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The Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR) is pleased to announce the launch of the ACCELERATE Mentorship program, in collaboration with Community Foundations of Canada and the Walmart Foundation.ACCELERATE Mentorship creates reciprocal mentoring relationships between executives in the innovation economy, and Black and Indigenous leaders. These relationships provide access, opportunity, and social capital to help leaders accelerate their transition to senior management and executive roles. Executives will expedite their learning, expand their knowledge of the unique experiences that exist for leaders, and deepen their understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion for organizational success. This program aims to enable all participants to increase their awareness of how diversity and privilege impacts career trajectories, opportunities for growth, leadership development and ultimately, individual prosperity and organizational success. ACCELERATE Mentorship participants will engage in mentor activities across five months, although the relationships typically carry on informally beyond the end of the official mentorship period. The first cohort will start this summer with 2 cohorts to follow. “Our experience has shown that engaging individuals with diverse lived experiences, social capital and perspectives in two-way learning, accelerates personal and professional growth, increases understanding, and ultimately, transforms culture,” said Yung Wu, CILAR Co-Founder. “This project will take what we learned from working with youth and apply it to individuals at the mid- and senior-management level. Doing so will help organizations diversify their succession pipelines, preparing greater numbers of Black and Indigenous Peoples for leadership roles in the innovation economy.”The ACCELERATE Mentorship program contributes to a larger cultural and social shift around what inclusive leadership looks like. It helps to build a culture of action, allyship, and trust that enables innovation to drive greater economic prosperity and change across Canada.“Greater workplace diversity doesn’t just benefit individuals, it benefits the organization as a whole,” explained Claudette McGowan, CILAR Chair. “Research has shown that having more inclusive teams, policies, and cultures helps to substantially increase creativity and innovation. Also, greater diversity has been linked with improvements in productivity, revenue, and profitability, all of which are important metrics that every CEO cares about.”The ACCELERATE Mentorship program is an evolution of MentorU MentorMe, a program offered in collaboration with MyStartr, which focuses on diverse youth, helping remove barriers to inclusion and representation at critical crossroads along the professional journey. ACCELERATE Mentorship is just one of many projects underway or in development at CILAR to help innovative Canadian companies reach and exceed their organizational goals in a way that unlocks the potential of our diverse population.
Get Involved & Stay Informed
If you would like more information about participating in this program, please contact our team at [email protected] or complete this form by June 26, 2023. If you’re interested but unsure if this program applies to you, please contact our team at [email protected].If you’d like to be kept informed about news and learnings related to this program or other CILAR activities, please subscribe to CILAR’s e-newsletter using the form in the footer of the website (www.cilar.ca) and/or join the community on social media: Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
About the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR)
CILAR is a diverse group of Canadian leaders committed to creating equitable pathways for the Black community, Indigenous peoples and People of Colour into the innovation economy. In doing so, CILAR aims to help end systemic racism and other barriers to participation using an inclusive coalition model. The five areas of focus include youth development, job opportunities, access to capital, leadership, and inclusive innovation/technology. Learn more at www.cilar.ca.
Project Collaborators and Funders
About Community Foundations of Canada
Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) is the national leadership organization for over 200 local community foundations in Canada. Together with community foundations across the country, CFC helps drive local solutions for national change on the issues that matter most to communities, relentlessly pursuing a future where everyone belongs. CFC is building a movement that connects community foundations, Canadians and partners to make this future a reality.About Philanthropy at WalmartWalmart.org represents the philanthropic efforts of Walmart and the Walmart Foundation. By leaning in where our business has unique strengths, we work to tackle key social issues and collaborate with others to spark long-lasting systemic change. Walmart has stores in 20 countries, employs more than 2 million associates and does business with thousands of suppliers who, in turn, employ millions of people. Walmart.org is helping people live better by supporting programs that work to accelerate upward job mobility for frontline workers, address hunger and make healthier, more sustainably-grown food a reality, and build strong communities where Walmart operates. To learn more, visit www.walmart.org or find us on Twitter @walmart.org.
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