ELB Holds Annual General Meeting

The ELB Annual General Meeting (AGM) looked a little different this year. With the safety of Emerging Leaders for Biodiversity’s (ELB) Board and members being the highest priority, the AGM took place on April 5, 2020 via an online chat platform.
 
One topic of interest was ELB events and fundraising. A focus of the ELB is to make workshops financially accessible to students and young professionals. Since ticket sales do not cover the costs of the events, ELB actively researches and applies to granting programs. In 2020, ELB has already applied for funding from High Park and Loblaws.
 
ELB was fortunate to have a booth at the Nature Works! Forum in March 2020. One program that was highlighted at the Forum was “In the Zone”, a partnership between Carolinian Canada, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada, and local municipalities, groups, businesses, and volunteers to create contiguous forest habitat across the Carolinian Zone. WWF-Canada makes the data accessible to encourage people to take individual and immediate action in their backyards.
 
ELB Board Chair Thomas McAuley-Biasi delivered a poignant message about mental health and the importance of staying physically and mentally healthy during this time. During these uncertain times, it is important to focus on daily goals, develop new expectations for professional development and milestones, and decide what world we would like to build for our future and future generations.
 
It is exciting to think about where ELB will go in the coming fiscal year – capacity building events, another annual career workshop, and creating strategies to help build the world we want to see are just some of the plans. ELB will continue with its mentorship program, blog, and quarterly newsletter into the next fiscal year. Thank you to Emily D., Jacob, Katherine, and Nadine for their hard work on the ELB Board over the past year with their help in developing new protocols, organizing events, and maintaining the ELB newsletter and blog, respectively. While ELB said goodbye to these Board members, ELB welcomed Elizabeth Latimer, Charlotte Gill, and Jackie Ho to the Board of Directors. Be sure to check ELB’s Facebook page and website to get the latest updates!