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Ryerson graduate Lekan Olawoye is an aspiring city-builder.

The School of Social Work alumnus is one of 25 city leaders to win a 2011 DiverseCity Fellowship, a year-long program that aims to broaden participants' civic networks, deepen their awareness of local issues and strengthen their capacity to lead change. Olawoye is executive director of For Youth Initiative, a non-profit organization that increases access to educational, recreational, economic and cultural opportunities. Selected for the fellowship through a competitive process, Olawoye is part of a diverse cohort of people from the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Each Fellow is responsible for completing a community-building project that presents a resolution to a current city-building challenge. They're also paired with a mentor - a real strength of the Fellowship  in Olawoye's opinion.

"For the longest time city building has happened in silence. Politicians have tried to build it from their perspective - that process is no longer working. People working in various sectors and different stakeholders coming together have a better chance of coming up with something our city can build on for years to come. New leaders are emerging with unique discourses. This program allows for these conversations to be had and heard," he said.

Olawoye isn't certain what his project will be but he's interested in engaging youth. He sees the DiverseCity Fellowship as a powerful opportunity to network and build relationships through diverse perspectives that can hopefully be taken outside the program and into the community. His goal is to create inclusive ways for immigrants and young people in marginalized communities to recognize opportunities to affect policies.

"I want to educate youth about the electoral process because a lot of them don't know about it. Young people are the leaders of today and we have to authentically engage youth to know their value in that capacity," Olawoye said.

Olawoye acknowledges that his dedication to building community was refined during his studies in the School of Social Work.

"In terms of my work in community - people know I got my education at Ryerson. The social work program gives the opportunity to have authentic dialogue, deconstruct notions and reconstruct ideologies and shows how theory fits into practice. That's helping me now and has helped me throughout my career. That makes Ryerson programs different and unique," Olawoye said.

DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project is an initiative of Maytree and the Toronto City Summit Alliance, developed to advance the role of diversity in leadership positions. Ryerson is a founding member of DiverseCity, created out of the Diversity Institute in Management and Technology, located in the Ted Rogers School of Management. The institute aims to generate new, interdisciplinary knowledge about diversity in organizations to contribute to the awareness and the promotion of equity in the workplace.