A Model of Civic Action in Toronto

Posted by Shayna Pollock on February 14, 2011

In how many communities could you get 1000 civic, government, business and labor leaders to gather for two days to wrestle seriously with the future of their city?
Count Toronto in.  Organized by Julia Deans at Civic Action, the Civic Action Summit brought Torontonians together to tackle issues such as immigration and talent, the environment, the next generation of leaders, neighborhoods, the economy and the arts with new papers on each topic, lots of facilitated discussions and a few keynote speakers.  
Carol Coletta, President and CEO of CEOs for Cities, was among those giving a keynote address.  Her remarks, captured in a blog post at Belonging Community and in an article in the Toronto Star detailed CEOs for Cities research that shows the drivers of city success are Quality of Talent, Quality of Place, Quality of Opportunity. And, as Carol noted, nothing happens with Quality of Leadership.
 A number of cities in our network have already connected with Julia about the work of Civic Action after her presentation on immigration at our national meeting in Detroit.  Her work continues to impress us, and there is much we can learn from her and from her group of Toronto civic activists.