Rhodes Scholar | CEO & Co-Founder, Monumental
Kofi Hope is a Rhodes Scholar and has a Doctorate in Politics from Oxford University. He is the co-founder of Monumental, a Toronto-based strategic advisory firm. He writes a monthly opinion column for the Toronto Star newspaper. He is an Urbanist in Residence at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, an emeritus Bousfield Scholar in Planning and a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He also serves on the board of Trustees for the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH). In 2017 Kofi was the winner of the Jane Jacobs Prize and in 2018 a Rising Star in Toronto Life’s Power List. Kofi is the co-founder and former Executive Director of the charity the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals. In 2005 he established the Black Youth Coalition Against Violence, advocating for real solutions to gun violence and being named one of the Top 10 People to Watch in Toronto in 2006 by the Toronto Star. Kofi has appeared widely across the Canadian media and delivered over 250 public talks.
Kofi Hope’s talk draws heavily on personal stories from his life and experiences from consulting organizations around anti-racism strategy, including the University of Toronto, the Toronto Transit Commission, CMHC (Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation), FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities), and a variety of private development firms.
Kofi will:
In this educational lesson, Kofi brings his audience on a journey thousands of years in human history to present-day Canada. His “time travel” adventure will explain the historical origins of anti-Black racism and the beginning of anti-Black racism 500 years ago. Listen as Kofi highlights the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonial societies and scientific racism. Canadian-specific, your audience will learn the history and discrimination of anti-Black racism in Canada. Kofi finishes with a call to action that illustrates how specific interventions to combat anti-Black racism have impacted Canada!
Building on training developed at Harvard University and first used during Barrack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, Kofi takes your teams through an interactive workshop around the concept of public narratives and power stories. These are tools developed to help individuals craft stories that effectively connect their own journey, to the mission and purpose of an organization/movement they are a part. Available in different intensities, from a short introductory session all the way into a full day training, Kofi walks people through the different elements of a Public Narrative with a focus on building a personal Power Story. This workshop can support leadership development in a variety of contexts, with the full training best utilized to support team members who need to engage with the public to build support for a mission or cause connected to their organization.
How has COVID exposed some of the biggest failures in global cities? In this keynote, Kofi Hope discusses the failures around social inequality and how those failures have affected housing, public space, transportation and infrastructure. Using his expert research, he calls audiences to recognize the chance to build back better when some predict the end of urban centres.
A raw and authentic keynote. Kofi Hope speaks about his journey as someone who has sat at the intersection of various backgrounds. He has lived in rural, suburban and urban communities in Canada and internationally. A coalition-builder across cultures, Kofi will focus on the importance of:
In this mindful keynote, Kofi Hope explores the elements of being a values-based leader, based on his own experiences leading in the community sector and also the stories of well-known leaders in history.
Learn: