advanced the role of adult
education for social transformation and emancipatory leaming. Freire (1970)
argues that adult education is an important tool to raise people's critical
consciousness through action and critical reflection, or praxis. Cunningham
(2000) regards social movements and social leaming as a major source of
altemative knowledge production. Community development is an important
site where such leaming can take place.
As part of its social role, adult education is also deemed as an important
fomm for building inclusive citizenship. Citizenship can be defmed as
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membership in a socio-political community which comprises four dimensions:
legal status, rights, identity and participation (Bloemraad 2000). The past
decade has witnessed a revitalised debate regarding the concept of citizenship.
Part of this debate has been focused on the membership of immigrants in the
national community, or the identity dimension of citizenship. Traditional
liberals advocate a culturally neutral state (Rawls 1971). Critics of such
paradigm claim, however, that the ideal of a culturally neutral state embodies
an oppressive illusion (Kymlicka 1995; Tamir 1995; Taylor 1994). It promotes
a universal citizenship, which ignores differences and perpetuates oppression
and inequality. Consequently they propose 'differentiated citizenship' as an
altemative model (Young 1995). As to the best approach of promoting
citizenship, Derwing (1992) suggests a community-based, learner-centred
approach in which members of the cultural and linguistic communities
concemed were involved in every aspect of the programmes.
This calls for a high level of leamer involvement in programmes —
including the planning of programmes — invokes the work of Cervero and
Wilson (1994, 1996) who argue that programme planning is fundamentally a
process of negotiating power and interests among people who have varying
degrees of influence over the shape and substance of programmes because of
asymmetrical power relations. Cervero and Wilson (1994) propose the ideal of
'substantively democratic planning' as a means to 'level the playing field' when
planning actors — because of their social relations (and varying degrees of
social capital) — are unlikely to have equal influence over important planning
decisions. This paper argues that in the case of SUCCESS, the development and
character of the programmes offered was determined not so much by the
interactions of individuals in planning groups representing the interests of
various stakeholders, but rather by the changing nature of Canada's
immigration policy, the shifting character of the immigrant population and
govemment flmding.
Research design
The central guiding question for this research was: How did a community-
initiated voluntary organisation such as SUCCESS respond to changing needs
of an ethnic community in a multicultural society? Two major qualitative
research methods were used to conduct this study: document analysis and
personal interviewing. The selection of research methods derived from the
nature of this research as an interpretive study, and its attempts to understand
people's lived experience with the organisation. The document analysis
included SUCCESS annual reports, newsletters, minutes of annual general
meetings, important speeches, and programme brochures. Twenty interviews
were conducted with the Executive, Board members and Programme Directors.
Time and resources did not permit interviews with clientele, so their views of
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this organisation were not represented here. In addition to the two major
methods, site visits and participant observation were used as complementary
methods to help contextualise what was read and heard about the organisation.
A four-stage process of analysis was developed: (i) identifying main points, (ii)
searching for salient themes and recurring pattems, (iii) grouping common
themes and pattems into related categories, and (iv) comparing all major
categories with reference to selected theoretical constmcts to form new
perspectives. This four-stage process assured frequent interplay between the
data and theory.
Findings
To illustrate how SUCCESS emerged as a key adult education provider for new
immigrants and how its programmes and services evolved in response to
changing circumstances, we focus on two areas: the circumstances of its
founding and development, and how it remained responsive to a changing
policy and immigration context.
A brief history of SUCCESS
SUCCESS was founded in 1973 in response to the failure of govemment
agencies and mainstream organisations to provide accessible social services and
adult education programmes for Chinese immigrants. The development of
SUCCESS can be summarised in three stages (Guo 2002). Stage One, from
1973-1979, saw the establishment of the Chinese Connection Project, a
demonstration project flinded by Health and Welfare Canada to bridge the 'gap'
between social service agencies and the needs of newly-arrived Chinese
immigrants primarily from Hong Kong. During this stage, the organisation
mainly provided basic settlement services and language assistance. Specific
services include, for example, ESL (English as a Second Language) classes and
information on Canada's education and health care system. This project also
involved making direct referrals of immigrants to other service providers and
providing translation services to help them navigate unfamiliar bureaucracies
and organisations.
Stage Two, from 1979-1989, was a developing and maturing stage during
which there was a large increase in Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong due
to the Sino-British Agreement on the future of Hong Kong. This increased
demand led to substantial increases both in the volume of services and budget.
