Our neighbours to the south are certainly going through some changes and, with both the run-up to Obama’s election as president and in the months following, there’s been steady reports of much growth in interest in community organizing and community development. Now some folks are starting to poll and tally the numbers. Peter Dreier, a Politics professor who writes on and teaches community organizing in the US writes:

I usually have about 20 students in the Community Organizing course I teach each year at Occidental College in Los Angeles. So far, 42 students have registered for next fall’s class.

I haven’t all of a sudden become a more popular professor. There’s clearly something happening on American campuses and in the broader culture that’s tapping the pent up idealism of today’s students. An important element of that new mood on campus is Barack Obama.

Read Dreier’s blog post here.

It would be interesting to learn if there’s any coincident growth in interest in Canada. If anyone has any observations they can share, perhaps we can share keeping a pulse on things.

(Thanks to Daniel for passing this on.)