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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

CivicAction, 111 Peter Street West, Toronto, ON (2026)

06/02/2026

We're excited to introduce our next fellow in the DiverseCity Fellows Spotlight series - Erin Latimer, a 2x Paralympian and six-time World Cup medalist in Para Alpine Skiing who channeled her competitive drive into her post-sport career as a sustainability and inclusion practitioner, runner, and community builder.

Her formative years as a Paralympic athlete shaped her relationship with the outdoors and enabled her to experience firsthand the impacts of climate change around the world. For Erin, leadership means inspiring and empowering people to come together to work towards a common mission. Reflecting on diverse leadership, she shares: "When we bring together leaders with different experiences, viewpoints, and problem-solving approaches, we can come up with more innovative solutions and better decision making."

A love for learning and the desire to be the best version of herself drives Erin's passion—so she can support and empower her community, colleagues, and loved ones. To continue growing as a leader, she seeks out opportunities to be around different people, ideas, and ways of thinking.

Congratulations to Erin Latimer on completing the DiverseCity Fellows Program, powered by Purpose Unlimited, and for her continued commitment to building inclusive, thriving communities! 👏

🔗Learn more about Erin's journey: https://civicaction.ca/diversecity-fellows/

06/01/2026

This June . we look to raise awareness of and celebrate the many important contributions from and ongoing difficulties facing our Q***r and Indigenous communities with through Pride Month and National Indigenous History Month. This year’s Pride Toronto theme, We Won’t Stop, is both a celebration and a call to action. It reminds us that Pride has always been about more than visibility. It is a protest and a call-to-action to strengthen the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals to live authentically with freedom, safety, and dignity, free from prejudice or harm.

National Indigenous History Month invites us to honour the rich cultures, heritage, leadership, and resilience of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, while also recognizing the ongoing work of reconciliation and the responsibility we all share in addressing historical and present-day injustices.

These moments remind us that allyship is not passive and it is not seasonal. It is about asking ourselves, are we really an ally? Or do we take up space in that are not ours.

Being a good ally means listening with humility. Learning the histories that shape our communities. Challenging discrimination when we see it. Amplifying voices that have too often been excluded. And helping create workplaces, communities, and civic spaces where people are not only included, but respected, protected, and celebrated.

At CivicAction, we know that strong communities are built through shared responsibility. Through programs like DiverseCity Fellows, we work to open doors for emerging leaders from across the region, creating space for different identities, experiences, and perspectives to shape the decisions that impact our communities.

Because when leadership reflects the diversity of the GTHA, our region becomes stronger, more vibrant, and better places to live, for everyone.

05/31/2026

Inclusion isn’t just about who gets invited; it’s about whether the space was designed for them to begin with.

This National AccessAbility Week, we’re reminded that Accessibility isn’t a courtesy, it’s a cornerstone of a vibrant, inclusive society. And that starts with people with different lived experiences having a seat at the table: with, policies that stop being designed “for” them, and start being designed “with” them. That changes everything.

Lived experience is expertise. The person navigating transit in a wheelchair knows what no boardroom planner does. The newcomer learning English while raising children understands barriers no report can fully capture. The elder who has watched a neighbourhood change for decades carries knowledge no consultant can replicate. These perspectives don't just add texture to decision-making; they correct it.

Building a truly accessible city means removing barriers before someone has to ask. It means asking who isn't in the room and doing the work to change that.

Image credits: Employment and Social Development Canada

05/28/2026

In 2003 Toronto was growing. But not every neighbourhood was growing with it. Rising poverty and demographic change were putting intense pressure on the city's social services, and certain communities were falling through the cracks. Residents lacked even the most basic programs and services, and the gaps kept widening.

CivicAction brought together the City of Toronto, United Way, provincial and federal partners, local service providers, and private sector leaders to change that. They identified 13 priority neighbourhoods and got to work, directing millions of dollars into the communities that needed it most, aligning provincial and federal initiatives with neighbourhood-level action, and building social infrastructure where it was missing. New community hubs opened, youth facilities were revitalised, and publicly owned spaces were unlocked to improve the resources available to existing services.

The results showed real movement:

🏘️ Over 1,200 community initiatives were implemented over six years.
🏘️ Millions of dollars were mobilised through coordinated public, private, and philanthropic investment.
🏘️ New place-based approaches to policy and partnership shaped how Toronto invests in its communities long after the initiative wrapped.