Another change that occurred during this period was that immigrants were
settling in a broader geographic area beyond the Chinatown area (located in
downtown Vancouver) and this led to establishing two branch offices outside
Chinatown. During this maturing stage SUCCESS won a number of awards
from the Chinese community and mainstream organisations in recognition of its
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contributions to community development. Another noteworthy development
during this period was a growing advocacy role in response to instances of
discrimination in national and local media. Two major racist incidents occurred
when the Chinese were slighted in the media. In the first incident, a national TV
news magazine erroneously portrayed second and third-generation Canadian
citizens of Chinese descent as foreign students taking educational opportunities
away from white Canadians at taxpayers' expense. In the second, CBC Radio
broadcast the 'Dim Sum Diaries', which satirised the accents of new Chinese
immigrants and stereotypes of their behaviour. SUCCESS participated in a
national campaign against the first and led a protest against the second resulting
in apologies and withdrawal of programmes.
Stage Three, from 1989-1998, was characterised by expansion and
transformation. By the time it celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1998,
SUCCESS had become a well-established multi-level service agency providing
a wide range of programmes and services to both Chinese and non-Chinese
immigrants. During this period, the make-up of the immigrant population
shifted with increasing numbers coming from other regions including Taiwan
and Mainland China. The lead up to the handover of Hong Kong to China in
1997, produced a substantial influx of immigrants from Hong Kong. The
changing composition of immigrants required SUCCESS to alter its
programme offerings to include, for example, more programmes suited to
professional and business immigrants and the growing numbers of Mandarin
speaking immigrants.
From this brief summary, it can be seen that SUCCESS was constantly
responding to changing needs and to the gaps left by govemment and
mainstream organisations who were not developing programmes for this group.
It has indeed 'successfully' played multiple roles: providing professional
programmes and services, advocating on behalf of immigrants, and facilitating
citizenship education and community development. The remaining article will
focus on its first role in providing professional programmes and services.
Programmes and services
By the time SUCCESS celebrated its 25* anniversary, its programmes and
services had expanded into six areas. These included immigrant airport
reception, language training and settlement services, employment training and
services, small business development and training, counselling services, and
group and community services. The analysis of programmes and services
focuses on many aspects, including the purposes of the programmes, the scope
of services, major events and achievements, clientele, funding, social
contributions, and issues. Since each area or office has its own uniqueness, the
discussion will allow variations.
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Community Airport Newcomers Network (CANN)
SUCCESS provided services to immigrants right from the moment when they
landed in Vancouver at the airport. The Community Airport Newcomers
Network (CANN) was set up in 1992 to help newly-arrived immigrants and
refugees with their landing procedures and pre-settlement through the provision
of welcome reception, resource orientation and referral services at Vancouver
airport. The orientation was usually conducted by a multilingual team, first in
English, and then followed by another language that most of the immigrants of
that particular group spoke. Francis Chan, Programme Director of CANN,
stressed in an interview that it is important to provide immigrants and refugees
with proper information at the earliest time possible to help them with the
settlement process. Many immigrants who received this service found that it
was useful to have people who spoke their own languages greet them and help
them go through the landing procedures and get necessary settlement
information upon arrival.
Language Training and Settlement Sen/ices
Among all programmes and services. Language Training and Settlement
Services have always been at the centre of SUCCESS. To help immigrants ease
their daily struggle with the process of settlement, this division provided direct
information and referral services, workshops, new immigrant orientation,
language training and citizenship classes. As the core of settlement services,
direct information and referral services are referred as the first step towards
achieving integration for immigrants. Ansar Cheung, Programme Director of
Language Training and Settlement Services, explained in her interview that
'People come with different kinds of questions. They ask anything about
immigration, about medical services plan, about the social benefits, about
education, about customs, citizenship, anything.' That's why her staff had to be
equipped with a lot of information, 'like a walking dictionary.' In addition, they
provided workshops and orientation classes which also covered a wide range of
topics from public transit to education. Cheung also mentioned that they tried
to use immigrants' native languages where possible at new immigrant
orientations.
Language is an important barrier for many immigrants. SUCCESS offered
two kinds of language training programmes to help immigrants overcome this
barrier: government-sponsored as well as fee-charging language programmes.
For the first kind, the govemment only funded three basic levels of English
programmes, which were far from enough, particularly for job seekers. For
those who are not eligible for government-funded programmes, and for those
who wish to continue improving their English after they have taken the
government-sponsored programme, they could take the second kind.
