CivicAction selects fellows for DiverseCity
One created a media network for his Jane and Finch neighbours. Another, inspired by his parents’ story, wants to create better work opportunities for immigrants. On Monday, CivicAction named the 2015-2016 class of DiverseCity Fellows, a group of 27 up-and-coming leaders to take part in the so-called “civic MBA.” It’s a boot camp in how to get things done and what needs doing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. Reporter Sarah-Joyce Battersby met seven of the fellows and the spirit they hope to take from the program.
Gracie Goad — “Humbling”
At just 26, Goad manages food and beverage for the Queen West location of the Drake Hotel. It’s the kind of burgeoning empire, with restaurants, hotels and stores cropping up from Vancouver to Prince Edward County, that can provide careers for her underemployed peers, she said.
She hopes to foster a belief that a restau- rant job is not a stop gap between school and “the real world” but a chance to make a real life.
“It’s not due to a lack of talent in the workforce,” she said.
“People don’t often think: Oh, there are accountants in hospitality. You can be in marketing in hospitality. You can be in human resources in hospitality.”
Goad’s also added training to her list of responsibilities.
She taps into the talent at the Drake, organizing staff-led workshops, from whisky tastings to cocktail making, to personal finance for people living on cash tips.
Paul Nguyen — “Up” The 35-year-old activist and filmmaker started JaneFinch.com 10 years ago. It’s “a homegrown operation, a ragtag bunch of volunteers from the area,” he said.
At first the site was a way to promote his friends’ music and share his own stories of the neighbourhood.
Over time, it has evolved to a com- munity media centre, telling the stories of the neighbourhood and training people who live there to share those stories with the wider city.
For him, creating a sense of care and connection is what matters most —“just to be a good neighbour.”
“I think if we change the mentality of the residents of the community, a lot of change can happen and you don’t really rely on the money or the system or the programs.”
Ritesh Kotak — “Energetic”
A true child of the ’80s, Ritesh Kotak can thank a Walkman for his existence. His father, an east African immigrant with a geology degree, was selling electronics when he met his future wife, who had moved from India with training in accounting and worked in a perfume factory.
Now they are living the “Canadian dream,” he said, after launching a family food-processing business.
The 27-year-old cyber whiz for the Toronto Police wants to use his fellowship time to help people like his parents.
“I see them. I hear their stories. And I lived the struggle,” he said. “If I can actually do something to help them by eliminating some of these employment barriers to entry, I feel like that will have a systemic, positive impact in society.”
Mrinalini Menon — “Inspiring”
Mrinalini Menon is just 34, but she has already lived, worked and studied in seven cities around the world, from Washington to Mumbai.
“Toronto, in a funny but very cool way, brings together the best of all these cities, and that’s why I live here today.”
Menon’s resumé is almost as broad as her list of addresses, including work in the non-profit sector before joining the Royal Bank of Canada as a talent sourcing manager, and volunteer roles with the Royal Ontario Museum and Canadian Stage Company.
She hopes to share her broad experience and absorb the same from others.
“(The program) will help me hear so many various perspectives that I’m really excited about.”
Georgia Whitehead — “Courageous”
For this 29-year-old strategy manager at Trillium Health Partners, the patient experience is the “ultimate goal” in health care.
“When you or your family member or anyone ends up in the hospital it’s generally a really tough moment for them,” said Georgia Whitehead.
A healthy workforce can help make a patient’s stay positive, from making sure she feels welcome to details like filling That’s bedside partly waterwhy she’ll glasses. pay special attention when she and the other fellows talk about mental health issues in the region, especially when it comes to burnout in the workplace. “The health of employees is so important . . . .from our friends and loved ones and those that we inevitably know who are dealing with mental health issues,” she said.
Jonathan Azzi — “Connection”
A neuroscience grad with a master’s degree in health administration, Jonathan Azzi spent seven years in health care before he made the switch to Accenture, a management consulting firm.
Through it all he made civic responsibility a pillar of his life.
“I’ve always had a passion for community building,” Azzi said, who has taken on volunteering jobs and pro bono consulting work for not-forprofits.
Azzi shared the other fellows’ admiration for one another: “I was honestly honoured to be in a room with those individuals.”
For him, the program will be about “connecting people with other people or with the skills that they need to be successful and then connecting people with their communities.”
Scott Young — “Audacious”
The 27-year-old Vancouver native picked up and moved to Toronto three years ago.
“Toronto is not my default. I chose to be in this city because I saw it as a great place to live, to work, and to build a career.”
Now that he’s here, the digital strategist and social media consultant hopes to find like-minded, and different, people to work together solv- ing the region’s problems.
“It can’t just be one sector,” he said. “It needs to be civil society, it needs to be government, it needs to be academia, it needs to be the private sector.
“When those groups are talking to each other, and trying to envision what the future of our region looks like, I think that’s where things get really interesting.”