A symposium this Saturday will celebrate community projects designed and executed by 20 youth in the GTA as part of Engaging Girls, Changing Communities (EGCC) – a community-based research project out of York’s Faculty of Education.
The symposium, hosted by EGCC in collaboration with Working Women Community Centre, will bring together girls, young women and a network of researchers, public school professionals and youth-serving organizations to celebrate 13 unique 
peer led projects and to share youth experiences. It will take place Saturday, July 6, from 11am to 2pm, at Metro Hall, 55 John St. in Toronto.
Nombuso Dlamini
Over the past six months, young girls have taken leadership roles, engaged in their community and skillfully developed and executed projects, which have benefited many other girls their age. The event will celebrate and further highlight the importance for girls to nurture and implement their own community-based initiatives at an early age.
EGCC investigates how young women and girls engage in leadership and civic activities in new urban environments. The project brings together researchers and community members along with the young women to define leadership, on their own terms.
It is led by Professor Nombuso Dlamini of York’s Faculty of Education, the inaugural Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment. Dlamini is the author of Youth and Identity Politics (University of Toronto Press, 2005) and the editor of New Directions in African Education (University of Calgary Press, 2008).
The project’s co-applicants, Professor Joy Mannette of York University, Njoki Wane of the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and Yvette Daniel of the University of Windsor, in addition to MPs and city councilors, will also be in attendance.
This research is supported by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada.
RSVP to Flavia Genovese at EGCCDATA@edu.yorku.ca or ext. 44562.
More information on the project, visit the Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment website or visit the EGCC Facebook page.