Meanwhile, Cheung and her colleagues were lobbying the govemment to
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provide more English classes, particularly higher level and workplace English.
In fact, lack of secured funding was a major issue facing this division as well
as the whole organisation. Cheung also commented that lack of funding and the
nature of short-term funding caused 'tremendous instability and frustration
among staff members.'
Employnfient Training and Services
Securing a job is an important part of immigrants' settlement and integration
process. The SUCCESS Employment Training and Services was originally set
up in the mid-1980s to assist immigrants with upgrading their English, leaming
job searching skills and preparing for resumes and job interviews. Thomas
Yeung, Programme Director of this division, commented that 'without getting
a job we won't be able to help immigrants to settle here in Canada.' Since then,
the programme has gone through several stages of development. According to
Yeung, when resource-based industries were closing down in British Columbia,
the focus was shifted to skills training in order to equip people with specific
skills to find other jobs. In more recent years, employment training had moved
away from specific skills training to leaming broader skills in order to prepare
people with flexible skills for the rest of their lives. Another change was the
devolution of federal responsibilities to the provincial govemment. With the
restmcturing of govemment funding policies, funding of its programmes
became provincial responsibilities since July 1999. Yet, the most challenging
shift involves govemment fee-charging policies. Yeung noted that employment
training programmes used to be free, based on the needs of individuals. Now
people had to pay. In addition, they had to open up their programmes to non-
immigrants. Without any doubt, this change had a great impact on the
programmes and services at SUCCESS and they had to make adjustment
accordingly. Yeung stated that they were using all their resources to help
immigrants realise their goal.
From its past experience, SUCCESS Employment Training and Services
had developed its own approach. The holistic approach was a collaborative
endeavour with other sections of SUCCESS services, such as language training
and counselling. It also involved people from outside SUCCESS, such as
business partners and govemment agencies. According to Yeung, 'employment
is not an isolated issue.' He explains that SUCCESS is committed to the holistic
approach because settlement, adaptation, and integration are holistic. He stated:
'You can't just accomplish one particular area of adaptation...
You leam the language, you find yourself a house, you put your
kids in school. But at the same time, you have to fmd yourself a
job. Any breakdown of this system will be affecting your family.
This is a system theory, every system and every part has to work
together... Everything is inter-related. '
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Since the mid-1990s, Canada has been successful in attracting well-
educated immigrant professionals, but many of them had difficulties in finding
a job. It had become a top priority for SUCCESS to strengthen its employment
programmes. In fact, its employment training and services had grown into the
largest among all SUCCESS programmes with about 100 staff members. It had
also become the driving force behind SUCCESS'S growth and expansion in the
past few years.
Small Business Development and Training
In the 1980s, the Canadian govemment introduced the 'business immigrant'
category, which consisted of self-employed, entrepreneurs and investors. This
programme attracted immigrants predominantly from Asia and the Middle East.
By 1986, 40% of all business immigrants came from Hong Kong (Whitaker,
1991). In response to the needs of proliferating business immigrants,
SUCCESS launched its Small Business Development and Training in 1995. It
offered three major programmes and services, including information and
referral services for immigrants who were interested in setting up their own
business, business venture with corporations (such as IBM Canada, Royal
Batik) and the Youth Entrepreneurial Development Programme. While the first
two were primarily for recent immigrants, the last programme was for
everyone, both immigrants and non-immigrants. The objective of these
programmes was to help participants become self-sufficient through setting up
their own businesses, with the long-term benefits of economic integration. In an
interview with Thomas Tam, Programme Director of Small Business
Development and Training, when I asked him whether small business training
was in contradiction with SUCCESS'S original mandate to help immigrants
overcome language and cultural barriers, he explained that expanding its
programmes and services to small business training was regarded as an
extension of SUCCESS'S original mandate, not a contradiction.
Family and Youth Counselling
As part of the SUCCESS holistic approach. Family and Youth Counselling first
started in early 1980s as a family programme and later expanded to include
counselling services. It served two major purposes: help immigrants with
family and relational issues and advocate on behalf of immigrant in the areas of
family services. Family and youth counselling was the core programme of this
division. They handled around 600 cases per year. They also provided public
education through workshops, library resources, and the media. Recently they
produced 13 episodes of family life education series in collaboration with a
local TV station. They were frequently in partnerships with schools to bridge
the gap between students, parents and the school. They adopted an effective and
innovative approach to provide group programmes, using theatrical techniques.
