City of Peterborough receives Canadian Women in Local Leadership Grant
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 – a collaboration between the City and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough.
Faces of Leadership will support 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. This project is entirely focused 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.
The first phase of this project, which is taking place from October to December 2022, will identify current leadership development models in marginalized communities and explore 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. It will further explore how our local community views leadership, as well as the role that the local charitable sector plays in supporting its development.
The second phase of this project is scheduled for January to June 2023. It will involve 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. The Leadership Circle will support participants in building their confidence and leadership skills and connecting with existing and emerging leaders in our 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 steppingstone on the path to municipal leadership. 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.” – Reem Ali, City Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer.
“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. 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.” – Jennifer DeBues, Executive Director, Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough.
Faces of Leadership seeks to build on efforts that are normalizing diverse and meaningful representation in leadership. The project will align with the City’s diversity, equity and inclusion work and advance the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough’s efforts in resource development for future gender equality work in our community.