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Peer Leaders Network Needs Your Votes for $25,000

The Canadian Centre for Diversity is competing in the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Competition. Between April 4 and April 22, anyone with a Facebook account can cast votes for their chosen cause.
 
Over 3,000 causes were submitted to the competition and the Peer Leaders Network was chosen as one of the top 200 finalists. The 40 causes with the most votes will win $25, 000. These funds will enable us to expand our youth leadership program, Peer Leaders Network, to one priority school high school in the Greater Toronto Area.
 
The Peer Leaders Network is recognized by provincial Ministries of Education across Canada as part of the preventative education solution to support high schools in taking action against bullying. Our program is not reactive to isolated acts of bullying. Our focus is proactive education that eliminates prejudice and discrimination by offering students life-long leadership skills so they can drive social change and end bullying in their schools and communities.
 
As you know, prejudice and discrimination are pervasive in Canadian schools, often resulting in direct acts of bullying. According to research, 72% of bullies are in grades 8-12; the second most likely place for assaults to occur is in or close to schools; and bullycides are increasing. Our Peer Leaders Network program helps reduce incidents of bullying and discrimination by helping to build safer, more accepting and inclusive school environments.
 
WE NEED YOUR VOTES to help us expand the Peer Leaders Network!
 
WHAT YOU CAN DO: LEARN, SHARE, VOTE

LEARN
 
Learn more about the Peer Leaders Network and how this program empowers young Canadians with leadership skills to end discrimination, prejudice and bullying. Visit: http://centrefordiversity.ca/what-we-do
 
SHARE
 
Share this contest with friends, family and colleagues. Tell them how you are helping to end bullying in Canadian high schools by supporting and voting for the Peer Leaders Network.
 
Share the contest on your Facebook timeline and add our Facebook banner to your personal page to proudly tell friends that you have voted for the Peer Leaders Network. Invite your friends to do the same.
 
VOTE
 
YOU CAN VOTE 10 TIMES PER DAY, EVERYDAY on Facebook, at the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Page here: https://www.state-assist.com/cause/2421/peer-leaders-network
 
Beginning April 4 until April 22, anyone with a Facebook account is eligible to vote for a cause. Each person is given 10 votes per day. These votes can be used all on one cause, or spread out in any way among multiple causes. Users can come back each day to distribute their 10 votes. At the end of each day, any remaining unused votes are lost.
 
We ask you to please vote today and every day and encourage others to vote as well!
 
Your support and action, combined with the actions of like-minded Canadians from coast to coast, will make the difference in expanding our leadership program to our 42nd high school.

Peer Leaders Network in 40 Schools!

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to reach out to you in my new role as Board Chair to provide you with some updates. The Peer Leaders Network is now in 40 schools across Canada! Expanding our programs to more students in more locations, gives them the opportunity to participate and explore issues of diversity and promote inclusion in their schools. This is important work. Students who complete the program become inspirational leaders who continue their commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout their post-secondary studies and professional careers, thus helping to build a Canadian society without prejudice and discrimination. It is a bold vision, and we are committed to making it happen.
 

We are expanding our social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr, and are thrilled to launch our new blog, Peerleaders.ca. Each of these communication vehicles highlights our important social mission focusing on youth, leadership and diversity. Please connect with us and become part of the conversation that is helping Canadians to See Different.
 
Thank you to my predecessor, Linda McCain, for her contribution as Chair over the past three years. I look forward to following her exemplary leadership and commitment to promoting safe, inclusive and accepting spaces for young Canadians.
 
Please forward this newsletter to your networks to help us reach like-minded individuals who are passionate about educating Canadians about the value of diversity, difference and inclusion.
 
Sincerely,
Janice O’Born
Chair, Board of Directors
  

Kidnapping Survivor Supports Diversity

On February 4th, the Canadian Centre for Diversity joined Mellissa Fung, accomplished CBC reporter, kidnapping survivor, and author at an evening lecture at Roy Thomson Hall where she spoke about her memoir, Under An Afghan Sky.
 

 
As part of the Unique Lives and Experiences Women’s Lecture Series, Fung shared her inspiring story about resilience and courage and joined with CCD and friends in a private reception following her presentation. A friend and supporter of the Canadian Centre for Diversity, she shared her personal story and donated funds from the sales of her memoir to support our organization’s mission to promote diversity and understanding.
 
While on assignment in October 2008, Fung was leaving a refugee camp outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. She was grabbed by armed men, stabbed, stuffed into the back of a car and driven off into the desert. For 28 days, Fung lived confined in an underground hole barely big enough to stand up or lie down in, nursing her injuries, praying, writing in her notebook and, as a veteran journalist, interrogating her captors.
 
Her book, Under An Afghan Sky, chronicles her perilous time spent in captivity and the indomitable spirit and strength she discovered within herself to survive. By sharing her story with us, Mellissa Fung provides a courageous story of resilience for all of us to share.
  

