CITY Leaders: Building Youth Leadership in Toronto

From publisher: 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.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: The United Way of Greater Toronto funded this study