August 30, 2011 – The DiverseCity Fellows, a group of 25 rising leaders from across the public, private and non-profit sectors, have announced this year’s six collaborative city-building projects addressing a range of social and economic issues in the Toronto region.  Launching this fall, the 2011 Fellows projects (see below for full descriptions) aim to:

• Open streets and public spaces for active recreation (StreetSport);
• Connect Aboriginal professionals (Aboriginal Professionals Association of Canada);
• Address youth employment (myPath);
• Increase political engagement (Civico);
• Engage the corporate sector in social ventures (Social Innovation Partnership); and
• Support emerging entrepreneurs in the black community (Black Entrepreneurship Network).

DiverseCity Fellows is a one-year part-time leadership development program that brings together individuals from different backgrounds, sectors and corners of the region. The Fellows strengthen their ability to lead collaboratively and with diverse perspectives around the table to improve the region. DiverseCity is now accepting applications for the 2012 Fellows program.

Through a competitive process, passionate city-builders from business, public sector, and non-profit organizations will be selected for this unique program, which includes leadership sessions, networking, mentoring and team-based projects.  Applications are due October 6 2011. Information on how to apply can be found at http://diversecitytoronto.ca/get-involved/become-city-builder/.

“The Fellows are a unique and engaged group, and I’m always impressed by how driven they are to translate their passion for the city region into action,” said John Tory, Chair of CivicAction, which developed the Fellows program as part of its DiverseCity project with Maytree. “Now more than ever, we need to engage leaders of all backgrounds and work together to identify practical solutions to our region’s challenges and tap into new opportunities. The Fellows show us examples of how to do just that.”

2011 DiverseCity Fellows Projects

StreetSport

StreetSport aspires to connect residents of the region’s diverse communities through active living and physical activity. The vision is two-fold: facilitate the opening of streets and public spaces for active recreation across the GTA and motivate; and empower and inspire residents to creatively use streets and public spaces.

The Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada

The Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada provides Aboriginal professionals working across a variety of sectors a supportive community, providing access to the skills, networks and opportunities to grow as leaders in the Toronto region.  The vision of the Association is to foster and showcase world class leadership within the First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

myPath

myPath aims to expose young people to the range of job options that exist in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, as well as across non-traditional fields like the arts. This project will connect with young people in a way that is intriguing and meaningful to them, and give them guidance in finding their true calling.  The myPath project will test a number of different approaches over the next three years to hone in on what will really make a difference in connecting young people with the careers they want and deserve. Civico

Civico‘s goal is to build an online hub that will serve as a non-partisan springboard to get people in the Toronto region more politically engaged in all levels of government and in their communities.  Partnering with various civic engagement organizations and people around the Toronto region, the Civico online hub will provide a variety of platforms for political engagement, including a directory of political engagement organizations in the region, engagement resources, and a blog hosting original contributions on political issues and profiling a variety of on-the-ground organizations.

Social Innovation Partnership

Working in partnership with SiG@MaRS, this project will create a talent program for individuals from the private sector looking to engage in secondments with social finance organizations and social ventures. The initiative will create a community of “cross-pollinators” who will work to close the gap between sectors and increase awareness of social innovation.

Black Entrepreneurship Network

This program will bring together leaders from all sectors (government, private sector and non-profit) to support young aspiring entrepreneurs from the black community.  Through this one year development program, ten young people ages 21-35 will advance their business ideas through professional and personal training and a one-on-one mentor. Each participant will have the opportunity to participate in a business competition and the aim is to provide five grants of $10,000 to five participants to launch their business.  The other five participants will receive ongoing business coaching and support for one year.

About DiverseCity Fellows:

DiverseCity Fellows is a one-year action-oriented leadership development program for rising city-builders. The program is designed to support city-builders who are deeply committed to enhancing their leadership abilities and practicing collective leadership to address issues that are critical to the future health and wealth of the Toronto region.

Fellows is part of DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project , a joint initiative of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance and Maytree, funded in part by the Government of Ontario and designed to diversify the Toronto region’s leadership landscape.  To learn more, visit www.diversecitytoronto.ca.

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