Reaching for Power
Workshop Series

An opportunity for women and non-binary individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, Persons of Colour (BIPOC) to participate in a FREE 5-part workshop series with a focus on learning how to claim power and place in politics to effect change.

Workshop Themes

The monthly workshop series is open to 20 participants and will cover the following topics:

• Demystifying Municipal Government (January 2020)

Outcome: Understand how to become an active participant in municipal government, ie. through city leadership positions. Learn how to delegate, how to join a committee of council, how to participate in public engagement opportunities. Councillor Nrinder Nann and City Manager Janette Smith to speak.

• What’s your Why? How to identify your purpose/cause/platform and build your support system (February 2020)

Outcome: Each participant will identify their purpose or cause, how it can be relayed into a platform, and how they can build their support system.

• Why not you? Overcoming barriers in Municipal Government (March 2020)

Outcome: Identify personal barriers through examples of others’ lived experiences and develop skills to learn how to overcome those barriers. The goal of this workshop is to equip participants with the tools to advocate for themselves and others to reduce systemic barriers such as sexism, racism, ableism, economic inequality, intimidation and harassment.

• Developing/enhancing your skills set (April 2020)

Outcome: Learn the importance of effective communication, how to utilize tools that make the biggest impact, how to positively share ideas to maximize support, how to market yourself and build your brand.

• What now? Determining your next steps and celebrating what you learned (May 2020)

Outcome: Determining your next steps and celebrating what you learned.

Participants who attend all workshops in the series will receive a certificate of completion.

This project is offered in partnership with YWCA Hamilton, the City of Hamilton, and Councillor Nrinder Nann.  It is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.