taking action!

City-building takes place every day in the Toronto region. We see companies, governments, organizations, groups and individuals and different combinations of these, working to strengthen the Toronto region.

ELN brings some of our region’s rising leaders together, to collaborate in unusual combinations, test out new ideas, and incubate civic actions. It is a unique platform for groups of rising leaders to develop and launch projects or “civic actions” initiated by its members.

In line with CivicAction’s own strategic approach to city-building, ELN members develop civic actions that:

• Require multi-sectoral collaboration
• Have a regional approach
• Address a thorny and intractable issue
• Have the potential for high-impact
• Do not have another logical home

Individuals who choose to lead and participate in ELN’s civic actions, participate in a unique, experiential leadership development opportunity, develop valuable collaborative leadership skills, work on some of the most diverse teams and make an impact on the Toronto region.

Our first edition of the ELN City-building Roadmap is a high-level guide to collaborative city-building, which captures some of these experiences and efforts led by members of the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN).

current initiatives

	TORONTO HOMECOMING For the Toronto region’s economy to flourish, it must attract and retain top talent. Toronto Homecoming is an initiative dedicated to making it easier for talented Torontonians living abroad to return home. In 2011, Toronto Homecoming held its second annual conference with 100 participants and dozens of partnering organizations. Toronto Homecoming 2012 will take place June 7-10. www.torontohomecoming.ca
	BETTER BALLOTS Better Ballots is a non-partisan dialogue, exploring options that could make municipal elections more relevant, effective, fair and participatory. Better Ballots launched its Local Choice Campaign in 2011, proposing the Province adopt enabling legislation to give Ontario’s municipalities more choice in how they conduct their elections. www.betterballots.to
	PROJECT NEUTRAL Project Neutral is committed to enabling a Toronto neighbourhood to become the first urban carbon neutral community in Canada. Project Neutral is working with the Junction and Riverdale neighbourhoods for their pilot program. www.projectneutral.org
	LIVING LIBRARY Members of the ELN supported the launch of the Toronto Public Library’s Human Library by suggesting books for their program in 2010 and 2011.