According to Kelly Ng, Programme Director of Family and Youth Counselling,
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immigrant families usually needed support in the following three areas: marital
issues, parent-child relationships and family violence, such as spousal assault
and child abuse.
All these issues are beyond the scope of settlement, but they can hamper or
slow down immigrants' integration process. Ng believed SUCCESS could play
an important role in providing culturally and linguistically appropriate
professional family and counselling services. He noted that all of his 14 staff
members were bilingual in English and Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese
because of the significance of providing counselling in the clients' native
languages.
Ng shared the same frustration with Ansar Cheung in terms of shortage of
funding. The funding for Family and Youth Counselling programmes was not
stable. It kept changing every year. They frequently had to find new
sponsorship. In most recent years their programmes were sponsored by the
municipal and provincial govemments. He also expressed other issues facing
the organisation, which included overwork, lack ofjob security and low pay. Ng
explained:
'One of the things is the situation of bum-out. People are
overworked. We can't help the situation. Everybody is using their
commitment. The need is huge and we are under pressure to
fulfill. The other is an unstable working environment. They are
not sure when they will be without a job. The other one is salary.
We are below market price, comparing to the major therapy
organisations. We are about 1/3 below them.'
Group and Community Services
Group and Community Services focuses on advocacy, community development
and public education. It looked after a wide range of programmes, including
senior's programmes, women's programmes and civic education. They do
community outreach, reaching out to neighbourhood houses and community
centres to promote immigrants' access to their services. Liaising with the
mainstream and Chinese media was another important responsibility of this
division.This division also organised many events (such as the Chinese New
Year celebration and the Mid-Autumn Festival) in collaboration with other
organisations within the Chinese community, including clan organisations, the
Chinese Cultural Centre, the Chinese Benevolent Association, and the Chinese
Merchants' Association. Over the past years, SUCCESS has built partnerships
with 150 mainstream organisations, such as hospitals, health boards, police,
school boards and the media. It was fulfilling its major goal of building bridges
on both sides.
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In addition. Group and Community Services was also responsible for
facilitating volunteer and membership development. Volunteers helped
SUCCESS with its daily operation and different tasks in various areas. In the
1980s, most of the volunteers were mainly involved in the interpretation
services. They also contributed to helping Vietnamese refugees settle in
Vancouver. The number of volunteers had increased from 150 in 1980 to over
7,000 in 1998. Shirley Leung, Programme Director of Group and Community
Services, called volunteers 'the backbone of SUCCESS'. She maintained that,
without the help of volunteers, 'SUCCESS could not survive.'
To be assessed by the size of its membership, perhaps SUCCESS was the
largest immigrant community organisation in Canada. By 1998, SUCCESS had
a membership of 16,000 people. Many members were once their clients, who
joined SUCCESS as members because they wanted to express their
appreciation by supporting its cause. Talking about the significance of having
such a large membership, Leung argued that membership was an important
vehicle to maintain its grassroots base. Through its members, SUCCESS was
kept well informed of the needs and trends of the community.
Major changes in SUCCESS
The discussion of the history of SUCCESS and its programmes and services has
revealed that SUCCESS experienced tremendous changes between 1973 and
1998. These changes were manifested in the growth of the organisation, the
expansion of programmes and services, and changes in its mandate.
First, the fiscal growth of SUCCESS during its first 25 years was most
evident. When it was founded in 1973, the organisation only employed four
fiiU-time professional social workers. By 1998, it had a professional team
consisting of over 200 people. At its initial stage, it was funded by less than
100,000 dollars per year; when it reached its 25th anniversary, its annual budget
had reached eight million dollars. The number of clients receiving its
programmes and services skyrocketed from its initial 2,000 client contacts a
year to over 200,000 by 1998. Physically, the organisation has grown from the
very beginning in a 300-square foot office in Chinatown to an organisation with
multiple satellite offices in the Greater Vancouver area with headquarters in a
26,000-square foot Social Service Building of its own.
Other important changes were seen in its programmes and services. In the
1970s, its lack of resources limited its provision to basic settlement services
such as language interpretation and infonnation services. By the 1990s, it was
providing a whole range of programmes from airport reception to community
development. It was no longer just a single-focus organisation providing only
settlement services; it has become a well-established multi-service community
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organisation. Some of these programmes have remained constant throughout
this 25-year period because the needs have remained more or less unchanged.
