On December 1^st, the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) hosted 150+ rising leaders who work in Toronto region governments, businesses and non-profits at its third annual ELNstudio event, held at the Corus Quay. The day-long ELNstudio saw civic-minded leaders working collaboratively to identify and commit to new strategic actions on tough issues and big opportunities.

Seven breakout groups committed to pursuing new civic actions to:

1. Better connect the region by launching an effort to build public awareness and support for investment in transit and developing a charter to enhance mobility;
2. Enable starting employees and newcomers to get and retain good jobs through mentorships and investments in their development;
3. Bring innovative, international ideas to the region through an ideas competition;
4. Find new ways to engage a broad and diverse group of residents in an ambitious effort to transition neighbourhoods to carbon neutrality;
5. Leverage the opportunity of the 2015 Pan/Para Pan Am Games to achieve social legacies for the region;
6. Make municipal elections more relevant, fairer and participatory by creating opportunities for citizens to experiment with new voting systems through the media and on campuses; and
7. Develop a neighbourhood strategy to inspire cohesion and share information to build healthier neighbourhoods in the region and beyond.

For a summary of ELNstudio highlights, click here.

8:00 AM	Arrival & registration
8:30	Welcome to ELNstudio ELNstudio Co-Chairs Nick Yeo, Project Manager, CharityVillage.com and Jennifer Haskett, Art Director & Contributing Editor, St. Joseph Media
8:35	Opening remarks John Tory, Chair, CivicAction
9:05	Quick snapshot of ELN and its current and future directions ELN Co-Chairs Mitzie Hunter, CAO, Toronto Community Housing and Donna Lindell, President, Lindell Inc.
9:10	Strengthening connections (facilitated networking)
9:45	What kind of region do we want to have? (breakout discussions) Innovative (facilitated by Andrew Graham, George Weston Ltd., and Vass Bednar, School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Toronto) Sustainable (Mariah Levin, KPMG, and Eva Wong Scanlan, The Meeting House) Welcoming (Gillian Hewitt Smith, Institute for Canadian Citizenship, and Simone Dalton, Toronto Community Foundation) Mobile (Mitzie Hunter, Toronto Community Housing) The Toronto region would be awesome if… (Adaoma Patterson, Region of Peel, and Julian Caspari, The Heart & Stroke Foundation)
10:45	Networking Break
11:00	Transforming ideas into action (panel discussion) – click here for bios Moderator: Julia Deans, CEO, CivicAction Remo Agostino, Director of Development, The Daniels Corporation Julie Dzerowicz, Co-Chair, Project Neutral Alison Loat, Executive Director, Samara Louroz Mercader, Founder & President, Mississauga Youth Games
11:45	Lunch & announcement of CivicAction’s new CEO
12:30 PM	Beyond the usual suspects: crowd-sourcing social change (keynote) Dave Meslin, artist, consultant, trainer and organizer
1:00	Generating new civic actions (breakout discussions & preparation) building a more regionally integrated transportation system developing a stronger workforce and greater prosperity in the GTA leveraging the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games transitioning urban neighbourhoods towards carbon neutrality driving economic innovation and productivity in the Toronto region making municipal elections more fair, relevant and participatory and a facilitated open-space discussion
2:30	Networking break
3:00	Pitch panel – click here for bios Moderator: Royson James, The Toronto Star Shari Austin, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, RBC Rahul Bhardwaj, President & CEO, Toronto Community Foundation Nan DasGupta, Partner, The Boston Consulting Group Vicki Saunders, Senior Advisor, MaRS Leslie Woo, Vice President of Policy and Planning, Metrolinx
4:45	Closing remarks ELNstudio Co-Chairs; Tamara Balan and Julia Lo, CivicAction
5:00	End & reception

“ELNstudio is a catalyst. It’s a unique opportunity to come together and identify positive, collaborative solutions that bring about real change.” – Eva Wong Scanlan, Co-Chair, Toronto Homecoming

We are grateful for the support of the following ELNstudio sponsors:

City Champions:

City Builders:

City Friends:

Date: Thursday, December 1, 2011
Time: 8:30 AM -5:00 PM, followed by reception
Location: Corus Quay, 25 Dockside Drive

ELNstudio is an initiative of CivicAction’s Emerging Leaders Network (ELN).

Find out about our 2010 and 2009 events.