Anima Leadership is an award-winning company offering a compassionate learning-based approach to creating more equitable and inclusive environments. Since 2006, Anima Leadership has coached thousands of organizations on the journey from diversity to belonging, including the Blue Jays Club and foundation. Anima co-founders and authors Shakil Choudhury (Deep Diversity) and Annahid Dashtgard (Bones of Belonging and Breaking the Ocean) are leading thinkers on equity and inclusion issues and have spent more than two decades in the trenches of creating systems change. For more learning: www.AnimaLeadership.com
INTRODUCTION TO TOP OF THE FIRST
Over the past three years, most baseball and softball associations have adopted new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies in response to growing awareness across the country regarding inequity and racism. While these policies are designed to help make associations more inclusive, the training and tools required to turn this into practice are hard to find. The Toronto Blue Jays and Jays Care Foundation teamed up to design and deliver Top of the First - a FREE workshop series for coaches, officials, league administrators and adult volunteers.
Top of the First offers a combination of training, tools, and professional development credits. This program equips participants with clear action plans, tools, and enhanced skills for creating more equitable, inclusive, and accessible programming. NCCP registered coaches receive three PD Points upon receiving official certification.
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KEY CONTRIBUTORS
This certification is a joint project by the Toronto Blue Jays, Jays Care Foundation, Anima Leadership and Dr. Janelle Joseph. The design process included input and feedback from many program leaders including Baseball Canada; Little League Canada and Softball Canada. We are grateful for the time and energy that our partners working in diverse communities have provided to this program.
Dr. Janelle Joseph is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto and Founder/Director of the Indigeneity, Diaspora, Equity, and Anti-racism in Sport (IDEAS) Research Lab. Dr Joseph’s research includes three books related to race and sport.
The Blue Jays Baseball Academy are committed to supporting the development of young people's lifelong connection with baseball across Canada.