For example, ESL programmes within the Language Training and Settlement
Services area have remained important for all non-English speaking immigrants
to help them acquire the language skills necessary for full participation in
society. Programmes in the Business Development and Employment Training
areas are responding to increases in the number of business and professional
immigrants. Its holistic approach helps immigrants become competent, socially,
culturally, linguistically and economically.
Further changes which were not as noticeable as the former two were those
in its mandate. SUCCESS was established in 1973 as a demonstration project,
which was supposed to end in three years. Its mandate was mainly to help non-
English speaking Chinese immigrants through providing basic immigrant
settlement services with the assistance of bilingual social workers who could
speak both English and Chinese. Its situation in 1998 demonstrated that
SUCCESS had become a multicultural and multiethnic organisation. Its
clientele comprised immigrants from non-Chinese ethnic backgrounds,
including those from mainstream society. To refiect the demographic changes
of its clients, its professional team has also become ethno-culturally inclusive.
Their programmes and services were made available in many languages other
than Cantonese and English.
This study has demonstrated that the changes which took place in
SUCCESS touched many aspects of the organisation. SUCCESS has grown
exponentially and strong enough to be noticeable not just in the Chinese
community but also in mainstream society. It played multiple roles with a three-
pronged focus: providing professional services and adult education
programmes, advocating on behalf of immigrants, and facilitating citizenship
education and community development. One of the most important
contributions was that it helped build a community for adult immigrants where
they felt they belonged.
Discussion
This study deconstructs the evolvement of SUCCESS by highlighting three
major social forces that have contributed to the changes of SUCCESS,
including changes in immigration policies, the changing profile and needs of
immigrants; and govemment frinding.
First, the profile of immigrants has changed owing to changes in Canadian
immigration policies, such as the adoption of the 'immigration point system' in
1967, the introduction of the business immigrant category in the 1980s, and the
opening of the immigration division in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing in the
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1990s. One consequence of the most recent policy change was the increase of
Mandarin-speaking immigrants from China.
The point system contributed to the formation of a cultural mosaic in
Canada. In response to the growing linguistic and cultural diversity in Canada,
the Liberal govemment of Pierre Tmdeau formalised an official policy on
multiculturalism in 1971. The main goal of this policy was to encourage
integration of immigrants into Canadian society without the loss of their
cultural identities and traditions. Rather than a 'melting pot' in which people
from various cultures are assimilated into the dominant culture, the image of
multiculturalism in Canada was characterised by cultural pluralism and
diversity. For immigrants, this meant that they were not expected to give up
their cultural identity to become fully integrated into society. For immigrant
service societies like SUCCESS, this meant that education was to be used to
help with this integration while avoiding cultural homogenisation. So for
SUCCESS, the challenge became identifying strategies to assist with
integration while creating and maintaining social spaces where immigrants felt
'at home.'
Second, the needs of newly-arrived immigrants differed from their early
counterparts and SUCCESS responded to meet these changing needs. For
example, to make its programmes and services more accessible to new
immigrants, especially those from Taiwan and Mainland China, SUCCESS
established Mandarin service centres and hired Mandarin-speaking staff
members in each office. In the 1990s, many new arrivals were professional and
business immigrants and SUCCESS introduced employment and small
business training programmes, in addition to its settlement services and
language training programmes. It is clear that the organisation was sensitive
and adaptive to changing community needs.
Another force that influenced the changes in SUCCESS was govemment
funding. In Canada, the three levels of govemment that provide services are
federal, provincial and municipal. Immigration policies are the jurisdiction of
the federal govemment and, until recently, the federal govemment has been the
primary funding source for immigrant services. But funding becomes more
complicated when programmes address needs that are typically in the
provincial or municipal jurisdiction. For example, in Canada, education and
health are both provincial responsibilities and municipal governments often co-
operate with these two senior levels to provide local services. In recent years,
the funding that has historically been provided for immigrant services by the
federal govemment has been passed down to some provincial govemments.
