Bridging Schools to Community Through Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive Leadership was researched, developed and cultivated within the traditional territories of Cowichan Tribes, on Vancouver Island, BC. Cowichan Intercultural Society hosted the development of Inclusive Leadership from 2002 to 2012 through a decade of highly successful, inter-generational and intercultural community-building projects. In 2013, Inclusive Leadership Co-operative (ILC) was established and in 2023 was dissolved. ILC's experiential, intercultural, inter-generational curricula have been developed through ongoing Participatory Action Research, applying the Inclusive Leadership Building Bridges steps of networking, gathering, building (relationships, community, skills, and awareness), action planning and follow up. Our Core Inclusive Leadership Skills are: Skills for connecting with differences, Skills for communicating with compassion, and Anti-Discrimination Skills for standing up for inclusion and diversity. ILC offered diversity education workshops with such groups as: Cowichan Intercultural Society, Cowichan Tribes and House of Friendship, local municipal government, local school districts, Canadian Mental Health, Organizing Against Racism and Hate Network on Vancouver Island, Leadership Vancouver Island, BC Brian Injury Association and others.