All Saints’ Anglican Church in Waterloo, Ontario, purpose-built the SideWalk Community Centre as part of an extensive redevelopment of its property to provide one of the only in-neighbourhood community centres in the city. The creation of the community centre stemmed from the realization that there was a lack of spaces for recreation and connection in this rapidly changing neighbourhood with a large percentage of new Canadians, visible minorities, and families with limited disposable income. To ensure that it met the community’s needs, leaders and church volunteers collected data from nearby residents, local politicians, and social services in interviews and conversations over a multi-year planning period.

In 2023, the Community Sector Council of Newfoundland and Labrador (CSCNL) launched the Social Innovation Lab and its flagship pilot, the Social Enterprise Through Acquisition (SETA) program, to preserve small businesses while diversifying revenue streams for community organizations. SETA connects community organizations with businesses available for acquisition in rural Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure that these businesses continue to serve their communities. Potential buyer organizations can access up to $15,000 to cover transition-related costs. They also receive one-on-one assistance throughout the process. The program supports a variety of acquisition models, including full business purchases, worker co-operatives, and transfers of specific assets, such as equipment or facilities. The SETA program helps business owners by playing a confidential matchmaking role, identifying buyers who share similar values through outreach and partners such as community business development corporations, and creating profiles for prospective buyers. To ease organizational strain on community organization buyers, CSCNL also aims to connect them with wage subsidies, student placements, and newcomer employment programs – or, in some cases, to facilitate acquisitions that include existing employees. For community organizations that are not yet ready to venture into acquisition, CSCNL offers revenue diversification training (the Thriving Non-Profits program) in partnership with Scale Collaborative and the Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. CSCNL demonstrates how social enterprise models can preserve critical services while building long-term resilience. Succession planning, often treated as a private matter, can instead be a powerful tool for community development, economic stability, and social innovation.

The small communities of Bruce and Grey Counties have been hit hard by Canada’s decades-long opioid epidemic. Opioid cases and death rates soared during the COVID-19 pandemic and still haven’t returned to pre-2020 levels. In response, a team of paramedics and community health workers has built a nimble, compassionate model for addictions-related health care in the community. The Supportive Outreach Service (SOS) grew from a May 2021 crisis in Hanover, Ontario, where a COVID-19 outbreak in a rooming house led to over 50 residents being quarantined, many with mental health and addictions issues and little in the way of personal support networks. For weeks, various local agencies collaborated to meet their needs on-site, asking few questions and providing health care as well as other necessities such as regular meals, hygiene supplies, counselling, and even shoes. The infected residents recovered – and general health indicators of the group had also improved significantly, with many later entering addictions treatment programs. Today, SOS responds to calls seven days a week across Bruce Grey with a similar “no wrong doors” approach – meaning that when someone seeks help through any point of contact, SOS prioritizes their immediate needs and connects them to a range of supports. Its teams provide medical care, harm reduction equipment, vaccinations, crisis management, and supportive addictions treatment aligned with patient goals. In a region with no public intercommunity transit and few private bus carriers, SOS meets patients where they are, through mobile clinics and home visits, rather than asking them to travel to facilities when in crisis.

Mental health care in Canada is fragmented across a diverse ecosystem of providers and delivery methods. Patients often pass through siloed organizations that struggle to coordinate care, information, and resources. The consequences can range from frustration at the challenge of navigating resources to re-traumatization if patients must recount their experiences at each intake. Health care providers interact with different funding streams and privacy laws from all levels of government, which can discourage and complicate collaborations. Converge Mental Health Coalition formed in 2022 to help improve coordination and data sharing among providers. Starting in Alberta with six members, Converge now has over 100 members across multiple provinces and sectors. After interviewing mental health providers across Alberta about their challenges, Converge developed its Information Sharing Framework (ISF), which reframes the sharing of information, often seen as a risk, to be a benefit to organizations – even an obligation, since it can improve patient care. The ISF helps providers identify partner organizations, applicable regulations, reasons for collaborating, and the type(s) of collaboration needed to achieve their goals. Converge’s work helps organizations understand and navigate their place within the response. Information sharing has great potential to reduce administrative burdens and the duplication of work at organizations that are often stretched thin. Implementing it well is easier said than done, but for a growing number of organizations, Converge makes doing so easier.

In 2019, the City of Edmonton launched the Affordable Housing Investment Program (AHIP) to address urgent funding gaps and catalyze affordable housing development and rehabilitation. The AHIP positions the City as the first investor in affordable developments, providing up-front support that allows housing providers to mitigate risk and attract additional funding at the provincial or federal level. For every dollar the City contributes to the program, it secures approximately four more from other governments. The AHIP was designed to be flexible, aligning with changing federal and provincial priorities. Its evaluation criteria mirror those of the CMHC Co-Investment Fund, making it easier for projects to compete across multiple funding sources. A housing reserve account provides funds pre-approved by Council, so City staff can negotiate quickly with provincial and federal government partners – and can reallocate money annually in response to shifts in those higher-level government programs. Since its launch, the program has distributed more than $125 million and supported the creation of over 2,400 affordable units. Edmonton’s stock of social and affordable housing has grown by nearly 33%, from 13,536 units in 2019 to over 18,000 in 2025. The AHIP positions the City to achieve its long-term goal of residents having access to affordable housing in all parts of the city.

Brique par Brique is a non-profit organization established in 2016 to respond to rapid gentrification and displacement in Parc-Extension, one of Montreal’s most diverse neighbourhoods. The organization operates under a dual mandate of building affordable community housing and spaces and cultivating collective action and local leadership through community development and cultural programming. To obtain capital funding for its work, Brique par Brique launched its first community bond campaign in 2018, raising over $360,000 in nine months from 40 community investors. Community bonds are guaranteed fixed-rate bonds provided by a community issuer to a non-profit borrower. They offer an innovative pathway for non-profit and community-led housing providers to finance projects in a way that keeps wealth within communities and strengthens community organizing. Funds raised from the bonds can then be used for site acquisition and development, to leverage additional funding, or to pay down higher-interest debts. With these funds and some additional support from the Government of Québec through the (now-abolished) AccèsLogis program, Brique par Brique acquired land and is constructing a 31-unit social housing complex with the aim of renting out units by 2027 at 25% of household income or less. They also used some of the funds to open a cultural centre in 2021. Community financing offered Brique par Brique a launchpad for its affordable housing project, as well as an opportunity to build relationships with community investors and create support for future social-purpose projects.

The Killick Ecovillage Co-operative in Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s, N.L., is a cohousing village that has worked to address many of the challenges that smaller communities face when creating a Community-Led Housing (CLH) project. First among these is obtaining the necessary knowledge base, resources, and funding. The project began with a group of individuals with a vision who pooled resources to buy a 58-acre heritage farm. Once built, the village will be a 51-home sustainable, multi-generational, mixed-income community. Founders combined resident investment, grants, and external financing to build a shared foundation for the project. Resident investment in the village makes the project unique among CLH models available in Canada. While traditional models such as co-ops and CLTs provide residents with decision-making power in the development of their community, the residents are still leasing the land from a larger organization that manages ownership. Members of the Killick Ecovillage, in contrast, will have long-term leases on their own homes, with the autonomy akin to home ownership, as part of Canada’s first Mutual Home Ownership Society (MHOS). At Killick, the governance model is intended to foster continued community engagement. From its inception, the resident community was shaped through a participatory design process, with workshops that invited brainstorming and discussion about the members’ ideal future together. This shared governance framework sustains community decision-making while ensuring that operations, services, and long-term plans remain aligned with the community’s values and needs.

Founded in 2023, mddl has established itself as an expert advisor in middle housing – that is, housing at a scale between single-family homes and large apartment buildings. Its aim is to bridge the critical knowledge gap that many small-scale and new-entry developers, including homeowners, experience in the process of delivering middle housing. Combining education with planning and municipal policy innovation, mddl provides a hub for knowledge and support. Its mddl School, a one-day in-person course on the fundamentals of delivering middle housing, has now reached over 1,400 participants in five cities across Canada. Spring 2026 saw the launch of mddl U, a certificate program hosted within the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, which provides a start-to-finish overview of the missing middle housing development process. The mddl Masters and mddl Accelerator services offer more personalized technical assistance and expert mentorship for middle housing providers with projects already underway. Through its educational and advisory services, mddl empowers developers, citizens, housing providers, and municipal staff to create more middle housing in scalable, sustainable, and simplified ways. Every place has its own champions for middle housing; expertise hubs like the ones mddl creates can concentrate and mobilize the experts and resources that already exist within the Canadian middle housing sector, empowering local actors to get their shovels in the ground and turn their plans into much-needed finished homes

Construction is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions (39% globally), with cement production alone accounting for about 8% of global carbon dioxide output. The construction industry also faces deep labour challenges: many workers encounter mental health and safety risks, while women and other underrepresented groups remain largely excluded from leadership positions in the trades. Tooketree Passive Homes, a modular housing developer based in Muskoka, Ontario, was founded in 2018 to address both of these issues, as well as the high cost of housing. Central to the Tooketree model is the development of sustainable, ecological, efficient, and durable (SEED) panels, which sequester carbon and insulate the building so that it uses 90% less energy to heat and cool than a conventional home. The standardized design allows Tooketree to guarantee fixed pricing and deliver homes with higher energy performance than typical site-built construction, where efficiency features are often cut to save time and money. To date, Tooketree has sequestered 105,000 kg of carbon through SEED panels, created nearly 56,000 hours of living-wage employment, and delivered 65 housing units. Since 2022, it has provided nearly 5,000 hours of on-site training to Indigenous women and employed more than 30 women in trades. Tooketree’s is helping to reshape the construction industry into one that has a lower carbon footprint, is more inclusive, and prioritizes collaboration. By proving that sustainable, affordable housing can also strengthen local economies and diversify the labour force, Tooketree demonstrates that tackling the housing crisis and the climate crisis can – and must – be pursued together.

