Local Artist Inspires at Community Leadership Development Program Orientation
The 2019-2020 Community Leadership Development Program is heading toward an amazing start. On Thursday September 12th Leadership Victoria hosted the program orientation with an inspiring keynote from local artist Carey Newman at the Songhees Wellness Center.
LV staff, program volunteers and twenty-two participants heard Carey describe how many of the causes of the global crisis, and colonialism are related and that many of the solutions to the climate crisis and actions of reconciliation are closely related. After the inspiring speech, Carey lead the group through an art exercise which highlighted the impact of individual leadership and collective leadership and our worlds need for both. The final artwork shown below is made up of 35 individual art pieces created by the 35 in attendance.
Orientation is the unofficial launch of the program, to get us prepared for the Leadership Retreat. The retreat is on October 5th and 6th and is being held at a retreat center just outside of Nanaimo. In 2019-2020 we are happy to have a dedicated, passionate group of volunteers ready to create a powerful immersed leadership experience for our learners. We are also excited to announce our guest speakers and facilitators for the year, including Ian Chisholm form ROY Group, Lisa Mort-Putnam from Volunteer Victoria, former Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard, Olympic Gold Medalist Adam Kreek, and Paul Latour of Heroworks. We also have a number of LV alumni and former Victoria Community Leadership Award winners who will participate in a Leadership Panel on Inclusion. To date we have confirmed Ruth Mojeed, Tracy Humphries, Ronda Hackett and Billie Allan. The goal is to provide diversified perspectives on Inclusion in our community.
The depth of our program doesn't stop there as we have also developed a couple programs to connect our students with influencers in our community. In October, we will be attending Confabulation, in November we are inviting 25 local community influencers to network with the cohort. These are great opportunities to meet the people who are helping shape our community. We are also so proud to be partnering with KidCareCanada to create meaningful Community Action Projects that will put the leadership learning into action. The Community Leadership Development Program is not for everyone. It is busy. You will be challenged. You will learn the theory, and put it into action. You will make connections and have influence. This program is for leaders.
The 2019-2020 is sure to be a great experience for everyone involved. We have already registered 22 participants, our largest number in over a decade. We have an inspired group of coaches and facilitators to guide the experience and a long list of guests and introductions. It is not too late to participate, but time is running out. We still have 3 seats available but you must take action now.