Govemment funding made it possible for SUCCESS to provide more
services to help immigrants with their settlement and adaptation. At the same
time, through the funding process the govemment was able to legitimise its
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policies and exercise a form of social control. For example, when the
govemment granted funding to SUCCESS, it could stipulate what programmes
the Society should provide with that fund, where to provide them, and to which
group(s). Since SUCCESS needed the funding to benefit its group members, it
appears that the organisation was able to overcome the negative part of this
'double-edged sword' process. Because a large proportion of SUCCESS'S
budget came from its fundraising, this made SUCCESS less dependent on
govemment funding and more difficult for the govemment to exert political
infiuence. This explained why SUCCESS was able simultaneously to continue
and expand its partnerships with the govemment while successfully advocating
for social change.
Implications for adult education
This study has several implications for adult education. First, it exemplifies the
role of adult education in social change. Second, it demonstrates that
communities are important sites for emancipatory leaming and social action.
Third, it shows the important role that voluntary organisations can play in
building an inclusive citizenship organisation where marginalised citizens feel
they belong. In the context of SUCCESS, its role in citisenship education was
two fold: building a facility where adult immigrants can acquire necessary skills
and knowledge in order to become a participatory citizen and sensitising
mainstream organisations about their service approaches and changing public
attitudes towards immigrants.
Cervero and Wilson (1994, 1996) have provided a new way of
understanding the political dynamics of programme planning. The case of
SUCCESS provides a new challenge in employing their planning theory to
better understand the complex interplay of needs with organisational stmctures,
with funding pattems and priorities and macro political considerations. The
cases of planning analysed by Cervero and Wilson largely are of single
programmes with reasonably well defined temporal boundaries sponsored by
single organisations. The experience of SUCCESS contextualised the
complexities of programme planning in a socially, culturally and politically
diverse environment.
Now in its 34* year, SUCCESS remains a growing, successful organisation
that enjoys substantial support in the community. But its success has also made
it easy for govemments to shift responsibility to the voluntary sector for
providing responsive immigrant services. Although it is easy to conclude from
this study that such an approach represents enlightened public policy in an age
of budgetary restraint and downloading all manner of services, a more critical
perspective is that forcing the voluntary sector to take on a larger and larger role
in service provision is inconsistent with a national commitment to an equitable.
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multicultural society. SUCCESS has demonstrated that a voluntary association
can be an extremely effective provider of immigrant services, but how
transferable the SUCCESS model is remains an important unanswered
question.'
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Spanish Abstract
ADULT EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE:
THE ROLE OF A GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATION IN CANADA
Shibao Guo
Este estudio examina el rol de la educacion de personas adultas en la promocion
del cambio social a traves de iniciativas de desarrollo de la comunidad en una
organizacion local llamada'SUCCESS (Sociedad China Unida de
Enriquecimiento de Servicios de Comunidad, o United Chinese Community
Enrichment Services Society), una organizacion de una comunidad de
inmigrantes en Vancouver, Canada. El abordaje adoptado es el del estudio de
caso. El estudio se centra en el desarrollo historico de SUCCESS, la provision
de programas y servicios, cambios importantes en SUCCESS, y las fuerzas
sociales detras de los cambios. Revela que SUCCESS fue fundada en 1973 en
respuesta a la falla de las agencias del gobiemo y las principales organizaciones
para proveer servicios sociales accesibles y programas de educacion para
personas adultas para los inmigrantes Chinos recien llegados. Durante sus
primeros 25 anos de existencia, SUCCESS ayudo a construir una comunidad
para los inmigrantes adultos a la cual sintieran que pertenecian. Desempeno
varios roles con un foco a tres puntas: aportar servicios profesionales y
programas de educacion par personas adultas, abogar a favor de los
inmigrantes, y facilitar la educacion para la ciudadania y el desarrollo de la
121

comunidad. Este estudio ejemplifica el papel de la educacion para las personas
adultas en el cambio social. Demuestra que las organizaciones a nivel local son
importantes sitios de aprendizaje emancipador y de accion social.
Shibao Guo is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of
Calgary and an affiliated researcher with the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research
on Immigration and Integration (PCERII). His research focuses on citizenship and
immigration, adult education and community development, social justice and equity in
education, and comparative and international education. His most recent publications
appeared in the Journal of international Migration and Integration, entitled "The
Changing Face of Chinese Immigrants in Canada," and "Chinese Immigrants in
Vancouver: Quo Vadis?" (both with Don DeVoretz). His email is
<shibao.guo@ucalgary.ca>
Notes
' Acknowledgement: A previous version of this article was presented at the
46* Adult Education Research Conference (AERC) at the University of
Georgia in June 2005. The author wishes to thank Tom Sork at the
University of British Columbia for his contributions.
122

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