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) created the Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Program (SNAP) to improve the sustainability and resilience of older neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area, many of which face challenges in stormwater management, home retrofits, or water and energy conservation. By better connecting neighbours, government agencies, and other stakeholder groups, the program encourages sharing knowledge, improves planning efficiencies, builds implementation partnerships, and explores opportunities for expanded impact. The result is accelerated progress toward solutions rooted in local priorities and conditions – place-based interventions focused on ensuring older urban neighbourhoods are resilient, sustainable, and vibrant. To select neighbourhoods for the program, TRCA uses geographic information software (GIS) tools to identify hotspot areas with overlapping priorities, such as flood risk, socio-economic vulnerabilities, and residents with mobility challenges. Once a project is underway, the SNAP approach involves a heavy investment in relationship building, and as a result TRCA has become an innovator in community-led engagement and collaborative implementation. The organization identifies the unique interests and priorities of each neighbourhood – for example, community safety, access to green space, or resilience to heat – and tailors its approach to reflect local voices. Since 2009, SNAP has revitalized 17 neighbourhoods across 14 municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area, touching nearly 250,000 residents. It has also inspired municipal policy shifts, scaling local action into broader urban sustainability and climate resilience strategies.

Conventional municipal asset management in Canada is focused on built assets, many of which are in urgent need of repair or adaptation to meet the needs of growing communities and a changing climate. Natural assets, such as wetlands, forests, and shorelines, are often overlooked, yet they are part of a critical green infrastructure and boost resilience, often at lower cost and with less risk than can be achieved with their engineered counterparts alone. The non-profit Natural Assets Initiative (NAI) is a global leader in bringing nature into municipal decision-making, and has created what is now the most widely accepted framework for natural asset management (NAM) in Canada. Working alongside local governments and conservation authorities, NAI provides ecological and economic expertise to support the identification, valuation, and integration of natural assets into financial planning and asset management. NAM measures value through the services that natural assets provide, including water filtration and flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, and even recreational benefits that would otherwise require built infrastructure. Many cities have institutionalized NAM results into municipal policy and take natural assets and natural infrastructure solutions into consideration when drafting community plans and climate adaptation strategies. Ontario has integrated NAM into provincial regulation via O. Reg 588/17, which requires all 444 municipalities in the province to include green infrastructure in their asset management planning process.

Mass Culture has developed the Data Narratives for the Arts (DNA) initiative to support arts organizations in developing cultural indicators that illustrate their work and tell their stories in an authentic way – one that is backed by data. Now in its third year, the DNA program has supported 30 organizations across the country through online workshops – delivered in partnership with non-profit consultancy Purpose Analytics – and tailored, one-on-one data training with a dedicated coach. These programs build participants’ confidence and help organizations strengthen their ability to measure impact and communicate tangible outcomes to stakeholders and funders. Mass Culture has also built a data-sharing platform with insights from 4,200 organizations across the country, allowing groups to compare themselves with their peers. Financial information forms the backbone of the dataset, but other indicators include staffing trends, community feedback, and partner engagement. Participating organizations regularly document their work with learning log journals and ripple effect mapping, to trace successes and challenges at different points in the journey over a period of years. Mass Culture has built a culture of “training the trainers,” so groups can be ambassadors to others with peer-to-peer knowledge sharing through the DNA Platform and an annual DNA Expo. By transforming how organizations approach data – reframing it from an administrative reporting burden to a medium for understanding impact and telling meaningful stories – Mass Culture has strengthened the capacity of organizations in the arts and culture space across Canada.

The CityHive CityShapers in Schools program is a four-session classroom-based workshop series for grades 5–12 that challenges students to think more deeply about climate action, housing affordability, and public space design. By connecting students to governance, civic engagement, and city planning processes within their schools and neighbourhoods, the program uses local issues to nurture their curiosity and give them the tools to make their voices heard in civic processes. The program is offered for free or on a sliding pay scale to public schools throughout the Metro Vancouver region, giving priority to communities that have historically been under-represented in municipal politics and that experience greater barriers to civic participation. The workshops are designed in consultation with certified teachers and co-led by a CityHive educator and a youth leader. Local government staff and elected officials are a key component of the program’s success, and CityHive works with municipalities on a fee-for-service basis to provide student input directly into open engagement projects. Over 300 students have met with municipal staff and elected officials to learn about and engage with such planning projects as the Squamish Nation Climate Action Strategy, the North Vancouver Active Transportation Plan, and the Clayton Corridor Skytrain Expansion Plan. Many students continue to follow projects after the classroom component ends, as the experience has helped to build a sense of agency and connection to issues that affect their communities.

Communities are exploring alternative, safer ways to travel to school through bike bus programs, which organize and schedule times for children to bike to school alongside parent or teacher volunteers. Parents map routes, repair bikes on the way, and invite other families to join. A highly visible critical mass on the street, including a protective barrier of adults, discourages risky behaviour from drivers. This encourages active transportation for vulnerable road users and fosters a sense of community. Communities can also form walking buses for kids using walkers, wheelchairs, and other mobility devices. Bike buses typically operate weekly from the middle of September to the end of October, resuming after March Break – although a warming climate and cheaper equipment are making winter riding more feasible. Bike buses exist across Canada, including two in Toronto (in Davenport and Scarborough) established with the help of Toronto’s “Bicycle Mayor” alongside a coalition of biking groups, non-profits, and parents. The programs require only minimal funding for basic supplies like safety vests and repair kits. Wider community support is critical. Parents rely on principals to help coordinate with school staff and encourage students to join, addressing opposition with proactive empathy by emphasizing the goal of creating safe spaces for the community’s kids. Advocates point out that bike bus programs will have been truly successful when they are not needed, because the city streets are safe enough for cycling children as a matter of course.

Many young people across Canada face barriers to accessing education and employment, particularly in remote, rural, and Indigenous communities, which can affect their long-term well-being. The Tamarack Institute sought to address these challenges through its Communities Building Youth Futures (CBYF) network. From 2019 to 2024, it developed the network and implemented programming in 20 communities across 11 provinces and territories. At its core, the initiative provides young people with opportunities to shape local youth support strategies themselves. Rather than giving convening responsibility to existing staff, CBYF compensated local youth for taking on these roles, leading community engagement initiatives, and co-creating solutions with adults. The resulting strategies went beyond traditional employment and educational programs to support young people holistically, including their basic needs, mental health, and cultural identity. Tamarack acted as an intermediary between each community and the federal government, providing a backbone of funding, facilitation, and capacity building throughout the program. It also took on the administrative work of reporting, which allowed community organizations to focus on program implementation. CBYF’s multi-year funding enabled hiring at least one full-time employee in each community, mentored and supported by the CBYF program staff, to build skills and experience. Youth often have ideas for how to address challenges in their own communities, but may lack the support and resources to make substantive change. Initiatives like the CBYF model demonstrate ways to engage them not as subjects of policy, but as active agents with the knowledge and skills to shape it.

Vancouver is the first major city in Canada to institute a mandatory community benefit agreement (CBA) policy, after years of advocacy from community stakeholders including Buy Social Canada. The policy, which applies to developments over 45,000 square metres in size, requires that developers demonstrate their best effort to reach three targets: 10% local employment, especially of members of equity-seeking groups (inclusive employment); 10% local procurement (from within Vancouver); and 10% social procurement (from verified social impact or equity-seeking businesses). Projects must continue to practice social procurement and inclusive employment throughout their operations. The New St. Paul’s Hospital redevelopment, owned by Providence Health Care, is the first project to trigger the City of Vancouver’s CBA policy. Buy Social Canada is the CBA’s independent third-party monitor, overseeing compliance and supporting its success. Since construction started in 2023, the New St. Paul’s Hospital redevelopment has generated nearly $100 million in social procurement spending and $200 million in local procurement spending. Beyond the dollars flowing into the local and social economies, Buy Social Canada is using this first major project to develop networks, demand, and, eventually, capacity in the social enterprise community. Buy Social Canada is striving to make the New St. Paul’s Hospital redevelopment, and by extension the Vancouver CBA policy, a clear and transparent model for other projects and cities to follow. Following its iterative and aspirational approach to advocacy and policy development, places across Canada can build on this momentum to create local social returns on development investment.

Penticton lies at the heart of the Okanagan region in the south of British Columbia. The region’s temperate climate, beautiful lakes, and award-winning wineries have made it a popular tourist destination in recent years. The community of 37,000 has also seen rapid population growth in the last decade: between 2016 and 2021, the city’s population grew three times as fast as projected in its most recent Official Community Plan, in part due to an influx of remote workers during the pandemic and a growing workforce supporting the tourism industry. This growth has put pressure on the community’s housing stock, with the result that housing prices spiked by 50% in five years. 

Building a new life in a new country starts with making a new home. For families arriving in Canada with few resources, newcomer services can be a help in obtaining housing – but the items needed to fill the new homes are often overlooked. Some newcomers arrive with only their suitcases and urgently need bedding, kitchenware, seasonal clothing, and other essentials. ]Home Essentials Newcomer Support](https://henstoronto.com/) (HENS) began in 2018 with a single volunteer and her family who noticed this major gap in the settlement system and began collecting household goods for newcomer families. This effort grew into a neighbourhood non-profit organization that now operates across Thorncliffe Park, Flemingdon Park, and Scarborough – three Toronto neighbourhoods where many new arrivals to Canada first settle. A volunteer-led effort, HENS redistributes donated goods to newcomers in need, with the goal of helping families establish safe, functional homes to begin their new lives.

Post-secondary students in Hamilton, Ontario, are getting a close-up view of the value of municipal operations while building transferable skills as part of CityLAB Hamilton’s experiential learning program. An innovative partnership between the City of Hamilton, Mohawk College, McMaster University, and Redeemer University, CityLAB Hamilton connects students, faculty, and civic leaders with community-focused projects that align with the City’s strategic priorities. Since its inception in 2017, the program has welcomed more than 4,500 students and supported over 260 hands-on projects across the city.  