Janice O’Born Honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award

The Canadian Centre for Diversity Board Chair, Janice O’Born, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award for her commitment to impacting youth in our communities.
 

 

At the 14th Annual Rotary Youth Impact Awards, The Rotary Club of Toronto West recognized Janice for her record of service to youth development activities and her demonstrated leadership role in helping youth at risk.
 
Janice is also the Chairman of The Printing House® Charitable Office. Since founding it in 1985, Janice has directed fund raising projects to raise millions of dollars on behalf of charities such as The Hospital for Sick Children and SickKids Foundation, Sunnybrook Trauma Unit and the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). A believer in the importance of supporting family and community, Janice influences every person she meets with the spirit of volunteerism and philanthropy. The Canadian Centre for Diversity is very proud and honoured to recognize her commitment to youth and change.
 
As part of her Lifetime Achievement award, Janice was presented with a gift of $25, 000. She donated all the funds to two charities, one of which was the Canadian Centre for Diversity. Graciously, her husband, Earle O’Born, matched her donations. We sincerely thank Janice and Earle for their generous donations and congratulate Janice on her Lifetime Achievement award.
  

Innovative Partnership with U for Change

Innovative, energetic, youth-focused, goal-oriented, results-driven. These are the hallmarks of the Canadian Centre for Diversity’s Peer Leaders Network program. They also happen to define a unique arts based social enterprise in Toronto called U for Change.  This past fall, the two organizations partnered to produce a 5-minute video that highlights the Peer Leaders Network.
 
U for Change inspires better futures for communities, newcomers and youth through welcoming, inclusive and participant-centred use of educational and arts-based programs and experiential learning. Its emphasis is on building specific skills and developing a strong sense of community, belonging and pride.
 
Working closely with the film and video production team at U for Change, Canadian Centre for Diversity Board Member, Zaib Shaikh, and our Director of Community and Government Relations, Carla Wittes, were able to capture the special passion, energy and commitment that students are bringing to their work as Peer Leaders in schools across the country.
 
U for Change, for its part, found the experience to be rewarding and thought-provoking. “It was so meaningful for us to work with an organization like the Canadian Centre for Diversity,” said Tony Del Rio, leader of the film and video production program. “We share the same values, and it’s great to see how their program empowers young people to make change. We are excited to work together in the future.”
 
To view the Video, Visit our YouTube Channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/Centre4Diversity
  

Upcoming Dates for the Peer Leaders Forum

The Peer Leaders Forum is an annual, regional conference for all students in the Peer Leaders Network program. It is a chance for Peer Leaders to network, learn together, celebrate successes and collaborate on ideas for school-wide initiatives.
 
Upcoming dates for the Peer Leaders Forum include:
 

Toronto:  April 23rd
Chestnut Conference Centre

 
Halifax: April 30th
World Trade and Conference Centre
 

For more information and to view a gallery of student reflections from the November Peer Leaders Forum in Toronto, click here: http://centrefordiversity.ca/what-we-do/peer-leaders-forum
  

NEW! E-Newsletter Sign-up for Educators

Are you an educator? Interested in safe schools, building a positive school climate, diversity education, human rights education, student leadership, and inclusive environments for teaching and learning? If so, we encourage you to sign up for our new monthly e-newsletter, Praxis.
 
Inspired by Paulo Freire, the renowned Brazilian educator who wrote extensively on the theme of praxis and defined it as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it”, the newsletter aims to provide classroom and professional development resources for educators interested in diversity and inclusion in K-12 classrooms.
 

For more information or to become a contributor, please contact Konrad Glogowski, Director of Programs, at kglogowski@centrefordiversity.ca
 
If you’d like to receive this monthly newsletter, please sign up here: http://eepurl.com/s9Pwz
  

New Logo Symbolizes Desire to Unite

We are excited to introduce a new logo for the Canadian Centre for Diversity symbolizing its mission, and the enormous possibilities we represent.

The logo is based on half-circles which clearly form the two letters “C” and a letter “D” to represent the acronym of the Canadian Centre for Diversity. The half circles were intentionally staggered to symbolize the disconnection and the misunderstandings which can arise between people. However, the half-circles are organized around an invisible centre line, which represents an implicit desire to unite around a common theme and form a united whole. They are intentionally facing each other as if to give an open and accepting embrace to one another. Finally, the logo colours – red, green, and blue – can be combined to produce any colour in the visible spectrum. Like people, the symbols are separate, but they are open to being united.

From Headlines to Action

I was bullied in school while my classmates and teachers watched in silence.

“It’s time to recognize bullying is not about a headline or an isolated incident or a tragedy you heard on the news. It is a problem that affects all of us. There are bullies. There are victims. And there is everyone else watching from the sidelines … It’s time to speak up, say something, and refuse to be the complicit bystander.”

- The Globe and Mail, October 14, 2012

Please help us to lead the way on a diversity and inclusion journey by making a donation today. With your gift today, we will provide students opportunities to lead change by speaking out.

Click here to donate.