Civic Impact

The holiday season usually triggers people’s generosity, which is handy since it’s also the time of year when charity needs are at their highest.
 
The City of Toronto has published its annual holiday wish list of agencies looking for contributions ranging from volunteers to specific donation items, not to mention cash. This year 59 organizations working with homeless and marginalized communities have put themselves out there for additional assistance.
 
“It’s that time of year when we think about people who have much bigger challenges that we do,” says Alanna Scott, development and campaign director at Eva’s Initiatives. All three of organization’s locations, which together provide shelter for 114 of Toronto’s estimated 2,000 homeless youth, are on the list. Although the shelters are full year round, “in winter, the cold weather makes it feel more urgent,” she says.
 
Along with volunteers to “man the doors,” Eva’s Initiatives are looking for gift cards for affordable restaurants, new bath towels, linens and new winter clothing. “A lot of what we’re looking for are very basic items, hygiene products like toothpaste and soap, but it’s also nice to have a gesture of gift giving,” says Scott.
 
Eva’s Initiatives run a commercial print shop as part of a program to provide basic work experience to young people, providing spots for six youth to learn about the fundamentals of print. As a seasonal fundraiser, the print shops offer a holiday card service. Customers pick a card, provide a greeting and a mailing list and let the program take care of the mail out. The cards have winter-themed artwork that was designed by the youth.
 
The full list of agencies looking for help is here. 
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Alanna Scott

Canadian women have different motivations and strategies for charitable giving than men do, according to a research paper by Investor Economics and TD.
 
“Men tend to write cheques quickly, while women will want to build relationships with the organization they’re giving to, they’ll want to do more due diligence before writing the cheques,” says Jo-Ann Ryan, who leads the Philanthropic Advisory Services team within TD’s Wealth Advisory Services.
 
Ryan hosted two GTA events last week as part of a national series to encourage women to talk about issues raised in the report, called Time, Treasure, Talent: Canadian Women and Philanthropy.

“We’ve been talking about how charities can engage women, how they can engage more women, how to evaluate a charity, how to get different generations involved, including what  Millennials are looking for in charities, and why boards of charities are still predominantly men when women are the majority of donors,” says Ryan.
 
Many of the women who participated in focus groups for the research were serious philanthropists offering substantial support to the organizations they back. Looking at members of households in the highest income brackets, the report suggests that between 300,000 and 350,000 women in Canada—about four per cent of Canadian female tax filers—have access to both the financial resources and the desire needed to make a major gift to a charity.
 
But it's not just high earners who make a difference. “In 2012, Canadian women donated approximately $3 billion to charities in Canada, almost $1.1 billion more than Canadian women contributed in 2002,” states the report. “Not only did women, as a community, contribute more… a greater number of women made charitable contributions.”
 
That’s a lot of cash and should be reflected in how charities attract and work with donors. The report suggests that women are more likely than men to think of charities as “change agents within society” and are more likely to think that charities make a difference.
 
“The most important motivators for Canadian women were a desire to help those in need and a belief in the work undertaken by specific charities. It was clear from the survey data that women were far more likely than men to support family members and friends who were fundraising on behalf of a charity.”
 
Some stereotypes hold up. While women in Canada tend to focus on health-related causes (other than hospitals) and social services, men are more likely to donate to sports and recreation-focused charities.
 
“There was no single dominant motivator that encouraged [the Canadian women who participated in the research] to transition from being passive observers of the world around them to individuals focused on changing and improving that world,” states the report. “It was also apparent, despite the fact that all the women who participated in this research were by definition financially successful, that their philanthropy was not primarily defined in financial terms, but rather in terms of effort, commitment and a basic desire to help others by sacrificing as much of their own personal resources and time as possible.”
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Jo-Ann Ryan
 

Coffee and chocolate are often the first things that come to mind when someone utters the phrase “fair trade.” Yet there’s a wide array of cool stuff Torontonians can buy and feel confident the that the producers living in other parts of the world will receive a fair price for their efforts.
 
That’s what Toronto entrepreneur Rafik Riad set out to prove when he founded Canada’s first annual Fair Trade Show, which debuts Saturday, Nov. 29, and Sunday, Nov. 30, at the Gladstone Hotel.

