The Leading Social Justice Collective (LSJC) is a cross-sectoral leadership development program for individuals engaged in social justice transformation in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), co-hosted by United Way of Greater Toronto and the School of Cities.
The LSJC offers network-building, project support, and leadership development – centred in principles of equity and anti-racism – to strengthen participants’ social justice practices and help them make progress on a social justice challenge within their organization or a community in the GTA.
“Why now? It is time for collective action to address longstanding, interconnected social, health, housing, and climate justice issues, including Truth and Reconciliation and broader equity and anti-racism imperatives. Now is a rare and unique opportunity to remake our economies, communities, and systems to be more just, inclusive and equitable. Doing so requires leaders in all sectors to act collectively, challenging what we’ve come to accept as normal. Rebuilding requires organizations and communities to equip changemakers with the long-term resources, capacity and agency necessary to initiate and sustain deep change.”
What will I get out of the LSJC program?
The LSJC offers network building, project support, and leadership development centered on principles of equity and anti-racism to strengthen participants’ social justice practices and actions and help them make progress on a social justice challenge within their organization or community in the GTA.
Program activities will equip participants with tools, reflective practice and cross-sector networks to:
- Understand their role(s) in identifying and addressing inequitable practices and policies within their organizations and communities
- Redesign systems and shape organizations and communities that are equitable and inclusive
What is a social justice challenge?
Applicants should apply with a specific social justice challenge in their organization or community that they would like to make progress on through this program. We define social justice as inclusive of economic and environmental justice issues.
- Projects should address an issue in the GTA, including but not limited to housing and homelessness; inclusive employment; climate justice; gender-based violence; reconciliation; systemic racism; food justice; inclusive infrastructure and city-building
- Projects should use a specific starting point or lever to address systemic inequities long term.
- This could be a project you are already working on or a project you have just begun that could benefit from new tools, networks and/or skill sets to create the change you wish to see
- Upon acceptance, teams will work with program staff/coaches to map where the project is currently and to set goals for project progress during the program
A sample LSJC syllabus
LSJC Projects
