Good leadership can be hard to find.

Following our successful Density Done Right panel, the March 22 edition of the Yonge Street Speaker Series will introduce us to some of the city's most dynamic new talent, who will help us explore the importance of Toronto's emerging leadership in shaping community and making our city a great place in which to live and work. They'll also talk about what young leaders need from the city to get their work done. We're very pleased to be back at the ING Direct Café for this event.

The evening will be moderated by Devon Ostrom, a curator whose work includes the HYPE series at the AGO, a mural and research project at Kingston Penitentiary and Canada’s first major exhibition of street art (held at the ROM). His curatorial record also includes the acclaimed Streetscape programming for Luminato 2008 simultaneously occurring at Regent Park and the former Tent City. As a community organizer, Devon is a co-founder of them.ca and Manifesto Festival. Devon’s advocacy work also includes founding BeautifulCity.ca, an alliance of more than 60 organizations that put a tax on billboards for art. Ostrom is a member of the Toronto City Summit Alliance’s ELN, Ryerson’s Top 30 Under 30 and serves on the CARFAC Ontario, Toronto Arts Council and Manifesto Board.
 
OUR PANELISTS
 
Eva Wong-Scanlan (previously featured in Yonge Street) will speak to Toronto Homecoming, an annual event that looks to welcome back to Toronto some of the great young minds who have moved abroad.
 
Salima Rawji, co-chair of the Emerging Leadership Network, will draw on personal projects to illustrate the importance of this network to the future of our city.
 
Amanda Parris, a performer, educator, writer and director, will tell us about Lost Lyrics, one of her many current projects, this one uses hip-hop culture to engage students and make a positive impact on young people's way of seeing the world.
 
The panel presentation will be followed by a lively Q&A with attendees. As Yonge Street and its sponsors continue our ongoing discussion about what we value in Toronto and how to build on what's working, we look forward to hearing from three people who are making a real impact in the city today and exploring with them what the future holds.
 
The Yonge Street Speaker Series is sponsored by the Toronto Community Foundation and Waterfront Toronto.
 
It's free and everyone is welcome. Please click here to register.
  
The details
Thursday, March 22
Doors at 6:10pm; program starts at 6:40pm
Location: ING Direct Café, 221 Yonge Street at Shuter (please use Shuter Street doors to enter)
 
We'll be using the hashtag #yongetalks for this series.