City of Peterborough Receives $10,000 Grant For Canadian Women in Local Leadership

The City of Peterborough has received a grant of $10,000 from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Canadian Women in Local Leadership Fund for its project, ‘Faces of Leadership’ announced on Monday.

File photo.

Faces of Leadership is a collaboration between the City and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough. It supports the development of a more diverse and inclusive understanding of leadership and will empower participants from equity-deserving groups with the knowledge, confidence, and opportunity to see themselves as leaders in our community according to the City of Peterborough.

This project focuses on women and gender-diverse individuals who experience barriers to leadership opportunities due to the intersectionality of race, gender, (dis)ability, class, and age, among other social factors as stated in the press release.

The first phase of this project from October to December 2022, identifies current leadership development models in marginalized communities and explores where leadership is learned and what is needed to cultivate leadership skills.

The project will also map the diverse journeys that are taken, particularly by Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color (BIPOC) and members of equity-deserving groups, to arrive at leadership positions.

The second phase for January to June involves the design and delivery of a community-led Leadership Circle – a series of six interactive workshops that will be informed by the findings from the first phase of the project according to the press release.

The Leadership Circle supports participants in confidence-building and leadership skills and connecting with existing and emerging leaders in the community. Participants will be provided with opportunities to intern with a City committee, shadow a local leader, and engage with City staff. An artist rendition of the participants’ experiences and their “faces” of leadership will be revealed at an end-of-project celebration at City Hall.

“Being involved as a leader in the community can be a stepping stone on the path to municipal leadership,” Reem Ali, city diversity, equity and inclusion officer. “We know that this was indeed the case for many of our female municipal, provincial, and federal leaders. This project intends to help participants become more confident in seeing themselves as leaders in our community – in envisioning the feasibility of holding a municipal leadership position as a goal that is achievable and in getting them started on this journey.”

“A large number of women and gender-diverse individuals work in the charitable sector, and yet we see a lack in bodies that support and strengthen leadership for this group, whether at the national or local levels,” Jennifer DeBues, executive director, Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough. We seem to also be missing a clear theory of change that speaks to growing this type of leadership. Our project can help reveal some strategies for incorporating such theories and supports at the organizational and community levels. Growing this capacity means growing the path for leadership for people who not only work at these organizations but for those who are also supported by them.”

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