Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance names 2012 DiverseCity Fellows

20 January 2012 One Comment

By Samuel Getachew

According to the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, the Greater Toronto area is “the most ethnically and racially diverse region in Canada yet there is a striking lack of diversity at the top of our corporate, public, and non-profit organizations”

The esteemed organization, envisioned by the late David Pecaut, is aiming to change that by bestowing a prestigious fellowship to Toronto’s future leaders.

Among the 28 DiverseCity Fellows are three African Canadians with impressive credentials. Orlando Bowen, Okeima Lawrence and Jabari Lindsay are the future leaders of Toronto.

Orlando Bowen, courtesy jcitoronto.ca

Orlando Bowen is a native of Jamaica and immigrated to Canada at the age of 3. He was a former linebacker for the Argos from 1999 to 2002. He attended Brampton Centennial Secondary School where he excelled in football and track and field. He earned full athletic scholarship to Northern Illinois University and was a member of the football team where he was voted as the team captain.

Bowen is a graduate of Northern Illinois University in business administration with a Master of Science degree in Management of Information Technology. The spokesperson of Leave Out Violence and the Toronto Safe Schools Anti-Bullying campaign is also the founder of One Voice One Team organization that incorporates sport and community awareness to teach leadership skills to young people. For him, “It is better to leverage 1% of the efforts of 100 people than 100% of the efforts of one individual, but it often all begins with the efforts, vision and tenacity of one.”

Okeima Lawrence, courtesy cityidol.to

Okeima Lawrence is the second African Canadian to have been chosen as 2012 fellow. He is a current manager of Community Investment United Way Toronto. He is a long time youth advocate and an aspiring politician. Lawrence has served in senior positions at Youth Challenge Fund helping distribute funds to more than 100 member agencies. “For the past 16 years I have been contributing towards building Toronto’s youth social infrastructure. I have established and implemented several community development initiatives.”

The long-time member of the Laidlaw Foundation was also the youngest Toronto Public Library Board Trustee. As City Idol candidate – a community grassroots initiative that encourages aspiring politicians – he told the organizers how he would like to “contribute towards a world that meets the needs of youth and a City that leads the way towards new, innovative, ideas and solutions.” He continued, “Leadership is more than holding the banner and leading charge. It’s about leading from different directions, levels and varying roles.”

Jabari Lindsay (Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star)

Jabari Lindsay is the final recipient. He is a project manager for the City of Toronto, and for almost a decade he has managed a multimillion-dollar youth access program by facilitating change and advocating systemic change. The father of two works mainly with Toronto’s Youth Gang prevention programs, helping hundreds of youth escape the ruthless life of street gangs. The graduate of Humber College in social work started his career with Malton Neighbourhood Services as well as Breaking the Cycle organization.

The pilot project he manages is as a direct result of notable events in Toronto, including the shooting of Jane Creba on Boxing Day in 2005. In a city where the issues of gangs and crime are a great concern, the pilot project is expected to run until 2012. In fostering partnership and relationship throughout Toronto, Lindsay, is making a quiet revolution in the mean streets of Toronto. For him, “people are not motivated to excellence by orders; they are motivated to excellence by the relationships they build.”

At the end of the life of a Toronto civic visionary, David Pecaut left Torontonians a manifesto of what Toronto could be. Imagine, “a city where civic entrepreneurs are everywhere and the process of bringing all the parts of civil society together to solve a problem is really how the city defines its uniqueness,” he wrote.

With the selection of these three men of very distinguished future, the Greater Toronto Civic Action Alliance is helping solidify those words in to action.

Find out more about DiverseCity and the 2012 DiverseCity Fellows at diversecitytoronto.ca