Provincial government program will recognize female leaders in Kitchener

A provincial government program is looking to recognize female leaders within Kitchener.

The program, Leading Women, Leading Girls -- Building Communities 2020, aims to acknowledge and celebrates women-identified Kitchener Centre residents who showcase leadership and inclusivity.

Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo is one of the organizers for this program.

According to her, the non-partisan program has been run in the past by previous Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile, but had been discontinued due to a lack of government funding.

Lindo says she is happy to bring this initiative back and to provide it to residents within her community.

"I get really excited, and part of why I'm so excited about it, is because it's an opportunity for me to respond to some of the things that people have asked me for in a real and tangible way." said Lindo.

"It's wonderful to be recognized by leaders in the community for your own leadership. Whether it's small scale things, or it can be major things."

When it comes to nominating someone, Lindo says leaders can come in many forms in a professional or a volunteer environment.

"Often times, women come and tell me some of the work that they're doing, and they're doing it quietly, you know? They're doing it without any fan-fare because they're doing it to build inclusion within their community." said Lindo, "Then this becomes an opportunity for people who they are working with to give back and them know how grateful they are for it."

Although Lindo says there is no set limit for how many women can be chosen for this award, the only criteria is that a potential candidate must not have received this award previously.

Lindo says she hopes to have a wide variety of women nominated across different sectors and from marginalized groups within the community.

"My hope is that we'll get women in tech, especially being in Kitchener Centre... I'm hoping we get women in the healthcare profession...I'm hoping that we'll get young girls that have led rallies or information sessions...those are the kinds of people that we hope to get to put their names forward, or have their friends and such, put their names forward." said Lindo.

"We want to be able to say 'Look at all the number of leaders, of woman identified leaders,' and to let others who are up and coming, who may even be hesitant about stepping into a leadership role, see that they can."

The nomination period is open from now till Monday, Feb. 24th.

In the meantime, Lindo says they are working on arranging the details for a celebration for the future recipients.

Looking to nominate someone you know? Click here.