Upcoming Courses and Events

People, Power, Change Training with United Way Cooksville and South Markham

People, Power, Change Training with United Way Cooksville and South Markham

Do you have a desire to step up and fight for a better, fairer, more just world? And do you live in South Markham or Cooksville?  This course is for you.

ICL invites you to join People, Power, Change, our flagship training we're teaching in Cooksville and South Markham areas this fall with the support of United Way Greater Toronto. We're opening registration to local residents who live specifically in these neighbourhoods. The aim is to give you the fundamentals of making real and meaningful systemic change at the grassroots level.

You will work with an experienced organizer, who will facilitate your group and help you plan your organizing project. You will finish the course ready to tell your story with a developed organizing statement and tools to carry out your project's strategy and tactics. Our facilitators will guide breakout rooms and provide ongoing support for your progress.

Participation is free of charge, occurring every Wednesday on Zoom from 6 pm-8 pm EST starting September 27 for eight weeks. We pace the schedule to allow for pauses, recaps, and questions. Over the course, you will learn how to:

  1. Tell your story to motivate others to take action
  2. Design a strategy that gets the change you want
  3. Structure a team to avoid burnout and boost growth
  4. Recruit and keep volunteers engaged
  5. Choose a strategy and tactics that move decision-makers

Our instructors have been mentored through Marshall Ganz's courses taught at the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Leadership Program. After completing the course, you will receive a certificate from the Institute for Change Leaders.

Please register to receive the Zoom link. If you have any questions, contact [email protected].


Aging Well: A Workshop Series

We should age in the communities we call home and receive the right care at the right time and in the right place.

If you are a caregiver, close to someone who receives eldercare or wants to see healthcare justice for the aging, this course is for you.

Join us in developing an advocacy-to-action campaign working with communities and lobbying all levels of government to secure resources to improve our long-term care system in all spaces for aging.

Together, let's win a new deal to age well.

This eight-week online course will teach you how to:

  • Use your story to motivate others
  • Recruit and retain volunteers
  • Structure your team to avoid burnout and boost growth
  • Design a strategy that makes change happen
  • Shape your tactics to impact decision-makers

Lectures and small group activities will help you practice the skills you learn.

An experienced organizer will facilitate your goals and help your group plan a meaningful approach to action.

You will finish the course ready to tell your story with a developed organizing statement, the tools to plan your strategy and the tactics to transform advocacy into action and win a new deal to age well.

The course will run every Thursday for eight weeks from October 26 until December 14. The sessions are from 7:30-9:30 pm.

Contact [email protected] for inquires.

Do you have a desire to step up and fight for a better, fairer, more just world? Our trainings are for you.

The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL) teaches the skills that organizers, activists and campaigners need to win social change. Our core curriculum comes from Marshall Ganz, a Harvard professor who codified the relationship-building organizational framework we teach after years of organizing with the Civil Rights and United Farm Workers movements.

"This was the best training I have completed in many years. The instructors were knowledgeable and the feedback from them has helped me in addressing the challenges in my advocacy campaigns. I highly recommend this training to anyone who is thinking of changing our world for the better."

- 2021 spring program graduate

Our flagship training on the fundamentals of community organizing teaches how to build power and win change. Usually held once per week over eight separate two-hour sessions, the Building Skills for Change program is based on the mastery of five key leadership practices: telling stories, building relationships, structuring teams, strategizing, and acting:

1. How to articulate a story of why we are called to lead, a story of the community we hope to mobilize, and a story of why we must act now.

2. How to build intentional relationships as the foundation of purposeful collective actions.

3. How to create structure that distributes power and responsibility and prioritizes leadership development.

4. How to strategize turning your resources into the power to achieve clear goals.

5. How to translate strategy into measurable, motivational, and effective action.

We offer a number of different training options, in-person or online, from multi-day courses on the fundamentals of community organizing to single evening sessions on specialized skills like social media and public speaking.

Take a look at our course offerings below. Don't see what you're looking for? Drop us a line at [email protected] and we'll work with you to develop a custom program that meets your needs.

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The Institute for Change Leaders is a Canadian registered charity that can issue official donation receipts (no. 763310679 RR 0001). ICL is brought to you by the Faculty of Community Services at Toronto Metropolitan University.

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