Toronto Community Foundation award recognizes leaders in community-building
By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
Sarah Pole, lawyer and passionate director of the groundbreaking Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) program, received a Vital People Award from the Toronto Community Foundation. These awards offer grants in recognition of valued community leaders who are making outstanding contributions at not-for-profit organizations. Grants are awarded in support of continued training and professional development of the selected leaders.
"I am thrilled and grateful for this Vital Fund Award which recognizes LAWS’ role in supporting Toronto’s full diversity,” said Pole. “Rooted in the justice sector and using the law to engage students, LAWS works to level playing fields, address inequity, reduce barriers, and encourage a wide diversity of youth to become active, engaged citizens, and to set high expectations for themselves.”
LAWS is an partnership between the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School to provide law and justice-themed mentor support and educational guidance to high school students. It is supported by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Law Foundation of Ontario. Under Pole’s leadership, LAWS has more than doubled in size and scope to encourage youth facing challenges to success to attend post-secondary institutions and consider careers in law.
“We are proud to celebrate these inspiring leaders that are building Toronto into the city we all want,” said Rahul K. Bhardwaj, Toronto Community Foundation president and CEO. “The vitality and well-being of our city counts on individuals who take initiative, make a positive contribution and demonstrate leadership.”
Grants of up to $5,000 are funded through the Community Foundation’s endowment called the Vital Toronto Fund and awarded to support the formal training or other informal development opportunities that best enable not-for-profit leaders to build their skills and knowledge or apply their experience in different ways to enhance their leadership contributions. The grants are available to those just taking on new leadership challenges as well as those with many years of experience.
The grant enabled Sarah Pole to attend the Global Alliance of Justice Education Global Conference in New Delhi last month to present on LAWS’ innovative program model and its collaborations with Faculty of Law programs, such as the Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights and the International Human Rights Program. These programs bring law students and LAWS high schools studies together to examine international issues and the meaning of global citizenship. The grant will also facilitate Sarah’s attendance at Harvard’s Strategic Management Program for Leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations in Turkey in spring 2014.
Sarah Pole, right, at a LAWS graduation ceremony.
Since 2004, the Toronto Community Foundation has invested almost $450,000 in the professional development of 93 leaders. This year, with additional gifts from the Kevin Burke Foundation, Honey Family Foundation and Erica Shuttleworth Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation, 10 leaders received Vital People grants for a total investment of $48,015.
Read the complete list of the 2014 Vital People grant recipients.
