8:45-8:55am

Welcome, Land Acknowledgement, Opening Remarks

• Robin Jones, AMO President 

8:55-9:05am

Healthy Democracy Project Welcome

• Jasvinder Sandhu, Chair, Healthy Democracy Project Advisory Group; Former Councillor, Town of Oakville; Founder and Principal, SLPC Law; children’s author 

9:15-10:00am

Mapping the experiences of diverse candidate running for municipal office in Ontario 

Fewer people are running for office in Ontario’s municipal elections. Why is that? One of the first steps in the AMO Board of Director’s Healthy Democracy Project has been to conduct a first-of-its kind research project in Canada to better understand the barriers and challenges faced by diverse candidates running in Ontario’s municipal elections. Kofi will share the top insights and themes from the research with a focus on the first day on the motivations, enablers and assets for candidates as well as the barriers faced based on conversations with interview participants most relevant to candidate support organizations.

Speaker:

• Kofi Hope, Co-Founder, Monumental Projects 

10:00-10:45am

Supporting Ontario’s municipal candidates

An exploration of what it’s like to run for office and the various types of supports that are available to candidates for municipal office. What are the strengths and limitations of what’s currently available to candidates from the different types of supports?

Moderator:

• Petra Wolfbeiss, Director, Membership Centre, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

Speakers:

• Amanda Kingsley Malo, Founder, PoliticsNOW 
• Jordan Simmons, Co-Founder, Nominee 
• Colleen James, Councillor, Region of Waterloo; Founder and Principal Consultant, Divonify

10:45-Noon

Workshop #1

Understanding the Ontario candidate support ecosystem

• How can we leverage collective experience and resources?
• What are the gaps (geographic or otherwise)?
• How might we fill the gaps?

Noon-1:00pm

Lunch and Networking

1:00-1:45pm

Report out from Workshop # 1

Highlights and opportunities for new collaboration, alignment, and impact.

1:45-2:15pm

How to raise the visibility of candidate support organizations

How can we raise the awareness of the candidate support ecosystem and what is available locally to support potential candidates considering running for office. The research shows potential candidates are worried about being alone and unsupported. How can we proactively acknowledge and address those concerns?.

Speaker:

• Melissa Durrell, Founder, Waterloo Campaign School; former Councillor, City of Waterloo; CEO an Chief Strategist of Durrell Communications 

2:15-3:15pm

Workshop # 2

How can we collaborate to increase the visibility of the network and its resources?

How do we build from the We All Win campaign and continue to recruit more people from diverse communities to run for office?
•    what are the channels we can use?
•    what are the barriers?
•    who are trusted voices?

3:15-4:00pm

Report out from Workshop # 2

Highlights and opportunities for new collaboration, alignment, and impact.

4:00-4:15pm

Next Steps

Closing Reflections

• Chi Nguyen, Executive Director, Equal Voice 

Reception

8:45-8:55am

Welcome, Land Acknowledgement, Opening Remarks

8:55-9:10am

Healthy Democracy Project Welcome

• Natasha Salonen, Mayor, Wilmot Township

9:10-10:15am

Civics & municipalities 101

10:15-11:15am

Focus group 1 – The Why

Barriers to youth civic engagement

11:15-12:15pm

Focus group 2 – The How

Systemic and surface level solutions

12:15-12:45pm

Lunch and Networking

12:45-1:00pm

Youth and political involvement

Speaker:

• Senator Bernadette Clement, Government of Canada 

1:00-2:00pm

Focus group 3 – The What

Using youth leadership to help municipalities become youth allied

2:00-2:10pm

Wrap up

2:10-2:20pm

A conversation about the many ways to start a career in municipal government

Speaker:

• Adam Garcia, Manager, Executive Office and Workforce Development Project Lead, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

Closing Reflections and Thanks

8:45-8:55am

Welcome, Land Acknowledgement, Opening Remarks

• Petra Wolfbeiss, Director, Membership Centre, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

8:55-9:05am

Healthy Democracy Project Welcome

• Senator Bernadette Clement, Government of Canada 

9:15-9:45am

Experimenting with local democracy in Grey Highlands

Storytelling about the experiments and experience, lessons learned and insights of Dave Meslin and Nadia Dubyk as they navigated the experience of running or recruiting a candidate for office in Grey Highlands.

Speakers:

• Dave Meslin—Bestselling Author of Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up; Grey Highlands Municipal League 
• Nadia Dubyk, Councillor, Municipality of Grey Highlands 

9:45-10:30am

Prototypes to solve democratic challenges—AMO releases new research

One of the first steps in the AMO Board of Director’s Healthy Democracy Project has been to conduct a first-of-its kind research project in Canada to better understand the barriers and challenges faced by diverse candidates running in Ontario’s municipal elections. On day two of the Forum Kofi will share potential solutions and prototypes to address the barriers to running for local office collected during focus groups and conversations with interview participants.

Speaker:

• Kofi Hope, Monumental Projects

10:30-11:00am

Launching AMO’s Local Democracy Accelerator

Speakers:

• Jerry Koh, Principal Consultant, Nice Futures; former Director of Systemic Innovation and MaRS Solutions Lab
• Stewart McDonough, Healthy Democracy Project Lead, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

11:00-11:45am

AMO launches Democratic Engagement Solutions Bank

Speaker:

• Chris Erl, Researcher, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Democracy Engagement Exchange

11:45-12:45pm

Lunch and Networking

12:45-1:15pm

Experimenting in municipalities Reaching for Power through collaboration

Speakers:

• Daniela Giulietti, Director of Public Affairs, YWCA Hamilton Communications 
• Tammy Hwang, Councillor, City of Hamilton

1:15-2:15pm

Workshop # 1

What is your vision for democracy in your community? What are the challenges in the way of that vision and what are the assets your community can access to address those barriers?

2:15-2:45pm

Report out from Workshop # 1

Highlights and opportunities for new collaboration, alignment, and impact.

2:45-3:30pm

Workshop # 2

How do we select solutions to take advantage of community assets and target the barriers to our democratic vision? How do we surround solutions with community partners and externally experience and expertise?

Measurement and evaluation for democratic initiative

4:00-4:45pm

Workshop # 3

What types of data will we be able to collect through this work that will help us learn and see if we've made progress?

• Are we on the right track?
• What would we need to change for better impact?
• Can this be adapted to more municipalities?

Closing Reflections

• Rawlson King, Councillor, City of Ottawa