Abstract
In 2008, United Way Toronto (UWT) launched the Creative Institute for Toronto’s Young (CITY) Leaders, a leadership development program for diverse young people working and volunteering in the community and social service sector across Toronto, Canada. The investment in leadership capacity building provided a unique opportunity to explore the short- to medium-term outcomes of the 104 youth who participated in five different program cohorts over 4 years. The UWT set out to evaluate the CITY Leaders Program by focusing primarily on its outcomes and effectiveness. This article provides a retrospective assessment of the impact of CITY Leaders, primarily through program graduates’ reflections on their learning and leadership development experience. It also documents outcomes at the personal, professional, and community levels.
Highlights
The Creative Institute for Toronto’s Young (CITY) Leaders is a leadership development institute for diverse young people working and volunteering in the community and social service sector across Toronto
Each year United Way Toronto (UWT) has selected youth from neighborhoods across Toronto to participate in CITY Leaders, which offers a series of participatory educational workshops, applied learning projects, mentorships, and other leadership development opportunities over the course of 8 months
Demographic drivers in Toronto have pushed the need for youth leadership strategies that are solidly grounded in a cultural and community context
Summary
The core offerings of CITY Leaders included an intensive program of educational sessions, mentorship, group-based applied learning projects, and an online networking platform This design has evolved over time through formative evaluation, curriculum review, and participant feedback. GEO suggests that learning should be customized and personally relevant to participants Effective practices in this area include building collective knowledge and a process for examining pertinent issues facing participants’ communities, increasing selfawareness, engaging participants in meaningful services to the community, and organizing forums and learning groups focused on practical problem solving based on actual cases from participants’ working lives (Doherty, 2003; Dugan et al, 2015; Enright, 2006). It is at this session that participants made a presentation of their community-based social action/advocacy projects and received feedback on their work
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