COVID-19 has brought on unprecedented challenges worldwide and emerging leaders across the GTHA are rising to the challenge. From stepping outside of their comfort zones through job redeployment to the front-lines, to leading innovative strategies within their organizations in response to our “new normal”, we’re celebrating the many ways emerging leaders across the GTHA are inspiring positive action in response COVID-19.
Dani Saad
Redeployed to Front-Line Shelter Work
How are you contributing to COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts?
I work at the City of Toronto in the Chief Planner’s Office, but was redeployed for a month to a City shelter to help support a new respite site. I’ve since been assigned to a team working on economic recovery. Outside of work, I’m volunteering with the Friendly Neighbour Hotline, organized by UHN.
What have you learned from this experience?
Community can come together in times of need. We need to both support these efforts in between emergencies or fill those gaps with social services.
Do you have a call to action for other rising leaders?
Find a way to get involved if you’re able. Take care of yourself and those around you. Sleep well. Eat well. Do what feels right for you.
Alex Schaffter
Providing emotional support with Hospice Toronto
How are you contributing to COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts?
Our staff and volunteers have come together to provide emotional support to those facing illness and isolation, through one-on-one phonecalls and group offerings online. We have identified our most isolated clients and matched them with volunteers who are able to go grocery shopping.
What have you learned from this experience?
I have learned that the best asset any organization can have is engaged and creative people, being able and willing to change plans and be creative has helped immensely in providing quality hospice care to our clients.
Do you have a call to action for other rising leaders?
Connect, connect, connect! Reach out to partners internal and external to your organization, even if it’s just a quick note to tell them you are thinking of them or to share ideas on how to keep engaging in the work of the organization.
Julia Salzmann
Supporting community housing in York Region
How are you contributing to COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts?
As a Senior Program Analyst for Housing Services in York Region, I’ve helped develop a temporary rent benefit program to assist market rent households in community housing impacted by COVID-19 who may need assistance paying their rent. The purpose of this program is to maintain stable housing for residents and support our community housing providers in these unpredictable times.
What have you learned from this experience?
No role is too small or insignificant! We all must work together and leverage each other’s expertise when trying to support our communities.
Do you have a call to action for other rising leaders?
We may not all be front line workers, but we can all find ways to contribute to COVID-19 efforts in our communities. Whether it be through our day jobs, picking up a few extra grocery items for a neighbour or checking in on a friend or family member. We all have a role to play!
Liv Mendelsohn
Making online programming accessible
How are you contributing to COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts?
At Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, we are working with youth with disabilities to make sure that they have accessible information, support, and community through online programming. We are also working to make sure that medical ethics and government policy have a human rights and disability rights lens.
What have you learned from this experience?
In challenging times it is even more important to embrace the ethos of “nothing about us without us” and to create space and opportunity for young adults of all abilities.
Do you have a call to action for other rising leaders?
Learn more about this work here.
Debora Jesus
Supporting legal innovation during COVID-19
How are you contributing to COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts?
I work with the Ryerson Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ), a legal tech incubator that supports legal startups and helps modernize the justice system. We launched a new initiative called “Lawyering From Home”, facilitating online workshops on remotely working civic and family law files from start to finish, including advice on what technology is available to support remote lawyering.
The legal industry is known for sticking to tradition, so having these resources in place and helping the law community adjust to the “new normal” has been greatly appreciated. We had hundreds of people joining us in the past few weeks.
What have you learned from this experience?
I’ve learned that there’s a huge demand for innovation and modernization of the justice system.
Do you have a call to action for other rising leaders?
Check out the content we’ve been working on- it’s available for free on our website and can be accessed at any time.
Anika Harford
Recognizing an Amazing Front-line Shelter Team
How are you contributing to COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts?
I want to recognize the team: Leslie O’Reilly, Sean McIntyre, Wendy Dobson, Janice Alvares, and Iman Haibeh – City of Toronto policy wonks and project managers who have been redeployed to become frontline shelter workers supporting clients experiencing homelessness.
In most cases, they have all taken on new responsibilities far away from their comfort zones, yet they continue to be brave and show up daily for our clients, ready to do the best that they can to keep them safe.
What have you learned from this experience?
I’m reflecting on the type of leader I want to become and the type of city I want to help build. Coming to the surface are long standing inequities within our city. COVID-19 has had more pronounced impacts on our most vulnerable populations, for example people experiencing homelessness, black and racialized communities, and seniors.
As we begin social and economic recovery planning, I am asking that we include new and diverse voices, across all sectors, as we rebuild our city.
Do you have a call to action for other rising leaders?
Stay at home as much as possible. Consider volunteering with local initiatives, for example, the Friendly Neighbour Hotline, where volunteers deliver groceries and other household essentials to seniors living in low-income housing. Support local businesses via the newly created online donation platform called Distantly.