Modelled on similar experiential learning programs elsewhere in Canada, CityLAB Hamilton is distinct because it is housed within the City Manager’s Office, which gives the team a level of insight and access into priorities, projects, and staff across multiple municipal divisions. As a result, the projects are varied and represent the city’s current strategic priorities, giving students meaningful opportunities that address specific local needs. Projects may be suggested by city staff, faculty members, or the community, and have encompassed a wide range of academic disciplines and programs of study. They have included designing public awareness campaigns, conducting policy research, analyzing data, and increasing community engagement. Each year, program participants contribute to dozens of projects as part of their coursework, including independent or group research, hands-on participation outside of the classroom, and research competitions such as the Higher Education Analytics Data competition.  

Imagine a single program that creates meaningful employment opportunities, revitalizes derelict properties, and makes homeownership a possibility for local low-income families. It exists in downtown Sault Ste. Marie thanks to the Affordable Home Ownership Program (AHOP), an innovative partnership between the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB).  

Sault Ste. Marie is the third-largest city in Northern Ontario, with a population of 72,000. It is experiencing a high level of housing pressure and a growing wait for social housing despite its comparatively affordable homes. At the same time, there are many abandoned properties downtown, which contribute to lower property values and raise concerns about safety among neighbours. More recently, the city’s economy has also suffered in the wake of U.S. tariffs on the steel industry, which have resulted in widespread layoffs and unemployment despite investments (from both the private sector and the federal government) aimed at shoring up the sector.  

Health-care practitioners have long known the positive impact that community has on well-being, but it is only recently that linking non-medical resources to health care has been recognized and codified as a national practice in Canada. The Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing (CISP) was founded in 2022 to establish a community of practice and to create a research and evidence base for demonstrating the efficacy of this approach at a national level. Through network building, training and accreditation programs, and practical toolkits, CISP has begun to shift health-care policy and practice across the country.  

Social prescribing is a health-care model that enables providers of health care or of social services to refer individuals to community resources and other non-clinical supports in order to improve their health and well-being in a variety of ways. Some provide basic needs in the form of income supplements, housing, and food. Others connect patients with local activities – such as arts organizations, cultural events, or nature outings – creating a sense of belonging and supporting their physical, mental, social and emotional health. The connections to local organizations are facilitated by link workers within the health or community-care sector. The practice is centred on equity and local context, and is adaptable to different cultures, capacities, and needs. 

Young people need spaces in their neighborhoods where they feel safe, are heard, and can be themselves. In 2016, the City of Mississauga recognized that youth in Malton – an ethnically diverse and geographically isolated neighbourhood in the city’s northeast – lacked sufficient access to health and community services, as well as dedicated spaces for recreation and arts programming. In response, they created the Malton Youth Hub, a one-stop destination for the area’s youth. The Hub, a converted swimming pool, houses in its 18,000+ square feet of space a recording studio, a commercial kitchen, multipurpose rooms, and a spacious atrium space for casual meet-ups and performances on a pop-up stage. Since its opening in Fall 2023, the Hub has become a vibrant destination for Malton residents aged 12 to 25, who find there a place to access services, express themselves without judgment, learn, grow, and have fun.  

The impact of climate change is uneven: often, low-income, highly racialized urban areas with fewer resources are harder hit. Young people living in these communities want to be part of the solution, but they are under-represented in environmental leadership spaces and can face significant barriers to participating in climate action. Skills for Change, an employment resources organization based in Toronto, sought to address both of these challenges by creating the Youth Climate Action Initiative (YCAI) in 2023. The program provides climate education and skills-based leadership development for participants aged 16 to 29 and was designed with youth from newcomer, racialized, and underserved communities in mind. Over the course of the 6-to-10 week program, participants develop the knowledge, skills, networks, and confidence they need to take meaningful action in local sustainability initiatives. 

In designing the climate education workshops, Skills for Change sought to include a variety of perspectives and to not just teach knowledge but provide tools for building participants’ confidence. Workshop content includes long-term visioning, community engagement and needs assessments, project management, grant writing, and professional communication skills. Some workshops have explored sustainability through an Indigenous lens, teaching traditional knowledge about our relationship to land and climate action. The program also builds interpersonal connections between participants, most of whom identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of colour, with many living in Toronto's identified Neighbourhood Improvement Areas. YCAI participants value being part of a community that shares similar lived experiences and backgrounds and that offers them a space where they can feel welcome, represented, and fully able to contribute. 

Seeking a new venue where its teaching, research, and performance could connect meaningfully with the public, Carleton University embarked on a unique collaboration with a historic former church to build an off-campus performing arts facility in downtown Ottawa. In 2018, the university acquired property from the former Dominion-Chalmers United Church and created an innovative tenant agreement that allowed the church to continue hosting some services and programming for the community while the university gained access to a unique and beautiful space. The Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (CDCC) now serves as Carleton’s arts, performance, and learning centre – a vibrant academic and cultural hub used for lectures, workshops, panels, conferences, and interdisciplinary events, often hosted in partnership with community groups. Beyond university programming, CDCC is a vital space for Ottawa’s arts and non-profit sectors, hosting concerts, classes, meetings, festivals, and special events. Its arts programming includes Ottawa Chamberfest, the Ottawa Children’s Theatre, and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, among others. As many universities struggle with reduced enrollment, and churches struggle with deferred maintenance and declining congregation attendance, this partnership is a solution that benefits both while keeping vibrant, often historic, spaces in use. With the CDCC, Carleton has created a welcoming multidisciplinary home for learning and the arts that enriches the student experience while fostering an inclusive space for community programming.

Mabelle Avenue in Central Etobicoke is a dense, low-income, and historically underserved neighbourhood with a very diverse population, including many new Canadians. Like many suburban communities based around towers, Mabelle Avenue lacks access to parks, community centres, and cultural spaces, and its outdoor areas are often neglected and underused – even as rapid new development has increased the need for social connection in the area. For the past 18 years, Mabelle Arts has worked alongside local residents, artists, and architects to raise over $3.5 million and co-create a unique community park that fosters connection, creativity, and belonging: Mabelle Park, which opened in October 2024. What makes this initiative special is its transformation of an overlooked space owned by Toronto Community Housing into a vibrant community hub that responds directly to the needs of this high-density, low-income community. The first park in Canada designed specifically to the needs and desires of lower-income tower residents, Mabelle Park offers a space for residents to connect with nature and with their neighbours, and creates opportunities for social connection through events and workshops. Ongoing park care – such as gardening and maintenance – is often undertaken by community members, which not only fosters stewardship but also supports economic development and employment opportunities, making the park a place for community building and resilience.

The Ritson and Olive Commons Placemaking Project addresses the long-standing challenge of vacant public land by transforming an unused site at 350 Ritson Road South in Oshawa into a lively, community-driven space. This regionally owned property has sat dormant as one of several parcels purchased for future road work – an approach that left gaps in the neighbourhood fabric. The site is located within a neighbourhood that faces significant social and health challenges, including higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and low educational attainment compared with other Durham Region communities and the provincial average. Residents wished to bring some life to the spot until it was needed for other uses. Through a competitive design process, a local artist created murals celebrating pollinators, while new amenities – picnic tables, shade sails, a public book-sharing box, and thoughtfully designed green infrastructure – invite people to gather, read, and relax. Developed collaboratively with those living in the area, the initiative emphasizes authentic engagement, strong partnerships, and solutions rooted in local priorities and assets. Launched in June 2025 under Durham Region’s new Public Art and Placemaking Program, the project shows how a creative temporary use can generate pride and engagement without requiring a major capital investment.

In the Rideau/Vanier neighbourhood of Ottawa, a network of social service organizations has transformed the decommissioned Rideau High School into a vibrant centre for connection, learning, and support. The Rideau Community Hub is a centralized resource located in a community facing high rates of inequality, food insecurity, social isolation, and persistent poverty. Managed by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, it hosts around 30 non-profit organizations that provide childcare, a food bank, immigration resources, after-school programs, vaccinations, Indigenous cultural services, supports for seniors, and entrepreneurship training for newcomers. It employs 150–200 people and serves up to 500 visitors each day, building community cohesion and strengthening the local social fabric. The Hub offers versatile spaces that include a 700-seat auditorium, a black box theatre, a full gymnasium, a cafeteria, a children’s play area, two soccer fields, and a community garden. And it strengthens social infrastructure, bringing residents together for cultural, recreational, and health-related programs while improving access to essential services, supporting small business development, and fostering a stronger, more inclusive community.

The role of churches in community life is evolving, and Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto, like many places of worship, has increasingly needed to rent out space for programming and performances to generate enough revenue to keep its doors open. Located in the Annex neighbourhood, Trinity-St. Paul’s is an affirming congregation that is heavily involved in activism and the arts. By renting to 60 community groups and booking numerous special events, its Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts provides an important service to the wider community while balancing the books – but the church has much less space available to run shelters and food services. As another way to extend help to those in need, Trinity-St. Paul’s created a Community Resources Booklet that outlines available services, shelters, food, help lines, and other social assistance groups and locations in and around the neighbourhood. The booklet also connects people who want to help with organizations that are in need of volunteers. The church’s staff undertake the daunting task of keeping this ever-changing list of resources up to date and making the booklet available both on site and in nearby locations. In future, they plan to turn this into a network that matches available spaces and volunteers with those seeking services.

With guidance from the community, the Vanier BIA in Ottawa turned a little-used parking lot into the Vanier HUB, a community space for events and programming. It began with a public art project – painting a mural on a shipping container – in 2021, and quickly drew strong community interest, confirming that a simple, accessible venue could spark new life in the area. Support from the My Main Street grant program allowed the lot to be redesigned as a more permanent feature, and the HUB has become a vibrant local anchor, drawing people to the area to shop, learn, and connect through programming centred on arts, culture, sports, and community engagement. Events are designed for a wide range of residents, including francophone, Indigenous, and newcomer communities, and keeping families, youth, and 2SLGBTQ+ participants in mind. The aim is to foster inclusion and a sense of belonging. In 2023 the project won the Downtown Achievement Award of Excellence from the International Downtown Association. The HUB is at the centre of the city’s larger Montreal Road revitalization project, a major streetscape redesign that will add a number of new safety and artistic elements, transforming the area once complete. By turning an underutilized site into a lively gathering place, the BIA has boosted traffic to Vanier’s main street, reframing how the neighbourhood is seen and building pride among residents.