With the help of the Canadian Fair Trade Network and the Fair Trade Federation, Riad has rounded up more than 15 merchants who will be selling items from more than 25 countries, including handmade jewellery from Nepal, organic olive oil from Palestine, wooden salad servers from Kenya and wines from Chile. Exhibitors are a mix of social enterprises, driven by both the bottom line and a social mission, and not-for-profit organizations.
 
“There’s been a lot happening on the raising awareness side of things. More and more students are having their campuses designated as fair trade, more and more cities are becoming designated as fair trade cities. But you don’t have so much happening on the supply side,” says Riad, whose social enterprise SALT partners with organizations in developing countries to bring fair trade merchandise to the Canadian market. “I want to let Canadian consumers know that there is a fair trade version of everything that they might want to buy.”
 
Though mostly a marketplace, the event will provide some educational opportunities. Screenings of Girl Rising and Connected by Coffee will round out seminars by leaders in the fair trade world, including Renee Bowers, executive director of the the US-based Fair Trade Federation, and Brigitte and Robert McKinnon of Quebec-based Pure Art Foundation.
 
Riad hopes that it’s not only consumers who find things they want to buy at the show. “What I’d really, really love is to have a few retailers come in and decide to stock some of these products,” he says. “The goals we have of helping the people that we’re working with in places like Africa or Latin America only happen when we can generate volume.”
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source:  Rafik Riad

If you’re going to change the country’s attitude toward food, don’t get buried in programming.
 
That’s one of the arguments that Nick Saul, president and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada, will bring to Food Secure Canada’s national assembly in Halifax this week. The former executive director of The Stop will appear on a panel called Moving Our Ideas to Action.
 
Saul hopes the assembly—a gathering of more than 400 farmers, fishers, dietitians, policy makers, activists, entrepreneurs, community organizers, indigenous leaders, students and academics—will rally around a manageable number of key issues. Then participants can move forward on them once the final session is over and they’re back in their home communities. Although many food organizations and agencies offer excellent programs, Saul says activists need to make time to think about the big picture amidst all the time and effort that goes into delivering services.
 
“You can run programs till you’re blue in the face and we might not have moved the larger structural pieces,” says Saul. “You might have a wonderful community dining program that is dignified, respectful and offers healthy food—and we do that. But that’s just one piece of a broader piece of work, which is also to speak out about how we need to increase social assistance rates, how we need a higher minimum wage, how we need a national housing strategy or how we need an affordable childcare strategy for the country. Those are the big socio-economics determinants of health that need to change.”
 
Socio-economic factors and community health are just a couple of threads in the discussion around our food system. Climate change is another. “30 percent of our greenhouse gasses are related to the way we move food from field to table,” says Saul. “These are really big juggernaut issues of our time. Food has an important place in how we turn these issues around.”
 
Saul will be joined in the plenary session by Diana Bronson of Food Secure Canada, Dr. Patty Williams of FoodARC and Dr. Pamela D. Palmater, associate professor and chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University.
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Nick Saul

The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation has funded 14 colleges and universities across Canada, including OCAD University and Ryerson University in Toronto, to create zones of social innovation and social entrepreneurship zones where students can work with business, community and public sector partners to address social and environmental challenges. Called RECODE, the program will also host “national challenges” to build collaborative and creative approaches to a range of national issues. If it all goes according to plan, students could be solving big problems while they develop skills that will serve them well after graduation.
 
“Our idea with RECODE is helping students with the challenges they face when they graduate into a difficult job market for young people and looking at the role of social innovation in meeting those challenges,” says Brigid Shea, director of communications at Montreal-based J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.
 
OCAD, Ryerson and the other winning schools were chosen this spring based on their requests for proposals (RFP) pitching how existing and proposed programs would help meet RECODE’s goals.
 
“We are pleased to be recognized for our work in building social innovation in Canada,” said Wendy Cukier, vice-president of research and innovation at Ryerson, in a news release. “This will greatly contribute to ‘mainstreaming’ innovation across every faculty, providing thought leadership and evidence-based action, building the innovation ecosystem and developing the changemakers of tomorrow.”
 
The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation’s mission is to engage Canadians in building a more innovative, inclusive, sustainable and resilient society.
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Brigid Shea

With Toronto adding more than 90,000 residents each year, the city’s outdoor public spaces can feel overwhelmed, with only a limited amount of land available for new parks and amenities.
 
But with a little imagination and TLC, Toronto’s 250 kilometres of 2,400 laneways—most of them underused and some of them pretty sketchy—can come to the rescue. Tucked out-of-sight in most neighbourhoods, laneways can provide spaces for socializing, art, quiet moments and sports just outside people’s backyards.
 
Formed last spring, the team behind the not-for-profit organization The Laneway Project wants to make it easier for residents, community organizations and businesses to tap into the potential of the city’s laneways. A partnership of three planning, design and architecture firms, the team is hosting its first laneway summit on Nov. 20 to kickstart the conversation. They’re hoping that residents’ groups, BIAs and other city partners can come up with some priorities and opportunities to make better use of our laneways.
 
“It’s low hanging fruit. It’s publically owned outdoor space that’s a giant uptapped resource,” says co-director Michelle Senayah, who is principal at Senayah Design. 
 
Part of people’s reluctance to show laneways more love is a poor understanding of who owns what, who’s responsible for what and what regulations and restrictions apply. “Even as a trained design professional, I had to spend weeks on the phone to different departments of the city trying to figure things out,” says Senayah. “A lot of grassroots work happening in laneways flies under the radar at the moment. People try to do things in an official way and then it’s so impenetrable that they just decide to do things unofficially.”
 
The Laneway Project plans to publish a one-stop overview of regulatory and ownership parameters, as well more specific advice on how to make the most of laneways. That includes how to assess laneways for potential. Lanes adjacent to open spaces, that connect to bike lanes, that are in a good state of repair and that have a good microclimate will obviously be better suited to reimagining than dark, smelly, garbaged-filled ones.
 
Laneways have not been entirely neglected. On an official level, the city’s StreetARToronto  project actively tries to beautify laneways. More informally, a group of residents in the Ossington area host an annual laneway party. Senayah says the project will publish a “party in a box” guide to hosting social events and, following the summit, they’ll launch two pilot projects. The pilots—a greening project and an installation project—will provide examples of what can be done, as well as helping participants figure out some of the unexpected obstacles and how to overcome them.
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Michelle Senayah

Most artists spend their time and energy on their art (or at least they try to). Most arts administrators spend most of their time and energy administrating. It can be challenging to even glimpse the bigger picture.
 
With its inaugural Cultural Leaders Lab, the Toronto Arts Council (TAC) wants artists and other cultural workers to think beyond their own efforts to see the impact of the arts on the city—and how that impact could be even greater.
 
“We want to develop a network of leaders who can form a bit of a think tank or can formulate ideas, new projects and solutions to existing problems in a way that’s collaborative and reflects a greater understanding of each other’s disciplines and what we can do together,” says Claire Hopkinson, TAC director and CEO.
 
As many as 15 fellows will be chosen to attend a week-long retreat next year at the Banff Centre. The program aims to invigorate and inspire the fellows, provide an opportunity for professional development, learning and networking with peers across disciplines. When the fellows get back to Toronto, TAC will host bimonthly events in the hopes they’ll build on what they learned during the retreat and the relationships they formed there. “We’re looking for people with a willingness to walk into this initiative knowing that the work they’re doing in the cultural scene contributes to the betterment of the entire city,” says Hopkinson.
 
The idea grew out of a series of consultations and informal conversations about cultural leadership in Toronto. Many of the city’s cultural pioneers, especially the baby boomers, came of age when it was much easier to break into the scene and move up the ranks. And they’re starting to retire and step back. “Now there aren’t the same opportunities for people to really assume responsibility at an earlier age,” says Hopkinson. “We really want to help develop the next generation of cultural leaders.”
 
Money from the billboard tax, passed by city council in 2013 helped fund the Leadership Lab and the partnership with the Banff Centre.
 
The deadline for applications is Monday, November 10.
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Claire Hopkinson

Once you’ve picked the low-hanging fruit of sustainable business practices, how does your company reach higher up the tree?
 
At last week’s Conference Board of Canada summit on corporate social responsibility (CSR), Nadine Gudz, the Toronto-based director of sustainable strategy for Interface, delivered a presentation on how the company engages employees to continually improve its environmental practices. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices around the world, the world’s largest manufacturer of carpet tiles aims to eliminate any negative impact on the environment by 2020. Gudz says the company is about 65 per cent of the way there.
 
