Community Living Ontario

A message of inclusion to 100 students has now grown to over 4,000
Wednesday December 1, 2010 -- Ryan Rogers

Two years ago Community Living Ontario established a youth leadership initiative to proactively seek young students who are looking to make a difference in their communities. Today those same students are carrying the torch of inclusion from community to community.

Kimberly Gavan, director of community development, says the initiative began when the organization stopped trying to do things it felt were relevant to students and began listening to students and helping them do what makes sense to them.

Recognizing that involved young people are a key ingredient to a healthy community, Community Living brought 100 students together from across Ontario as a reaction for inclusion.

Gavan says the students thought of inclusion as a social-justice issue and wanted to build momentum in their communities to create a more inclusive environment.

The message has expanded from a collection of 20 young leaders to a growing body of 4,000, a system which Gavan calls passing the torch.

From the conference 20 students stayed connected to host community events to move the momentum forward. They started a tour with special guest speaker Norman Kunc to present to more than 4,000 students across Ontario.

“Of those 4,000 we told them all about how they can join us and be thinking about building an inclusive community and thinking about students coming up in Grade 9 and 10 and get them to think about building inclusive communities,” she says.

Gavan says the assemblies are like a pebble being dropped into a pond, and the ripples are like the students’ response who have answered the call to action.

The students were thinking about how to take responsibility for the health of their school and community so that they’re working toward a culture of inclusion. She says this is done by looking for the people they don’t typically see and inviting them to a space that’s created for them.

The young leaders in communities are able to continue to stay engaged with one another through the Community Living Ontario’s Facebook page.

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