The Strong Neighbourhoods Task Force showed what becomes possible when the right people focus on the right places. That legacy lives on.

05/25/2026

The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is facing a workforce housing crisis, but not for the reasons most people think.

There’s no single solution. The problem is not just a shortage of capital. It is not only lack of land. It is not even a shortage of willing partners. The problem: today’s market depends on partnerships to deliver affordability but the system makes collaboration so difficult, costly, and unpredictable that viable projects stall before they ever get off the ground.

Middle-income workers, the nurses, the personal support workers, first responders, hospitality workers, teachers, transit operators, and tradespeople, social service workers, creative freelancers, musicians who keep this region running, spend more than 30% of their income on housing. And that’s nearly half the region. They face precarity in our housing system, earning too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing programs, yet too little to afford housing delivered by the market.

While the need sits at 15,000 workforce housing units a year, the system delivers fewer than 5,000. That gap will not close on its own.

CivicAction's Workforce Housing Playbook for Action is a practical response to that reality. Built on data and the input of over 350 cross-sector leaders, it gives the seven essential partners a tested framework to configure projects, share risk, and move from discussion to delivery.

This playbook is a tool for people ready to be part of the solution.

Whether you are a capital provider looking for a stable pipeline, a developer working to make the numbers work, an employer struggling to retain staff, or a government partner with land and incentives to deploy, the Playbook shows you exactly where you fit and how to get started.

The structure is here. The framework is ready. The question now is, who is ready to join us?

Read the Workforce Housing Playbook for Action and find your role in the solution:
https://ow.ly/jmRS50Z3By1

05/19/2026

We're excited to introduce our next fellow in the DiverseCity Fellows Spotlight series- Annie Ewing, Project Manager of Strategic Development at Waterfront Toronto, where she's advancing strategies that will drive visitors and locals to explore and delight in the city's waterfront.

In her previous role at Destination Toronto, Annie steered the creation of the Toronto Destination Master Plan, a 10-year tourism growth strategy, while leading environmental and DEI initiatives. She co-founded PropelTO, a networking group for industry peers, and Let's Get Uncomfortable, a speaker series addressing systemic inequities in the travel industry. Driven by her commitment to equity and diversity, Annie has spent several years mentoring newcomers to Canada, guiding them through the travel and tourism job market.

Annie believes leadership means actively guiding, supporting, and inspiring others toward a goal or shared values, and it can only be authentic when backed by strong ethical principles that are consistently acted upon.

Reflecting on why diverse leadership matters, Annie shares: "Society tends to have an affinity bias. We often surround ourselves with similar people, which builds homogeneous networks, and can lead to policies and opportunities that favour those who are like us at the expense of others. Diverse leadership shakes up these entrenched systems, allowing marginalized people to get fairer outcomes , thanks to better representation."

The need to develop a fairer world drives her passion. To continue growing as a leader, Annie seeks opportunities to talk through miscommunications or strong differences of opinion, constantly improving her communication and interpersonal skills.

Congratulations to Annie Ewing on completing the DiverseCity Fellows Program, powered by Purpose Unlimited, and for her continued commitment to building inclusive, thriving communities! 👏

Learn more about Annie's journey: https://civicaction.ca/diversecity-fellows/

05/13/2026

📢 We're hiring for Canada Summer Student Jobs!

About us:
CivicAction’s purpose is to elevate civic engagement that builds livable, inclusive cities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). For over two decades, we have been mobilizing leaders and changemakers to champion innovative solutions, to accelerate the alignment of actions, and to invest in the leadership of tomorrow. Our high impact leadership programs open doors, minds, and opportunities for young, emerging, and under-represented leaders in the GTHA.

👉 Housing Policy Analyst (Summer student position)
The Housing Policy Analyst will support CivicAction's efforts to advance housing affordability across the GTHA. Ideal for a post-secondary student interested in policy, research, and urban issues, this role involves research, event planning, outreach, and communications, while gaining hands-on experience working with multi-sector partners on meaningful systemic change.
✅ Learn more and apply here: https://tr.ee/rzdJUJ

👉Program Assistant (Summer Student position)
The Program Assistant - Education will play a key role by assisting in the ex*****on and evaluation of CivicAction’s leadership programs, ensuring that programs are effectively implemented, meet organizational goals, and are continuously improved based on data-driven insights.
✅ Learn more and apply here: https://tr.ee/iHIA50

