The symposium will take place Saturday, July 14, from 9am to 4pm, at 519 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus.

EGCC brings together girls and young women with a network of researchers, public school professionals and youth-serving community organizations.

Nombuso Dlamini at last year's forum

The project, spearheaded by Nombuso Dlamini, a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education and the inaugural Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment, investigates how young women and girls engage in leadership and civic activities in new urban environments.

Over the past 12 months, the project hired and trained youth from around the GTA to interview young women and girls about their experiences of leadership and civic engagement. The event highlights the youth interviewer participation in the research process by providing a space where they can present their experiences and receive positive feedback. Initial findings from the interviews will also be presented.

Youth interviewers being trained last summer

The symposium will also mark the kick-off of what promises to be an exciting and engaging second phase of EGCC, during which girls will be given resources to design their own projects and activities to learn about and practice leadership and civic engagement.

“There’s a pressing need for more women in leadership roles, particularly in government and the civic arena,” says Dlamini. “If we are to achieve this, we need to start from the ground up, which means getting girls engaged in civics early on.”

Youth interviewers from the GTA and the Windsor branch of the project will gather in Toronto on Friday to share a meal and visit a local attraction. On Saturday, project participants, researchers, community partners and a selection of youth from various community organizations will convene at 91��ɫ.

The day will begin with a short address from Dlamini and then launch into a panel showcasing youth engagement in different areas of Toronto. Youth interviewers will then present their experiences and findings with the audience. Finally, team building and brainstorming activities will take place to create and strengthen networks of collaboration, discuss next steps, as well as tap into the unique insight provided by youth from the communities for use in the construction of the summer initiative.

The project’s co-applicants, 91��ɫ Professor Joy Mannette of the Faculty of Education and Yvette Daniel of the University of Windsor, will also be in attendance.

Anyone interested in attending must RSVP to leadershipbygirls@edu.yorku.ca, or e-mail for more information.

This research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The project, "Engaging Girls, Changing Communities: Examining Girls’ Processes of Civic Engagement and Leadership (EGCC)," investigates how young women and girls engage in leadership and civic activities in new urban environments. It will bring together girls and young women with a network of researchers, public school professionals and youth-serving community organizations.

"There’s a pressing need for more women in leadership roles, particularly in government and the civic arena," says Nombuso Dlamini (right), a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education and the inaugural Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment. "If we are to achieve this, we need to start from the ground up, which means getting girls engaged in civics early on," she says.

This morning's forum is intended to spark a conversation about the current issues surrounding girls, leadership and civic life. "We’re hoping to tap into [girls’] ideas about how to make the project meaningful for them," says Dlamini.

Organizers plan to hire and train girls to participate in the three-year project, which is funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada. Some will be trained as peer interviewers who will gather information about their peers’ attitudes and aspirations towards leadership and civic life. "They’ll be trained to recruit, work as interviewers of other girls, and when feasible, they will be trained to transcribe, code and analyze the data with the team," Dlamini says.

In the second year of the project, girls will be given resources to design their own projects and activities for learning about leadership and civic engagement.

Dlamini notes that this initiative will help partner organizations identify potential barriers and create new and innovative leadership learning activities – knowledge that will be shared with local school boards and community organizations. "We hope to effect policy change at the ministry level," she says. "Leadership experiences are culture-specific and shaped by a myriad of factors including gender, language and other power relations; we as educators need to develop ways to account for these."

The forum will also introduce the project’s key participants. Speakers will include Joy Mannette, associate professor, Faculty of Education, 91��ɫ; Yvette Daniel, professor, University of Windsor; Cathy Dandy, trustee, Ward 15, Toronto District School Board; Jean Augustine, Ontario Fairness Commissioner; and Njoki Wane, professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

For more information, e-mail leadershipbygirls@edu.yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Are obese girls overweight because they eat poorly and don't get enough exercise or because their bodies don't burn off fat properly? asked :

Seems no one knows. But researchers at 91��ɫ want to find out.

They are conducting the first study in the world that looks at how girls burn fat, according to Professor Michael Riddell [School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health], who leads pioneering work on diabetes.

While there have been some studies done on how boys burn fat, with conflicting results, no one has looked at how girls burn fat, particularly during puberty, he said. "It's amazing there's so little done on females," Riddell said. "We're doing cutting-edge research. We're trying to identify why some girls are overweight or obese."

The study is part of a larger [project] funded by the federal government's being run by the .

To conduct their study, the 91��ɫ researchers need to look at the diets and exercise levels of girls between the ages of eight and 16. While they haven't had trouble finding lean girls to participate, recruiting overweight and obese girls has been a struggle.

With the body image problems girls face today, that isn't surprising, Riddell said.

But the girls' identities and all the information researchers gather about them is kept confidential, said graduate student Lisa Chu, who is running the project at 91��ɫ.

Girls who participate in the study will visit the university twice.

During the first visit, they will complete a questionnaire about their exercise and diet habits on week days and weekends and take part in an eight- to- 10-minute cycling test that gets progressively more difficult. The second visit involves a longer but less intense cycling evaluation.

Chu is hoping girls interested in participating may take advantage of March Break next week to volunteer.

The incentive to participate in the study is receiving a custom-made fitness regimen, hopefully something the girls can rely on to lead healthier lives for years to come, Riddell said.

"Having a custom exercise evaluation is something only the very rich can (usually) afford," he said.

Participants will also receive a $20 iTunes voucher.

To volunteer for the study, email Lisa Chu at lisachu@yorku.ca or call Michael Riddell 416-736-2100, ext. 40493.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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