Empowerment Squared

Today's Guest speaker is LEO NUPOLU JOHNSON
Leo spent eight years in refugee camps in Ivory Coast and
Ghana, having fled from civil war in his native Liberia. In
2006, he resettled in Canada as a government-assisted
refugee. In 2007, Leo founded CURE (Care for
Underprivileged and Refugee Empowerment), a charitable
organization committed to education and overcoming
conflict, particularly within immigrant, refugee and similar
underprivileged communities. The organization became
Empowerment Squared in 2009 to better reflect the
diversity of its work and mission, with Leo continuing in
the role of Executive Director. Under Leo’s leadership,
the organization has assisted over 1500 newcomer youth
and families with settling in Canada, many of whom are
now giving back to their community. The organization has
also made significant progress towards opening the
groundbreaking Liberian Learning Center which will house
the first and only public library in the West African Nation
of Liberia.
Leo’s work has been recognized for its impact all
over the world. He has received the J.C. Holland
Award for Youth Leadership and Excellence and the
YMCA Peace Medal, been named one of the
Hamilton Spectator’s Top Forty Under 40 and one of
the top 75 immigrants in Canada, earned a spot as a
semi-finalist in the CBC’s Next Great Prime
Minister Competition and served as a guest lecturer in
the University of Toronto’s Global Health course. He
was recently awarded the World Citizenship Award by
the City of Hamilton, Gandhi Peace Award, McMaster
University Global Community Impact Award and the
Afroglobal TV 2018 Visionary Award.