This webinar is part of a series of conversations to amplify the movement for a pan-Canadian Strategy for Belonging that centres everyone's perspectives on the quality of life in communities.
Speakers
Templeton Sawyer, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Alive House
Templeton was an Employment Support Practitioner with Teamwork Cooperative, the host of Tweet the Leader in You podcast, and co-facilitator of the CEI and Teamwork’s Youth-Focused Community of Practice in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He brings a great deal of lived experience to the table, and is a passionate Youth Advocate who seeks to help youth in both Nova Scotia and the Bahamas believe in themselves and increase their self-confidence through leadership and skill development programs.
When Templeton thinks about the word inclusion, he has a passion to place action into including everyone. Templeton continues his inclusion advocacies through a Youth Focused Community of Practice in which he is the Co-Author. This space enables service providers to grow and develop new strategies to serve youth.
Noah Draper, Toronto Metropolitan University
Noah is a student in the Master’s of Immigration and Settlement Studies Program at Toronto Metropolitan University. Previously, he studied Psychology at McGill University. Noah has worked and volunteered in the settlement sector for over two years, coordinating volunteers and programs to assist newcomers from various backgrounds with their settlement in Canada.
Diana Chan McNally, Community Worker, Educator, and Advocate
Diana Chan McNally (Dipl. CW BFA MA MEd) is a community and crisis worker in Toronto’s downtown east side. As someone with lived experience of social services and of being unhoused, Diana’s work focuses on human rights and equity issues for people who are experiencing homelessness by advocating at the political level, while still maintaining an active frontline praxis. Diana is also an instructor in George Brown College’s Community Worker program and has served on the steering committees of Health Providers Against Poverty. She is an alumna of Maytree Policy School, a fellow of the McNally Project for Paramedicine Research, and a Board Director of the Chinese-Canadian Intercultural Association.
Moderator
Jorge Garza, Associate Director - Communities Building Belonging, Tamarack Institute
At the Tamarack Institute, Jorge is leading a pan-Canadian, asset-based movement that supports municipalities, institutions, and individuals to increase the sense of community belonging reported by everyone. Previously, he worked at the Metcalf Foundation, where he supported the development of its poverty reduction program. He also spent five years at the McConnell Foundation, where he contributed to the development of its place-based work and explored the role of philanthropy in cultivating a more equitable society.
Jorge is a realistic optimist, and he believes in everyone’s potential to build more equitable & regenerative futures. He brings a diverse background of experience in strategy development, program design, and urban policy. Throughout his career, Jorge has collaborated with communities, funders, and international organizations working to achieve more equitable outcomes. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Fondation Béati.