ActivateYYC is a micro-grant program designed to help community associations, businesses, not-for-profits, and individuals bring placemaking and tactical urbanism projects to life across Calgary. The program encourages people to transform untapped neighbourhood spaces into vibrant, people-focused places by providing resources for temporary, low-cost, and engaging interventions in the range of $500 to $5,000. Placemaking projects funded by ActivateYYC include murals, “paint the pavement" projects, public space infrastructure such as seating – and anything else citizens can creatively imagine for their community. Over the years, ActivateYYC has grown consistently, supporting more than 40 projects from new and repeat participants and expanding its annual funding from $60,000 to $400,000. They have secured $2.85 million for the next three years to expand the program further and establish a placemaking innovation lab. Funding comes from the City of Calgary, and the Federation of Calgary Communities is an overarching support organization and civic partner. The program’s adaptable model has proven especially vital during periods of social disruption, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, by strengthening neighbourhood connections and activating public spaces. Through micro-grants and hands-on interventions, ActivateYYC continues to foster community creativity, engagement, and a shared sense of place across Calgary.

Like many downtowns across the country, Downtown Victoria has experienced many challenges since the arrival of the pandemic in 2020 – challenges that threatened its vitality as a cultural, economic, and social hub for the Greater Victoria region. Even after restrictions eased, the high cost of living, a worsening housing crisis, and mental health and addiction issues, combined with enduring work-from-home patterns, reduced the number of visitors to the core. Many local businesses struggled with rising costs and declining revenue streams amid public perception of higher crime and lack of safety, leading to historic retail and commercial vacancies. The City of Victoria responded by creating the OUR DWTN Program. Initiated in 2023 and funded through an increase in paid parking revenue, the program prioritizes safety, cleanliness, activation, and beautification in the downtown area. Enhanced lighting improves security in darker areas, and around-the-clock street cleaning keeps public spaces tidy. A forthcoming Storefronts program will encourage arts and culture activations in vacant spaces, while public art, seasonal lighting, and horticultural displays enhance the area’s vibrancy and appeal. Together, these placemaking efforts are helping to restore confidence in Downtown Victoria, creating a safer, cleaner, and more vibrant core that supports local businesses, fosters community connections, and celebrates the city’s cultural and economic heart.

Urban alleyways are often neglected spaces that can make pedestrians and adjacent property owners feel unsafe. The Rainbow Ramblas initiative in Calgary is a pilot project to reimagine the city’s alleys as welcoming, multi-functional spaces: it promotes comfort and safety through increased public presence and new uses by adding features such as murals, plants, and inviting street furniture. The project is a collaborative effort between the University of Calgary, municipal leadership, and a number of industry partners. Supported by the Calgary Downtown Association and the City of Calgary’s Downtown Strategy team, this pilot forms part of the broader Green Alley Project (GAP), which is tied to the city’s Greater Downtown Plan. While not intending to displace vulnerable populations, Rainbow Ramblas activates alleys while preserving their service functions, repositioning them from back-of-house zones to front-facing, people-oriented places of creativity, culture, and walkability. Launched in summer 2025, the project includes a pre- and post-installation study to measure impacts on pedestrian activity, visitation, and public life, while building a business case for pedestrianized alleyways.

Across Canada, there remains a profound gap in accessibility when it comes to our built environment. Even though more than 8 million Canadians over age 15 live with disabilities, many workplaces, health centres, recreational facilities, and spiritual spaces remain out of reach. The StopGap Foundation advances accessibility and builds community through advocacy, education, and hands-on action, providing customized ramps, workshops, and partnerships to remove physical barriers and inspire inclusive design. Since its inception, the organization has eliminated thousands of single-step obstacles across Canada, facilitating greater independence and community participation for people with mobility challenges. Through workshops, talks, and social media, StopGap also educates the public about accessibility, highlighting challenges faced by people with disabilities and our shared responsibility to address them. Their colourful ramps, built in partnership with volunteers, builders, and businesses, remove barriers and spark vital conversations about inclusion. They collaborate with policy-makers, planners, developers, and property owners to embed accessibility into design and maintenance, advancing long-term change.

Downtown London Trails is a creative initiative to increase foot traffic in the city’s central core, with the goals of strengthening economic vitality and raising consumer awareness of downtown businesses. The program offers a variety of themed trails – such as “Bakery and Patisserie,” “Crisp Days and Cozy Nights,” “Music and Arts,” and “Holiday Experiences” – with each one highlighting a selection of businesses in downtown London. Using Bandwango software, the BIA adds businesses to an interactive digital map where consumers can sign up, check in at different locations, and earn points toward prizes such as downtown merchandise and gift cards. To ensure a successful experience, the BIA also gave businesses training and support. While at first it was a challenge to get businesses to participate in an unfamiliar program, direct outreach and positive testimonials helped build momentum. By 2024, the initiative exceeded its objectives, with 133 businesses participating and 20,605 check-ins recorded. That year the program distributed $50,000 in Downtown Dollar Gift Cards, ensuring that the prize money stayed local. These created a 65% up-spend, which generated an additional $32,500 in economic activity by the end of 2024. The program has continued to expand its impact into 2025, reinforcing its role as a catalyst for both community vibrancy and economic resilience.

Downtowns across North America are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, compounded by public health and homelessness crises. Real progress is being made, but these improvements are not always visible or well understood by those outside these districts. To showcase the measurable, even transformational, changes happening in the central core of London, Ontario, the Downtown London BIA created the Downtown Momentum Report. Produced in collaboration with City of London staff and informed by data from Environics and the BIA itself, the report communicates to the BIA’s 1,400+ member businesses the progress that has been made and confirms the City’s commitment to revitalizing the downtown, outlining coordinated strategies for investments and programs in five areas: Economy, Vibrancy, Inclusion, Resilience, and Identity. The Momentum Report also serves to recognize the City of London and other partners for their support and investments, provides media with credible data to share downtown stories, encourages investors to build on the momentum of downtown projects, and offers valuable information for students studying urban issues. Ultimately, the report helps shape a more accurate and positive narrative, reinforcing why continued investment in a healthy and vibrant core is essential. report helps shape a more accurate and positive narrative, reinforcing why continued investment in a healthy and vibrant core is essential.

Shifting consumer habits, reduced foot traffic, and tariffs have made it harder for local businesses to compete with global online retailers. To help redirect spending back into local economies, Miconex Canada introduced the Downtown Gift Card program, a simple but effective tool that encourages residents and visitors to shop locally. These “closed-loop” cards can only be redeemed at participating businesses within a defined district, ensuring that every dollar stays in the community. The program is now active in more than 42 Canadian towns and regions – from Grande Prairie to P.E.I. – and over $15 million in Downtown Gift Cards have been sold to date, supporting independent retailers, restaurants, and service providers of all sizes. Miconex works alongside BIAs, chambers of commerce, municipalities, and local sponsors to launch branded programs tailored to each district, using robust reporting tools to demonstrate measurable impact. These in turn attract additional support from corporate and government partners, who see the cards as a way to strengthen community ties and drive local growth. By turning strong consumer demand for shopping locally into direct economic results, Miconex is helping downtowns across Canada prosper and thrive in the face of ongoing change.

The Downtown Vancouver Economic Dashboard is a publicly accessible online tool that illustrates the economic performance, activity, and overall health of the city’s downtown district. Featuring proprietary data and curated insights from the city’s Economic Development team, it provides regularly updated information on key indicators such as annual visits, storefront vacancy rates, and retail spending to track the shifting patterns in leasing, retail, transit, and visitor activity over time. While healthy downtown districts are an essential part of vibrant cities, there is often a lack of timely, accessible data that can inform city leaders and community members alike about their status. Downtown Van, a BIA, launched the dashboard to address this need, consolidating previously fragmented economic analysis into a holistic picture. It has recently been used to measure the success of downtown pilot programs such as the summer pedestrianization of the Gastown district. More importantly, Downtown Van’s leadership in community data has informed broader conversations on how governments can support other BIAs across British Columbia to access similar insights, with partnerships underway with the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) and the Business Improvement Areas of British Columbia (BIABC) to help further democratize community data.olumbia to access similar insights, with partnerships underway with the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) and the Business Improvement Areas of British Columbia (BIABC) to help further democratize community data.

Main Street Unionville, one of Markham’s best-loved destinations, has been undergoing a much-needed restoration. With construction scheduled during the summer – the busiest season for local businesses – there was a risk of reduced foot traffic and lost revenue. To help businesses retain customer traffic, the Main Street Unionville BIA launched a pair of creative marketing and support programs in partnership with the City of Markham, Destination Markham, local hotels, and the Markham Board of Trade. Phase 1 (April–May 2025) was the Main Street Cash Coupons program, in which 8,000 coupons redeemable at about 20 local businesses were distributed across Markham. This initiative generated an estimated $65,000 in economic impact and attracted more than 25,000 visitors, 60% of whom were first-time or infrequent patrons. Phase 2 (June–November 2025) featured the Main Street Restoration Contest, encouraging shopping at Unionville BIA businesses through receipt-based entries. The contest incentivized local shopping with total prizes of over $20,000 in $100 and $50 gift cards redeemable at participating businesses. These initiatives helped boost foot traffic and strengthen business confidence, demonstrating how Main Street districts can remain vibrant even through a major disruption.

Marketing is a persistent struggle for Main Street businesses and BIAs across Canada. Restricted budgets, limited in-house capacity, and the absence of the high-profile loyalty programs available at chain stores can reduce the direct engagement that builds a long-term customer base. To help overcome these barriers, marketing consultancy ShopLocal2Win (SL2W) launched TapCanadian2Win, a six-week national “shop local/choose debit” contest, in late 2025. Customers who submitted receipts of $15 or more from a local business were entered into weekly $5,000 draws; debit users were eligible for an additional $5,000 bonus, incentivizing payments with lower transaction costs for retailers than credit cards. The owner of the shop that generated each winning receipt also received a cash prize. SL2W has successfully implemented similar campaigns for local BIAs, but with TapCanadian2Win backed by Interac as a national sponsor, the program’s larger scale reduces marketing costs for BIAs by 75% and eliminates the burden of finding local sponsors. The initiative is expected to generate $20 million nationwide in measurable economic impact by encouraging more frequent local purchases and lowering transaction costs for small businesses. The SL2W platform can provide reports on key performance indicators and return on investment, giving BIAs transparent data to demonstrate the program’s impact. TapCanadian2Win has the potential to be a powerful model for driving consumer loyalty, reinforcing business confidence, and ensuring the long-term vitality of Main Streets.