👉Development Officer - Fundraising (Summer student position)
The Development Officer - Fundraising will support revenue growth by managing donor relationships, maintaining a strong donor base, developing donor profiles, and assisting with key fundraising campaigns and stewardship initiatives.
✅ Learn more and apply here: https://tr.ee/qDI3Ad

👉 Communications Officer (Summer Student position)
The Communications Officer will play a key role in enhancing CivicAction’s brand, boosting visibility, and fostering effective communication with supporters, partners, and the public. This position will support the implementation of marketing strategies aligned with our mission and goals, while supporting the daily communications activities that drive engagement and impact.
✅ Learn more and apply here: https://tr.ee/doGo0t

🚨 Please note- we’re accepting applications on a rolling basis so applying early is encouraged! Kindly submit through the application link.

05/11/2026

As we continue with our DiverseCity Fellows Spotlight series, we're thrilled to introduce Ibukun Abejirinde, a health systems scientist at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners, and an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

When asked what leadership means to her, Ibukun shared: "To me, leadership means creating the environment, structures and systems that allow different people to work together to produce results."

With a systems thinking and intersectional lens, Ibukun's research focuses on innovative, equity-promoting approaches to improve the health and wellbeing of immigrants and refugees, racialized communities, and older adults. A strong believer in transdisciplinary collaboration, Ibukun brings together diverse perspectives to drive actionable change, translating research into solutions that prioritize community-driven health systems.

Her greatest city-building accomplishment, Ibukun shares, has been her work with Mississauga Health, Peel Newcomer Strategy Group United Way, and partners from the Region of Peel to design an integrated service blueprint for asylum seekers and refugees in Peel region. Insights from this initiative are now informing service delivery models in the recently federally-funded first welcome centre for asylum seekers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, in Mississauga.

The opportunity to engineer meaningful impact at scale is what drives her passion. When asked about the best piece of leadership advice she ever received, she shared: "Stay nimble."

Congratulations to Ibukun Abejirinde on completing the DiverseCity Fellows Program, powered by Purpose Unlimited, and for her continued commitment to building inclusive, thriving communities! 👏

Learn more about Ibukun's journey: https://civicaction.ca/diversecity-fellows/

05/08/2026

The 2015 CivicAction Bootcamp Summit brought a lot of things to the table. Workplace mental health was at the top - it was being overlooked, and the cost was mounting.

The room was filled with people who wanted to step in and resolve but didn’t know how.

So CivicAction brought together employers, mental health experts, and people with lived experience to build MindsMatter ,a three-minute assessment that gave any employer a practical place to start.

And the assessment showed movement: more workplaces reported offering mental health supports, more employees said they were taking steps to reduce work-induced stress, and more senior leaders were visibly demonstrating their commitment to mental health.

MindsMatter was ultimately handed over to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, where it was folded into their broader suite of workplace mental health training and services, carrying the work forward across Canada and beyond.

Learn more about our work: https://civicaction.ca/overview/

05/07/2026

Can you actually afford to build a life in this region anymore?

Our Youth CivicCorps Cohort 2 kicked off their Urban Issues Seminar with this powerful question on the housing affordability crisis in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Moderated by CivicAction’s own Deneille Macas, the discussion featured insights from Matti Siemiatyki, Lauren Souch and Noah Slater on the growing challenges, emerging solutions, and the role young leaders can play to help build a better region.

The key highlights from the evening:

🏠 The housing crisis is really a regional "belonging and retention" crisis.
Youth are considering leaving Toronto, workers cannot afford to live near their jobs, and many feel their lives may not be better than their parents'. Housing is becoming a test of whether the GTHA can retain its next generation of workers, leaders, and community-builders.

🛠️ The system is still rewarding the wrong outcomes.
Over time, housing has been reshaped into an investment vehicle for both industry and individuals, rather than a foundational part of how our cities function. These priorities have eroded affordability and livability, limiting both the creation of new affordable housing and the preservation of existing supply. It’s not just about building more-it’s about creating a wider range of housing options at different price points so people can find and remain in homes that align with their incomes.

🤝 The next phase of housing work is about delivery, not just advocacy.
The discussion kept coming back to the number of actors required to make housing happen: governments, developers, nonprofits, employers, institutions, financiers, community partners, and residents. Many non-housing actors own land, have networks, and hold influence—but do not yet know how to participate in housing delivery.

Learn more about Youth CivicCorps: https://civicaction.ca/youth-civiccorps/

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Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm