As we get closer to the Ontario election on October 6, it is important to recognize that leaders signal who belongs and who doesn’t. They provide role models. They’re powerful symbols for future generations to see what they can and cannot aspire to become.
It matters who is within the corridors of power. Those who lead organizations and institutions and make decisions can truly shape the future.
Political leadership is particularly visible. And we know there’s a gap.
What we do
School4Civics is part of the DiverseCity project, which aims to change the leadership landscape in the region.
In 2007, leading up to elections at various levels of government, we saw an opportunity to help new political actors to emerge. We recognized, as well, an opportunity for us to enrich the political process by infusing these elections with a new, diverse generation of leaders, already making an impact in society, but not truly politically connected.
It became clear that we needed to demystify election campaigns – and to some degree the reality of electoral politics – for leaders from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups.
In the process, we’d equip them to run for elected office or work behind the scenes in election campaigns.
Delores Lawrence of Operation Vote discusses the importance of visible leadership role models, political participation & community collaboration.
How we do it
For the DiverseCity School4Civics program, we identify, recruit, train and connect diverse leaders. We offer a non-partisan training and mentoring program delivered by campaign experts from across the political spectrum. Our goal is to help emerging leaders build political power beyond one single election campaign. We want to make “lifers” out of program participants.
To ensure maximum impact, our work crosses over into various areas, from training leaders to creating partnerships with organizations that share our goal, to increase diverse participation in politics (Operation Vote, Canadian Hispanic Congress, Equal Voice).
An example of our training program is our 2010 Understanding Political Party Nominations series (PDF). We also recently ran a School4Civics bootcamp focused on the October provincial election.
We’re sharing how we do School4Civics so other communities can replicate the model.
What’s our impact been?
Since 2008, we’ve trained more than 150 emerging leaders with the majority participating in election campaigns or nomination races. The program has contributed to an awareness of the lack of diversity in elected office, particularly in relation to the municipal election. It may have also raised expectations for change in the community, by showcasing new candidates and leaders prepared to stand for elected office.
Some indicators from the October 2010 municipal election:
- Fourteen candidates from our network filed to run for city council or school board
- Two graduates served as senior policy advisors to a mayoral candidate
- All 20 graduates of the 2010 program worked on municipal campaigns
While one program graduate was elected school trustee in the Peel Region, many more have contributed to winning city council campaigns.
Behind the scenes we’ve also helped, by using our own networks, to connect new faces with reporters looking for stories.
Finally, the increased profile has generated interest among the political parties in the people we are training, which we think will lead to additional diversity in party leadership and candidates.
Anthony Fernando, School4Civics alum and Founder of inTO Consulting, sat down with Maytree’s Alejandra Bravo to discuss his experiences with diversity and the political process.
Related links:
- School4Civics
- DiverseCity Toronto
- DiverseCity Counts – measuring diversity in leadership in the GTA
- School4Civics – a Good Idea in immigrant integration
- Ontario 2011 election website
- Ontario 2011 election multilingual voter information