The lack of access to equitable and accessible support for entrepreneurs is an ongoing challenge in the City of Mississauga. IDEA Mississauga is a City-led initiative that helps fill this gap by supporting entrepreneurs at all stages of their careers through a collaborative approach with local partners. In 2023, the project saw the opening of IDEA Square One, an entrepreneur support centre located in Ontario’s largest mall. It has expanded awareness and engagement with the initiative through targeted outreach, and now supports over 1,000 small businesses and startups annually. With a focus on inclusion, IDEA partners with YSpace (York University’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub), University of Toronto Mississauga, Sheridan College, the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance, Altitude Accelerator, and Canada’s Queer Chamber of Commerce to deliver culturally relevant programs and mentorship. Flagship initiatives like EmpowHER and Step-Up, which prioritize underrepresented founders, have doubled in size. In its first two years, IDEA Square One has provided over 500 consultations, helped launch 100 businesses, and raised over $12 million in funding for ventures supported by the program. With 80% of participants identifying as equity-deserving, IDEA fosters a trusted, community-driven ecosystem for inclusive growth. equity-deserving, IDEA fosters a trusted, community-driven ecosystem for inclusive growth.

In the fast-growing town of Caledon, Ontario – a community defined by both expansive rural geography and rapid development – supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs has been a unique challenge, and a centralized business support hub was long overdue. In 2024, the Town of Caledon launched the Humber River Centre (HRC), transforming a former fire hall in downtown Bolton into an award winning, sustainable facility offering business support, coworking spaces, and economic development services. The HRC convenes key partners, including local business associations and regional innovation centres, to deliver coordinated programming and tailored support for entrepreneurs. To further strengthen early-stage business support, Caledon partnered with Toronto Metropolitan University’s tech incubator, DMZ, to pilot a three-year program that provides guidance on market readiness, access to funding, and mentorship – with a strong emphasis on equity and inclusion. Recognized by the International Economic Development Council for leadership in local economic growth, the HRC is proving that rural and mid-sized communities can deliver big-city innovation – and build resilient, thriving economies from the ground up.

Small tourism operators often face barriers to launching or growing their ideas due to limited access to funding, mentorship, and strategic support – challenges heightened by the sector’s dependence on seasonal trends and regional economic conditions. Hackforge, a non-profit organization that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship, aims to address these issues through the Spark Program, part of its Tourism Innovation Lab. The program supports early-stage tourism entrepreneurs and community-driven ideas that promote a more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable tourism ecosystem in Canada. Each round of the program, which is delivered in Ontario and British Columbia, focuses on a specific theme or target group and is customized in partnership with municipalities, tourism organizations, provincial ministries, Regional Innovation Centres, the Canadian Queer Chamber of Commerce, and financial institutions. Applicants – from new business owners to individuals with untested ideas – complete a simple intake process, with shortlisted candidates invited to pitch to a panel of judges. Winners receive a $3,000 to $5,000 micro-grant and mentorship over three months to refine their ideas, build networks, and gain confidence, with some receiving additional support such as website development. By empowering local entrepreneurs to transform creative ideas into viable ventures, “Spark” helps strengthen regional economies and ensures the tourism sector remains innovative and inclusive.

STACKT Market in Toronto is the largest shipping container market in North America. It has become a shared space for small businesses, global brands, and community events, one that also supports the local economy. Building on this model, STACKT launched STACKTˣ in 2023, a national platform designed to help small businesses launch and grow. At its core, STACKTˣ is an eight-week accelerator program that offers entrepreneurs mentorship, marketing, and operations support along with a one-month free retail lease in a high-foot-traffic area in its modular market space. Operating in Toronto and Ottawa, with expansions planned for Calgary, Vancouver, and beyond, STACKTˣ has already attracted over 7,500 small businesses and 1,600 Storefront Grant applicants, enabling 30 recipients to open pop-up shops. By providing real-world exposure, expert guidance, and accessible retail opportunities, STACKTˣ fills a gap in Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Programs like this not only help emerging businesses thrive but also generate local jobs, activate communities, and strengthen urban resilience. STACKTˣ shows how place-based innovation can translate into national impact – empowering entrepreneurs while redefining how cities grow, collaborate, and sustain economic vitality.

Many of the City of Regina’s most beloved local businesses operate in former single-family homes that were converted over time. However, bringing these properties up to modern building codes can be costly and complex, particularly for small business owners managing limited budgets and tight timelines. Recognizing that these challenges were discouraging investment and leaving some buildings vacant, the City invested in research and analysis to make conversions more predictable and affordable. Municipal staff developed a set of pre-approved, code-compliant alternatives to address common barriers faced by owners. The result is a practical user guide that connects business owners to Service Coordinators, streamlines the approval process, and provides links to detailed engineering resources for professionals. Applicants for building conversions now benefit from dedicated regulatory support, clearer statements of construction scope, and access to City incentive programs that can offset costs. By establishing these accessible guidelines, the City has created a pathway that prioritizes local business vitality while preserving 60-to-100-year-old homes rich with character – a win for both Regina’s downtown and its residents.

In summer 2025, the Stratford Perth Centre for Business piloted Caffeine and Commerce, a program that aims to create a casual, inclusive, and low-pressure environment for small business owners to connect. The program responds to a growing desire among young and diverse entrepreneurs in small cities for authentic, community-based connection points that recognize their experiences, challenges, and identities. Caffeine and Commerce addresses this need by offering an accessible alternative to traditional, formal networking events: biweekly meetups at rotating cafes across Stratford, Ontario, with no registration, formal agenda, or icebreakers – just a welcoming space to drop in, ask questions, share ideas, and make genuine connections over coffee. Organizers compiled recurring questions and collected wisdom from these sessions into short, shareable resources such as mini-guides, reels, and live Q&As. While the initiative began as a summer pilot, its small-scale, human-centred approach to business support has the potential to be formalized into a year-round program with backing from municipal, tourism, and innovation partners, and to be adapted in other communities.

Local economic development and business support organization LOCO BC is tackling a growing issue facing independent businesses today: commercial affordability. By gathering and analyzing data from a wide range of stakeholders, including developers, property owners, leasing agents, property managers, and business and community associations, LOCO BC is aiming to discover what defines a strong tenant mix and how affordability can be measured and sustained over time. This province-wide initiative responds to the growing challenge of rising costs and unstable lease rates, which make it difficult for small, independent businesses to remain in their spaces over the long term. This results in high tenant turnover, neglected properties, and premature deterioration of buildings, which diminishes the overall quality of local commercial areas. With its commercial affordability initiative, LOCO BC is bridging gaps between small business owners and the development community, seeking to dispel the myth that local businesses are riskier tenants compared to larger, more established companies. The feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive, showcasing the importance of commercial affordability for small, local businesses to the long-term health of communities and local economies.

Toronto is home to over 160 public markets: farmers' markets, vintage and antique markets, artisan and craft markets, affordable fresh food markets, and more. The key role that such markets play in supporting local businesses and building strong, connected communities is often overlooked. Enter marketcityTO, led by a growing grassroots network of former market managers supporting Toronto’s public markets sector through collaborative projects and advocacy that help residents and municipal representatives recognize the value of public markets. Working with market managers, marketcityTO has led initiatives such as Toronto’s first interactive market map, the Scarborough Fresh Food Pilot, and the 11th International Public Market Conference. Their engagement with councillors, City staff, and other stakeholders informed the City’s first-ever Public Markets Action Plan and led to a dedicated full-time staff position. In 2025, marketcityTO partnered with the City to expand Public Markets Week – a citywide celebration of the culture, diversity, and entrepreneurship that markets bring to Toronto’s neighbourhoods. A pilot program provided funding for markets to host programming as part of the event. Ten markets across Toronto collaborated with local organizations and small businesses on initiatives such as Indigenous-led medicine bag workshops, willow weaving, and cooking demonstrations. Leveraging Toronto’s Love Local campaign, marketcityTO continues to highlight that supporting public markets is one of the most effective ways to strengthen a municipality’s small business ecosystem and community connections.

Toronto’s mental health system had long been overstretched and underfunded, which has led to a growing need for reactive crisis response from emergency services, including police. Seeking an alternative approach, the City of Toronto launched the Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS), which provides free, confidential, trauma-informed in-person support led by mental health workers instead of police. After a pilot in 2022, the TCCS expanded in 2024 to a service providing 24/7 crisis response to everyone age 16 and over, city-wide. TCCS is accessed through a non-police crisis line (2-1-1) or as a transfer from 9-1-1. Mobile crisis teams respond directly to calls with immediate support as well as offering follow-up care, including up to 90 days of case management. TCCS teams include community nurses, harm reduction workers, peers with lived experience, case managers, and Indigenous elders. This approach helps reduce the potential danger and trauma of mental health emergencies, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQ+ residents, who face serious risks and systemic biases during police interactions. TCCS has diverted more than 30,000 calls that would otherwise have gone to traditional emergency services, resolving almost 80% of calls transferred from 9-1-1 without police involvement. In November 2025, the service expanded to include a pilot program on the TTC. TCCS demonstrates that cities can prioritize care, dignity, and community leadership without relying on enforcement-based responses.

Despite being among those most in need of social services, unhoused people often face serious barriers to accessing support through traditional service pathways, including long waitlists, discontinuity of services, lack of trust in providers, and inconsistent access to phones. Toronto’s services have often been reactive, reaching people when they are already in crisis or facing severe health challenges. In addition, this population is often criminalized, which can create further barriers to their support and well-being. To better address this community’s needs, Toronto Public Health launched the Downtown Community Outreach Response & Engagement Team (CORE) in partnership with the Toronto Police Service in December 2024. CORE grew from the Downtown Yonge BIA's Community Engagement Team (CET), which started in 2018 with funding from Toronto’s BIA Innovation Fund to respond to people in crisis in streetfront businesses. CORE’s mandate is broader: a proactive outreach (not emergency-response) service, with teams of nurses and police officers who provide both immediate medical care and short-term case management from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, anywhere in the Yonge-Dundas area of downtown. The teams coordinate access to mental health supports, primary care clinics, and basic living supplies like sleeping bags. It’s a model for proactively supporting people experiencing homelessness where they are, building trust and improving continuity of care.

Launched in August 2024, Ottawa’s Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) is a community-led program that provides a culturally sensitive and equity-centered response to mental health and substance use crises 24/7. Residents can access the service by calling 2-1-1, with multilingual support available in Arabic, Cantonese, Swahili, and Somali, reflecting Centretown’s diverse community. ANCHOR’s design is based on best practices and community recommendations from the research outlined in the 2023 report by the Ottawa Guiding Council on Mental Health and Addictions. In its first year, ANCHOR received 4,464 calls, with 92% of them resolved with no police involvement. ANCHOR is a key pillar of Ottawa’s 2021–2031 Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, implemented in collaboration with Community Navigation Eastern Ontario, Centretown Community Health Center (CHC) and Somerset West CHC. Implementation started in Centretown – a small, densely populated area with high need – allowing ANCHOR to measure its impact and refine its approach before expanding it services. This expansion is being implemented gradually, guided by community feedback, evaluation outcomes, and sustainable funding opportunities. ANCHOR is building a strong foundation for long-term system change, demonstrating the value of collaborative, community-led solutions to complex challenges.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has the potential to improve access to opportunity and incentivize sustainable growth, but transit developments across Canada have often led to speculation from rising land value, displacing vulnerable residents and making it difficult to sustain and build affordable and non-market housing. The Canadian Alliance for Transit Connected Housing (CATCH) is a new approach to TOD that places affordability and inclusion at the centre. CATCH originated from a CMHC lab led by Social Innovation Canada in partnership with CMHC, the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Community Foundation, non-market housing providers, and other stakeholders, who co-designed a solution that aligns transit investments with long-term affordability. It is anchored by the CATCH Fund – Canada’s first transit-oriented affordable housing fund. The CATCH Fund blends public and private capital, complemented by municipal grants, to provide flexible financing needed to preserve and create affordable housing near transit. The $18.7M fund is expected to launch in early 2026 with a pipeline of projects ready for investment. The Hamilton lab also influenced municipal policy, informing zoning changes, rental protections, and the city’s new Rental Housing Protection By-law to preserve existing stock and protect tenants. CATCH aims to scale this success nationally, develop a catalogue of best practices, convene local collaboratives, and apply proven social finance models.

Balanced Supply of Housing (BSH) is a collaborative network of academic researchers and community partners based at the University of British Columbia that conducts research to generate and mobilize knowledge for a more equitable housing system. BSH advances long-term affordable housing solutions by supporting community land trusts (CLTs) that remove land from speculative markets and place it under community control. Partnering with CLTs across Canada, BSH funds research, policy development, and land acquisitions that protect affordability, prevent displacement, and promote equity – especially for marginalized communities. Evidence from BSH-supported studies, such as the Parkdale Tower Rental Housing Study in Toronto’s west end, has informed public acquisition programs and enabled the successful preservation and creation of affordable housing, demonstrating that CLTs are a viable and effective tool in addressing the housing crisis. Through more than forty projects focused on innovative land practices and alternatives to the financialization of housing, BSH builds the capacity of community-led housing initiatives. Projects include policy reports, a profile series on Canadian CLTs, and community capacity-building initiatives to enhance the delivery of affordable housing. This important work highlights the power of CLTs to transform housing from a commodity to a shared community asset.

Homeway Benefits is a British Columbia-based company that is redefining workforce benefits by making a path toward homeownership a standard part of employee packages. As home ownership rates continue to decline and younger Canadians have fewer pathways to buy homes, Homeway partners with employers to help employees build financial stability through an innovative savings model. In this program, 5–10% of each employee’s paycheque is matched by the employer and invested into a fund, allowing employees to accumulate between $15,000 and $30,000 toward a downpayment over a three- to four-year term. Partnered with the North Peace Community Foundation to manage the fund, Homeway Benefits piloted the model with the Fort St. John Association for Community Living (FSJACL) and is now working to expand it more broadly. While this program was designed for rural and northern communities, the concept is adaptable for urban centres; Homeway Benefits is currently in communication with Key, a company offering 2.5%-downpayment mortgages in Toronto and Vancouver, to explore potential collaboration. By turning the dream of homeownership into a shared journey between employers and employees, Homeway Benefits helps individuals build lasting equity and stability, while their employers benefit from improved retention and loyalty.

As Toronto makes strides toward building affordable housing, some of the barriers to more rapid progress are related to information access: siloed data, inconsistent intergovernmental coordination, and highly technical language that makes it difficult for residents to understand or engage with development process. Seeing this as a problem that civic tech could address, housing advocates launched HousingNowTO in December 2018 as a volunteer-run, open-source platform to bridge the gap between housing professionals and the public. By translating complex data into clear, accessible information through Google maps, photographs, videos, and data visualization, HousingNowTO equips residents with the tools to understand and evaluate affordable housing projects on government-owned lands. Its mapping portal and social media channels function as a framework for public transparency and accountability, offering data-driven viability analysis of proposed sites and reducing misinformation. The platform has delivered tangible results, including adding thousands of additional rental units to the City’s original redevelopment plans. The organization is also expanding the community of housing supporters by mentoring over a hundred university students in housing data advocacy. Recognized as a finalist in the 2024 World Smart Cities Awards, HousingNowTO shows how open-government and civic-tech models can be scaled to empower communities and strengthen public accountability in housing delivery.

At time when rural Canada has its own housing crisis, Innovation Building Group (IBG) has pioneered a new approach that delivers affordable, high-performance, climate-resilient family homes. IBG’s approach combines modular construction with advanced building technologies to create durable, “energy-ready” homes – that is, homes designed and built to be adaptable to evolving energy standards without costly retrofits, reducing long-term costs and environmental impact. By integrating hydronic heat pumps, non-load-bearing composite cladding, insulated concrete-form foundations, and energy-recovery ventilators, IBG has reduced both construction and operating costs for homes that can sustain comfortable temperatures in the Canadian climate. These homes eliminate reliance on natural gas, using airtight envelopes and high-performance windows to boost resilience and energy efficiency. This model is designed for replication across Canada’s smaller towns, offering Canadian Home Builders’ Association builders a practical path to transition from traditional single-family homes to compact, community-oriented developments. The Oso project in Golden, B.C. – an award-winning net-zero energy-ready hub – demonstrates IBG’s commitment to revitalizing rural centers through sustainable design. IBG is shaping the future of Canada’s missing-middle housing with purpose-built solutions that serve both people and the planet.

Many cities have some amount of vacant and underused land: largely empty parking lots, remnants of low-density sprawl, abandoned properties that haven’t been taken up by new owners, and so on. In British Columbia, the Rapid Housing Foundation (RHF) is working to turn over an estimated 84,000 vacant and viable parcels into modular row housing for seniors and low-income residents. RHF plans to install factory-built units in under four months by using temporary foundations. On the financing side, the plan is to lease residential lots rather than purchase land, and to make units that qualify for British Columbia’s shelter-rate assistance. The rental revenue guaranteed from British Columbia’s rent subsidies, combined with RHF's low per-unit costs (about $100,000), eliminate the need for government capital grants by making it easier to secure private financing from funders like BMO, Vancity, and RBC, so each development will be financially viable. While RHF will have to find alternatives for British Columbia’s rent subsidies when it expands to other provinces, its model for quickly and cheaply building housing on existing vacant land can be adopted throughout the country.

Founded to tackle Canada’s housing crisis – particularly the “missing middle” of infill mid-rise and affordable housing – Assembly Corp is transforming how housing gets built in Canada through mass timber panelized construction. Traditional construction methods are often slow, costly, and unpredictable, making it difficult for governments, non-profits, and developers to deliver accessible homes at the pace and scale required. Assembly Corp’s approach is to treat buildings like products. They design standardized, modular mass timber and light-frame wood panels, manufacture them off-site, and assemble them on-site. This sustainable, modular approach cuts project timelines in half, reduces carbon emissions by up to 60%, and brings predictability to a process long defined by delays and overruns. By leveraging renewable Canadian wood, Assembly Corp ensures high-quality, low-waste construction while exceeding energy code requirements by 20% – and also enhancing resident well-being through nature-based design. With a focus on human-scale density and low-carbon communities, Assembly Corp is proving that building faster can also mean building smarter, greener, and more inclusively.

In addition to improving construction efficiency and sustainability, modular solutions can also address urgent social needs by delivering supportive housing and site services for people with nowhere else to go. The “sleep cabin community” is a supportive housing model that creates clusters of 20 to 50 furnished cabins surrounding a central community centre offering 24/7 staff support and wraparound services. In Waterloo, The Working Centre operates a 50-cabin site equipped with electricity, heating, and cooling, providing mental health and addiction supports, as well as helping residents transition to permanent housing. In Peterborough, the Elizabeth Fry Society manages a similar 50-unit Modular Bridge Housing Community as part of the city’s Interim Housing Solutions strategy, connecting residents to supports and long-term housing. Since 2019, about 140 cabins have been installed across Ontario, helping to reduce homelessness and save lives. Although these projects often face initial community resistance, many neighbours ultimately become advocates – volunteering and supporting the initiative, demonstrating how cabin communities embody compassion and possibility.