“Clear language, clear messaging that’s easy for employees to remember is important,” says Gudz in an interview after the summit panel. “Along with the education around the mission, we try to have diverse strategies in place. While there’s a baseline curriculum that everyone needs to know when they come to Interface, there are also mechanisms on an ongoing basis to reach out about what’s going on in the marketplace, and opportunities for employees to take their leadership to the next level and become sustainability ambassadors.”
 
The remaining 35 per cent of what the company calls “Mission Zero” will be trickier than what the company has achieved since it made its commitment in 2006. “The huge vision is a huge source of debate and healthy tension within the organization about how to nurture sustainability and social responsibility,” says Gudz.
 
Founder Ray Anderson, who had been the main driver behind achieving a zero footprint, died in 2011. Many newer employees have never met Anderson and had a chance to experience his contagious enthusiasm for Mission Zero. At the same time, Gudz says Interface attracts a certain “kind of talent” because of its values and vision, which makes it easier to sustain the vision.
 
The mission has meant an increased commitment to innovation, including recruiting non-traditional partners. Interface has worked with the Zoological Society of London and fishing communities in Philippines to collect discarded fishing nets in coastal areas for recycling into carpet yarn. “That’s having a huge impact on our sustainability journey and we’ve taken that technology and asked some questions about where it can do the most good.” The pilot has gone so well, Gudz says, that they’re expanding into Cameroon.
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Nadine Gudz

For the fourth edition of its annual Agents of Change program, the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) has teamed up with 15 public- and private-sector partners who will give the winners a crash-course in city building.
 
The annual program provides office space, promotional help, consultations and networking opportunities to 10 people chosen as agents. While past efforts have focused on youth and newcomers, this year’s agents will be selected for their city-building aspirations and abilities. “We’re looking for two things: the potential for impact and the likelihood of success,” says Adil Dhalla, director of culture at CSI.
 
Winners get to spend time with each of the 15 partners, which range from developers like Daniels and Westbank to the David Suzuki Foundation, Civic Action and Spacing magazine. “It’s curriculum by committee. Some of them will be informal while others will be planning specific programming that will support the agents,” says Dhalla. “Everyone is being asked to bring something to the table, but that something is for them to determine. It may prove to be the most eclectic program for city builders that I’ve ever seen.”
 
Dhalla says the partner sessions could turn into opportunities for some of the agents, who may not otherwise know who to turn to for help. “When you’re at the early stages of your project or startup, one of the challenges is getting in front of your ideal advisor/mentor or even customers. With the program, if you had an idea for a kitchen library, for example, in new condos, you could go straight to the right people based on the social capital and connections the program will create.”
 
For the first time, Agents of Change will take place not just in Toronto, but in CSI’s New York location, which opened in 2013. Ten winners there will go through a similar program.
 
The deadline for applications is Sunday, November 30.
 
Writer: Paul Gallant
Source: Adil Dhalla

Not every city invites its new immigrants to collaborate in a documentary about the immigrant experience. But thanks to the now year-old initiative, Docs for Change, Toronto's different. 

"At the end of year one, we will be able to hear more about the experiences, what it takes for people with no technical experience to get into the role of documentary storytellers in six months," says Docs for Change's Eliana Trinaistic. "The ultimate goal is then for them to organize film clubs in year two, get documentaries from NFB, and propagate and popularize documentary movies."

The program, funded by a grant from the Trillium Foundation, has enabled 25 fellows in six groups to make two-to-three-minute documentaries and any subject they like, with the purpose of engaging and inspiring the communities around them. Over the past six months, they have had access to talks from professional filmmakers on such subjects as diversity of voices in film, telling meaningful stories and building trust with your audience. The deadline is Oct. 31, and the films will be screened on Nov. 5 at at MCIS Language Services (Triovest Conference Centre) at 789 Don Mills Road.

"The grant envisioned a civic engagement tool," Trinaistic says. "The change is moving from unengaged to engaged through documentary movies to speak about change or think change, to go and vote more often, sign petitions, go out and engage other people about other issues, learning how to be more active in terms of participating in civic life.

"We believe documentary movies can make that change, because sometimes the emotional appeal is different from if you go to the movie theatre and see fictional stuff, it's about real people and real issues and people see the importance of storytelling."

Take that, Welcome Wagon.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Eliana Trinaistic

There are many arguments against having so-called "big circus events" like the Olympics or the Pan Am/Parapan Games in your city. But, as Toronto is showing, at least as far as the latter go, there may be more in favour.

There has been fast-tracked development on the waterfront, massive volunteerism and leadership training programmes, and the usual extra athletic facilities, the latest of which is the new BMX park going in.

And now there's also the Youth Summit: 300 people between the ages of 16 and 24 from across the province will convene on March 21-22 for two days of skill-building workshops, talks by the likes of Rick Hansen, and site visits to give help their already burgeoning leadership instincts and skills.

The deadline for applications is the day after tomorrow.

According to the summit's spokesman, Fulvio Martinez, they're encouraging people who already have some leadership achievements to apply.

"It could be related to specific foundation," he says, "maybe cancer, local food bank, youth violence." What a leader does is a leader inspires and influences others to do some good in their communities."

And simply running a race and gathering pledges is not enough. They're looking for people who have gotten other people off their duffs and doing something themselves.

One of the activities — sure to be a big hit with the locals — is a sort of Amazing Race led by Pride House through the gay village with the intention of showing the participants the issues and history of LGBTQ communities in Toronto and elsewhere.

In addition to the 300 attendees, there will be 175 youth from Nunavut, the Caribbean and Lima (where the next Pan Am/Parapan Games will be), who will be joining in the discussions digitally.

Successful applicants who live more than 75km from the GTA will have their transportation and accommodations paid for.

You can apply here.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Fulvio Martinez

There's a thin line between delicious and disgusting.

Most of us reading this would only ever eat an insect on a dare, or as part of an out-of-character experience abroad.

But when's the last time you looked at a lobster close-up? Or a shrimp? They're essentially aquatic insects. Yummy, yummy aquatic insects.

So why would we pay $40 for a lobster tail, but wrinkle our nose at a cricket?

According to  Dr. Aruna Antonella, a big part of the reason is purely cultural, subjective, and eminently shiftable.

And she thinks that we should shift, that we must shift.

On Nov. 6, she'll be speaking at the Centre for Social Innovation's Six Degrees event at their Annex location about the hows and whys of eating insects. And for $10, if you think cattle, pig and chicken farming is unsustainable or possibly even distasteful, you can put your money where your mouth is and help yourself to a serving of cricket kebab in golden berry sauce, a cricket brittle they're calling crittles (think Skittles, but with more legs), and Thai spoons (amuse bouche spoons heaped with greens and crickets), all prepared by Cookie Martinez, with crickets supplied by Big Cricket Farms.

"It's worth pointing out that insects are a normal part of the culinary experience in many parts of the world," says the CSI's Barnabe Geis. "Undoubtedly, producing insect protein is much less resource intensive and environmentally damaging than other sources of protein, especially cattle."

According to Antonella, insect protein is the future of food. All we've got to do is get over ourselves.

Consider Nov. 6 a first step.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Barnabe Geis

The popular image of a homeless kid tends to be an urban one: a teen huddled in a doorway in some warehouse district or hustling on a downtown street corner. They could be from the city, or maybe they’ve come to the big city from the suburbs, or the country. It’s the subject of a hundred films and a thousand books. But the United Way and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness know that’s not the whole story. There are homeless youth in the suburbs, as well, and they are trying to do something about it.

So on Oct. 4, they sponsored a talk both to call attention to the issue, and to discuss some of the ways it can be addressed. Phil Brown, a resident of Markham and member of the newly struck Community Advisory Board Renewal Group, Janice Chu, director of community Investment for the United Way York Region, Anne Stubley, executive director of Blue Door Shelters, Jane Wedlock, Community Engagement and Research Manager of United Way York Region, also representing the Youth Homelessness Research Advisory Committee and Judy Hayes, a resident of Richmond Hill, discussed the most pressing issues related to this sometimes under-discussed problem.

“The factors that contribute to youth homelessness are generally the same,” Wedlock tells Yonge Street Media. ”They relate to family issues, but also and importantly structural factors (inadequate income, lack of affordable housing, struggles with education) and institutional and system factors related to systems of care (child protection, health, mental health care, corrections).

"Historically, as in most other Canadian jurisdictions, our response has primarily focused on supporting young people who are in crises with emergency shelter (where possible) as well as a variety of other supports, help finding housing, education and employment – but less coordinated efforts on prevention and also ensuring appropriate accommodation and supports across the region for young people if they need to live independently of family.”

Youth homelessness in urban centres is well understood and organizations combatting it well funded. But for the suburban homeless, the lower profile as well as the differences inherent in the realities of suburban life, can cause problems unknown downtown.

“Youth in York Region face particular challenges due to the vast geography of the region and limited social infrastructure,” Wedlock says. “We have two emergency shelters that are currently in the north (York Region Youth Shelter Newmarket – 10 beds for male youth, and Salvation Army Sutton Youth Shelter with 16 emergency shelter beds and 10 transitional beds where young people can stay for up to one year). There are currently no emergency shelter beds in southern York Region. However, that will change when the Community Hub currently under construction by the Regional Municipality of York in partnership with the Town of Richmond Hill and 360-kids, slated to open in 2016. The hub will provide drop-in services, emergency and transitional housing, and a variety of other supports.”

Though Wedlock says a number of homeless kids from suburban and rural areas are drawn to urban centres, she says the escalation or exacerbation of certain sorts of problems can be avoided if more attention is paid to where the kids come from.

“It is critically important to be able to keep young people in the communities where they have social supports, are connected to family, friends and school – to help them maintain some stability in what may be a very difficult time,” Wedlock says. “The new Community Hub in Richmond Hill will be an important centre of support for young people that will expand services currently available and critically needed in southern York Region.”

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jane Wedlock

Pretty much no matter how you define diversity, Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world. But look at its leadership. The only non-European to get close to general election as mayor is trailing in third place, subject to racist attacks in public forums.

We’ve got to do better than that.

Civic Action seems to agree. Since 2009, they’ve been running the Diverse City fellowship program to address this very issue.

“It is like a 12-month civic MBA,” says Civic Action’s spokeswoman Sarah Harris. “We run this program because we don’t think there is anything more important to the future of our city than preparing those who are going to lead it.”

Twenty-five new fellows have just been named for the coming year, making a total of more than 130 in this program's history, including people like Gabrielle Scrimshaw, who co-founded and is now president of the Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada, Brent Chamberlain, who went on to become head of diversity and inclusion at Bell, and Orlando Bowen, now executive director of One Voice, One Team.

“The program offers more than 100 hours of programming,” Harris says, “which includes sessions on leadership, diversity and city-building with experts and guest leaders. The program also offers institutional support to help the Fellows incubate projects that create positive change in our communities. Fellows get to expand their network by connecting and working with city-builders from public, private, and non-profit sectors and through their mentorship relationship with a senior leader.”

Fellows are chosen from a pool of more than 100 applicants annually, each with more than five years of leadership experience and, according to Harris, “a passion for city-building.” They are chosen with an eye to representing different industries and sectors, and include visible minorities, a gender balance, immigrants, LGBTQ, and people with disabilities, among other groups in the GTA.

The program is funded by the province, with in-kind contributions from The Canadian Club, the Canadian Urban Institute and the Centre for Social Innovation, among others.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sarah Harris

Calvary-like, the mayor of Calgary will be riding into town Oct. 21 to rescue us from the puerility of our own mayoral tumult.

Given his own relative political maturity, however, he won’t be throwing any mud himself. The event is called Big Cities, Big Ideas.

“I can say that the focus of the questions will not be on Toronto or the mayoral race,” says Professor Mark Stabile with the school of public policy at U of T and professor of economics at the Rotman School there, which is sponsoring the talk that will take place in the form of an on-stage conversation, “but rather on what has happened in Calgary, what he hopes will happen, the challenges that are common to big and growing cities everywhere, and the particular challenges in the Canadian context.”

Nenshi, currently serving his second term as mayor, was actually born in Toronto, and has a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard.

“In terms of value for the people of Toronto, I think that we should always be ready to learn from the success and mistakes of others and that there are likely lessons from his experience that apply here,” Stabile says. “But perhaps more importantly, Calgary is a large and growing part of our country and economy and I believe many will be interested in his story as a Canadian success story. I know that at our school we have many students from Calgary and they are delighted that we are interested in hearing what their mayor has to say.”

Previous speakers in the series, which sponsors such talks several times a year, include Meric Gertler and Richard Florida.

You can register to attend here.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mark Stabile