Alexis Kane Speer

Founding Director, The STEPS Initiative

Alexis Kane Speer is the Founding Director of The STEPS Initiative, and its affiliated social enterprise—PATCH. With over 10 years of project management experience, leading public arts, urban planning and community engagement initiatives across the public, private and nonprofit sectors, she was awarded a DiverseCity Fellowship by the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance in 2011 for her work leading city-building initiatives, and has since been invited to speak at several international conferences. She is currently on the National Congress Committee for Culture Days, and has served on the Advisory Board of the Toronto Arts Council's Neighbourhood Arts Network, as well as the Adult Committee for the Delisle Youth Services Art Gallery. Other supporting roles she has held, include those with: the City of Buffalo’s Arts Council, Artvoice Weekly and the University of Toronto. In addition to her work in the cultural sector, Alexis continues to serve as Associate Manager of Evaluation with the Toronto Enterprise Fund, where she orchestrates the community-based evaluation of social enterprises across the Toronto area. She holds a Masters from the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto, as well as certificates in Community-Based Research, Capacity Building and Teaching English as a Second Language.

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