Located in London, Ontario, in the historic Victoria Hospital Lands neighbourhood, Village Soho brings together six non-profit housing developers to create nearly 700 mixed-income apartments, with over 30% designed to be barrier-free. The initiative is a response to the deepening housing crisis in the city, where over 2,000 residents face homelessness and 7,200 wait for subsidized housing. Convened by the London Community Foundation, Village SoHo brings six non-profit housing developers together to address the issue, aiming to create a place that fosters strong, safe and accessible community while celebrating the neighbourhood's rich history. Indwell is a founding member of the Village SoHo Alliance, which will restore two heritage buildings on site to create 138 new apartments. These restorations preserve architectural legacy while offering modern, affordable homes with wraparound supports. Construction began in fall 2023, with full completion expected by summer 2028. This collaborative model demonstrates how non-profit leadership, municipal support, and community fundraising can transform underused land into inclusive, sustainable housing.

Based in the Greater Toronto Area, Reena’s intentional community housing model reimagines housing as a foundation for dignity, autonomy, health, and social inclusion by integrating care, accessibility, and community under one roof. Through three purpose-built residences – the Sandy Keshen Reena Residence (2012), Lou Fruitman Reena Residence (2021), and upcoming Frankfort Family Reena Residence (2026) – Reena provides homes for seniors and for individuals with developmental disabilities and physical and mental health challenges. Each residence provides essential services such as medical care, mental health supports, life-skills training, and personal care, enabling residents to live independently within inclusive, mixed communities rather than segregated facilities. This model has potential to help alleviate Ontario’s long-standing shortage of supportive housing – over 40,000 individuals are on waitlists, with the result that many people who would do well in supportive housing are institutionalized, unnecessarily hospitalized, or homeless. Developed in partnership with Ontario Health and a number of organizations such as March of Dimes and Safehaven, the model brings multiple care providers together as a single multidisciplinary team. By uniting housing and health-care systems that have long operated in silos, Reena’s model delivers co-ordinated, cost-effective support that is 10 to 13 times less expensive per day than institutional care. Building on this success, Reena currently chairs the Intentional Community Consortium (ICC), which works to solve the housing crisis for those with developmental disabilities.

A shortage of accessible housing, particularly residential homes suitable for people with mobility challenges, severely limits the rental and homeownership options of many individuals with accessibility needs. The No Limits Collective (NLC) incentivizes homeowners and small investors to build accessible rental or investment properties, offering free property management services – including tenant placement and issue resolution – for homes that meet a basic accessibility standard. Red Plain Developments, NLC’s licensed development subsidiary, exclusively builds barrier-free homes while also pushing municipal bylaws and construction technologies to increase the value and investment potential of accessible housing. NLC is endorsed by Spinal Cord Injury Alberta (SCI) and Voices of Albertans with Disabilities (VAD), and both these organizations serve as NLC’s tenant placement partners, matching available homes with the residents who need them most. Homes built through the program are listed in a private online directory accessible only to trusted partners, ensuring efficient placement and relieving pressure on public and communal facilities. The approach is scalable across communities, and the program empowers vetted “No Limits Builders” to offer the program to their clients, expanding access to barrier-free homes and generating meaningful community impact.

Extreme heat events pose serious health risks, particularly for vulnerable populations who have limited access to safe drinking water. During the City of Edmonton’s community engagement on its extreme weather policy – which addresses risks from poor air quality, extreme cold, and extreme heat – dehydration was identified as the primary health concern. In response, the city launched a pilot project in 2021, equipping five fire hydrants with attachments that function as public water fountains, allowing people to refill bottles and ensuring accessible, safe hydration during the hottest months. Community demand was strong during the pilot, and, given its relatively low cost, the program was expanded. By summer 2023, the number of stations across Edmonton had grown to 30, all operating 24/7 from May through September. (To enhance accessibility, the city developed an online map of water station locations.) This initiative provides a critical lifeline for residents during prolonged heat waves, reducing the risk of dehydration and related illnesses. It provides an excellent example of a simple, scalable program that municipalities can implement to protect public health and increase equity in the face of rising extreme climate events.

Wildfire smoke can travel thousands of kilometres, exposing even populations that are a great distance away to poor air quality. In June 2023, Toronto experienced its first major episode of wildfire smoke, prompting the city government to recognize the need for a coordinated local response. In turn, Toronto Public Health developed its first Wildfire Smoke Response Strategy, outlining seasonal updates, strategies for response, and preparedness activities. A key component of this strategy is the Cleaner Air Spaces (CAS) network, introduced in 2024 to provide safe, accessible spaces for residents during smoke events. Six City facilities were designated as CAS sites. Each location is equipped with high-efficiency MERV-13 air filtration systems to reduce fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke. These spaces are available to the public during their regular operating hours, offering short-term relief for residents, particularly those without access to effective ventilation or air filtration at home. The CAS initiative is currently a pilot; Toronto Public Health is implementing air quality monitoring to evaluate effectiveness and guide improvements. But it has the potential to contribute positively to the health and well-being of Toronto residents over the long term.

In April 2023, the city council of Richmond, B.C., endorsed the Richmond Circular City Strategy, an ambitious plan with a vision for the city to achieve 100% circularity by 2050. The circular economy model moves beyond the predominant linear take-make-use-dispose economic model – which leads to the overuse of virgin materials and environmental issues like soil contamination – and embraces closing resource loops to combine economic growth with sustainable practices. Richmond is the first city in North America to adopt this framework, which aligns with the sustainability goals in the city’s Official Community Plan. The strategy, which can be aligned with upcoming federal and provincial programs and regulatory mandates, has six areas of focus: Maximizing Ecosystem Services, Regenerative Food System, Resilient and Innovative Economy, Shared Mobility, Adaptive Built Environment, and Products and Materials Management. It calls for extensive community and industry consultation, which encourages innovation through experimentation and learning by doing, thus supporting the development of new business models and sustainable practices. This inclusive approach also ensures that residents' needs remain central, enhancing community engagement and participation. Envisioned as a flexible blueprint rather than a fixed work, the Richmond Circular City Strategy is an example of cities taking the lead in sustainable urban planning by embedding circular economy principles into their plans and practices to reimagine how resources can flow in a sustainable, equitable, low-carbon economy.

It takes a lot of small repairs to keep sustainable urban transportation infrastructure – such as bike lanes, pedestrian crossings, and public transit vehicles – running smoothly throughout the city. Operations and maintenance departments are responsible for managing numerous small, widespread, and persistent issues, such as potholes, broken bikeway curbs, malfunctioning crosswalk buttons, and blocked curb cuts. While minor, these problems have a significant impact on residents’ day-to-day travel, yet are often overlooked in capital planning cycles. Unfixed disruptions undermine safety, accessibility, and public trust, especially for those who rely on walking, biking, and/or public transit to get around, creating cascading effects for mobility and equity. The City of Toronto is working creatively to address this persistent operational challenge, finding new ways effectively and equitably deliver on small-scale repairs that are too often delayed or deprioritized. City staff are piloting alternative procurement models suitable for small but high-impact transportation maintenance tasks. One element includes developing flexible, on-call contracts with approved vendors for small jobs, eliminating the need for lengthy and competitive procurement processes. The goal is to create a replicable approach that other cities can adopt to deliver more efficient public-realm improvements that help keep people moving in a sustainable way and enhance public trust in core city services.

Seeing a need for visual data tools about health and climate readiness that are geared toward non-technical audiences, NatuR&D spearheaded the Resilient Urban Systems & Habitat (RUSH) Initiative. Based on Southern Vancouver Island and hosted in partnership with Peninsula Streams & Shorelines and the Map Shop at the University of Victoria, RUSH integrates climate data, citizen science, and Indigenous knowledge into an accessible GIS platform. The project is a collaborative, open-access effort aimed at enhancing ecological resilience and community well-being through participatory mapping that increases local knowledge of nature-based solutions. The interactive maps cover a wide range of subjects, from local climate-readiness initiatives like rain gardens to sources of farm-fresh produce to neighbourhood factors that contribute to long-term health and happiness, such as parks. The initiative combines research with practical opportunities to get involved, for example by creating a rain garden or taking the bus from a nearby stop. Linking hyperlocal information with everyday action and the chance to contribute, the project connects people more closely with the natural environment and encourages a sense of belonging. By fostering public awareness and data-driven decision-making, as well as supporting local reconciliation through Indigenous partnerships, RUSH empowers communities to address environmental challenges collaboratively.

Since 2009, Green Neighbours 21 (GN21) has brought together a network of community members to advise each other about energy resilience and residential retrofits. Located in the St. Paul’s neighbourhood of Toronto, GN21 assembles program delivery partners to train interested volunteers, build an informed and engaged community, and share personal stories as models for “going green.” Through regular meetings and a series of online fact sheets, the program helps neighbours advise neighbours on everything from energy efficiency upgrades and building envelopes to cisterns and backflow valves to native species planting. The group also partners with Transition Toronto to host an annual EcoFair, the largest sustainability event of its kind in the city, which draws over 1,200 attendees and dozens of non-profits to share information about environmentally friendly actions. In creating a place where neighbours can learn from and help each other, GN21 is creating new connections and points of trust while building local resilience.

Assessing embodied carbon impacts throughout a building’s life cycle is an essential step in advancing regenerative and low-carbon design. As a sector, buildings are the third-largest greenhouse gas emitters Canada, yet many professionals in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector lack access to the tools and training needed to assess and reduce building emissions. The practice of life cycle assessment (LCA) provides a framework for evaluating a building’s environmental footprint – from material extraction to operations and through end of life – but remains underused due to limited awareness and training opportunities, especially outside major urban centres. To address this gap, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada, launched a rapid-deployment national initiative to build LCA capacity across the sector. The bilingual program includes instructor-led workshops held across nine regions, with an on-demand module launched in summer 2025. These workshops, presented in collaboration with Ha/f Climate Design, combine theory with hands-on case studies. To date, the initiative has equipped over 1,500 participants – small firms, large practices, public agencies, and Indigenous communities – with practical skills to assess embodied carbon and integrate LCA into building design, procurement, and policy. By equipping a community of professionals with the knowledge they need to incorporate LCA into their work, the RAIC is advancing the transition to low-carbon built environments in Canada.

Many organizations want to transition to more sustainable practices but lack the resources and knowledge to do so. Since 2008, Partners in Project Green (PPG) has been helping to build this capacity in businesses, government organizations, academic institutions, and utilities across the Greater Toronto Area through workshops, peer learning, and collaborative initiatives to make organizations more sustainable. A strategic collaboration between the TRCA and Toronto’s Pearson Airport, PPG focuses on four key areas: energy performance, waste management, water stewardship, and employee engagement. Over the past 15 years, the initiative has diverted nearly 20,000 tonnes of waste from landfills and saved the emissions equivalent of 58,000 round-trip flights from Toronto to Vancouver, among other impacts. What stands out about PPG is that it is led by businesses themselves, with TRCA providing guidance and a platform. Structured on a membership funding-based model, PPG translates high-level climate goals into localized action, helping organizations share knowledge to promote climate resilience at every level from individual organizations to whole regions. By equipping businesses with tools, partnerships, and knowledge, PPG demonstrates that economic growth and environmental leadership can work together to build a more sustainable future.

TransformTO, the City of Toronto’s Net Zero Strategy, has an ambitious goal of increasing the number of people who travel by cycling, walking, or public transit to 75% of all trips under five kilometres by 2030. This achievement would increase the number of cyclists in the city significantly – and Bike Training Collective Canada is already planning how to support them. Today, there are about 200 bike mechanics working in Toronto who service 53,000 bikes every year, but by 2030, the city will need many more to maintain its growing fleet – between 3,000 and 12,400. The collective spent two years identifying training organizations and promoting bike mechanic training, and in 2024 began a process of securing the necessary funding to implement its training program. This phase also included employer engagement to help newly graduated bike mechanics find jobs. The initiative has already added nearly 20% more bike mechanics to the industry – a significant change in a short time. In addition to support from industry partners, the program has secured funding from the Centre for Active Transportation, the City of Toronto, The Learning Enrichment Foundation, CultureLink, Charlie's Freewheels, The Canadian E-Bike Association, and the Peter Gilgan Foundation. By anticipating future needs, Bike Training Collective Canada is supporting both economic growth today and a more active city in the future.

The Town of Golden, B.C. has adapted Columbia Basin Trust’s Resident Directed (ReDi) Grants program to provide sustained support for projects that address local priorities and broadly benefit the community. Grants typically range from $5,000 to $100,000 and have been awarded to a diverse range of organizations across the region. With funding provided in partnership with Columbia Basin Trust, Golden’s ReDi Grants model follows an iterative “Plan–Do–Check–Act” approach. The process begins with the community identifying local priorities, guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reflected in the Golden & District Community Foundation’s annual Vital Pulse Survey. Non-profit organizations then develop project proposals that align with these priorities. An adjudication committee reviews applications and selects projects that best reflect community needs and desired outcomes. Upon completion, project leaders report back on their results and contributions toward SDG targets. This “full-circle” approach integrates local data, citizen education, feedback, and rubric refinement to strengthen accountability and improve project effectiveness. Over time, the process enhances local funders’ ability to communicate progress, listen to residents, support organizations, and report to stakeholders, engaging a broader cross-section of the community and fostering continuous improvement through each funding cycle.

The Mini Forest program, launched in 2023 by Green Communities Canada and its partners, is a growing initiative that brings community-driven forest planting to urban areas across the country. The program supports municipalities and local organizations to transform under-natured spaces into dense, biodiverse forests. Mini forests – also known as micro-forests, tiny forests, or, after the Japanese botanist who popularized them, as Miyawaki forests – are compact ecosystems of native trees and shrubs planted closely together in multilayered arrangements that mimic natural forests. The method emphasizes careful soil preparation and diversity in species selection, resulting in accelerated tree growth and a thriving habitat for pollinators and wildlife. Beyond ecological benefits, mini forests have many positive effects such as improving air quality, cooling urban heat islands, reducing stormwater flooding, and creating restorative green spaces that support mental health and community connection. The Mini Forests program provides training, tools, and resources to design, plant, and maintain mini forests, and offers capacity-building workshops and research partnerships to monitor long-term outcomes. From 2023 through 2025, the initiative planted 46 mini forests across Canada, engaging over 3,500 volunteers to install them in spaces such as parks, colleges, and community centres.

Cities are experiencing the impacts of climate change more acutely than other areas because of the urban heat island effect: paved and built surfaces can reach temperatures 27–50°C hotter than the surrounding air. To help municipalities plan for and mitigate the effects of extreme heat, Evergreen developed AI for the Resilient City, a data visualization and analytics tool that identifies areas most affected by urban heat using public and proprietary data combined with machine learning. Supported in part by the RBC Foundation through RBC Tech for Nature, the tool helps cities shape evidence-based policies on green space and urban forests. Its features allow municipalities to simulate future changes, test interventions, and compare environmental, socio-economic, and infrastructure data across time. Built in collaboration with Gramener, it enables users to visualize and model at a hyperlocal scale to show how built and natural environments influence local heat conditions. The program has so far worked with the City of Calgary, Halifax Regional Municipality, and Peel Region, along with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and continues to expand. By showing not just where cities are vulnerable, but where they can make strategic interventions, the tool empowers communities to make informed planning and infrastructure decisions, strengthening urban resilience in a rapidly warming climate.

The field of sustainability measurement and reporting has to date largely focused on assessing how impacts are changing relative to past performance or competitors. Today, municipalities are increasingly transitioning from incrementally doing less harm to aligning with the science- and ethics based thresholds that define sustainability. These thresholds represent the quantifiable limits of our ecological systems and the basic human needs that are critical to our well-being. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Doughnut Economics model have popularized thresholds-based goals at a macro scale, but further progress depends on being able to downscale them for communities and organizations. To address the lack of useful guidance available, the Flourishing Enterprise Institute has been working with a collective of partners to further develop and mobilize the Context-Based Sustainability (CBS) accounting method, founded by the Centre for Sustainable Organizations in 2005. CBS is the world’s first thresholds-based and equity-informed management accounting method. Successful applications include the City of Nanaimo, which adopted “The Doughnut” but struggled to define authentic thresholds at a local scale. In 2021, the city became the first municipality in the world to adopt CBS, which enabled it to develop a set of thresholds-based indicators and metrics tailored to its unique local context. The results have enhanced performance management and strategic decision-making, and have been widely recognized as a leading example within the municipal sector.

Extreme heat can make life very uncomfortable in cities. There are strategies that can mitigate this effect, but incorporating them into urban design is a complicated process for which most cities lack the tools. To help urban planners and city staff create and assess designs for thermal comfort, a team of environmental building engineers created CityDigitalTwin (CDT), an advanced urban-scale simulation platform for evaluating the outdoor thermal comfort, microclimate, and environmental impacts of urban design. The tool simulates large and complex urban regions, allowing for scenario testing and climate adaptation planning at the local scale. The tool, designed for non-expert users, has a graphical interface that allows users to import city geometry, define materials and vegetation, and run simulations to assess the effects of design alternatives on thermal comfort, wind, radiation, and surface temperatures. CDT has been used in Toronto to identify strategies for mitigating the urban heat-island effect, in New York City to understand the impact of new high-rise construction on urban vegetation performance, and in Singapore to assess the environmental implications of building a new sports stadium. With its ability to focus at the scale of buildings, neighbourhoods, and cities, CDT can help municipalities mitigate the risks of extreme heat, increasing the comfort of their residents and providing more equitable health outcomes.

In Toronto’s Niagara neighbourhood, two siblings created an edible children’s garden to bring greenery, joy, and connection to their community. Motivated by the lack of child-friendly areas nearby, they envisioned a space where area children could gather, play, and learn about nature. With support from their condo corporation, they transformed a modest plot of dirt near the condo into a vibrant, edible oasis. Now in its third year, the garden features native plants and seasonal vegetables, inviting children to explore, taste, and tend to the land. It has become a hub of activity: kids ride bikes, play soccer in the laneway, and build friendships rooted in shared care for the space. This volunteer-led initiative is powered by community donations and a spirit of collaboration. Its goals remain simple but powerful: create a welcoming spot for children, foster a stronger sense of community, and spread happiness through nature. The garden is more than a patch of green – it’s a living example of how small, local efforts can reshape urban life for the better.

The hyperlocal publication The Green Line uses a unique “action journey” model to transform how young Torontonians engage with democracy – through culture and community-led storytelling. In a time when young people are facing rising anxiety, disillusionment, and civic disengagement, this month-long media model offers a hopeful alternative: journalism that doesn’t just inform but mobilizes people to take action. Each action journey guides participants through four phases: explaining systemic issues, reporting solutions, hosting community events, and amplifying local actions. Topics range from housing to mental health to food insecurity to elections, and all content is co-produced with community partners. Since 2022, The Green Line has completed 17 action journeys across 58 Toronto neighbourhoods. Nearly three-quarters of its audience is under 40 and its creators are mainly Gen Z and millennials, many of whom return again and again – not just as attendees, but as panellists, collaborators, and journalists-in-the-making. The Green Line brings sharper editorial instincts and deeper accountability to the local media landscape. In three years its approach has inspired 30 other newsrooms, earned national recognition, and achieved 48% revenue growth – all while resisting cynicism and rebuilding social trust.

In Calgary’s Beltline neighbourhood, students from Connaught School helped reimagine their daily journey to school, transforming a street near a hazardous intersection into a vibrant, child-friendly space. Through a partnership between Sustainable Calgary and Everactive Schools, the Connaught Open Street project empowered students to assess local safety concerns and co-design solutions that promote walking, wheeling, and well-being. Students identified a nearby intersection with high-speed cut-through traffic as an opportunity for improvement. The resulting project was a street-to-park transformation that calmed traffic, added green space, and created a healthier environment for kids and families. Piloted in 2022 and 2023 with temporary road closures and on-site programming, the initiative quickly gained traction, earning community support, national recognition, and municipal endorsement. In May 2025, Calgary City Council approved the permanent road closure and rezoning, cementing the project as a landmark in youth-driven civic design. The Connaught Open Street now stands as a model for how children’s voices can shape safer, more engaging urban spaces.

While the COVID-19 pandemic amplified social isolation, the problem long predates it – and has persisted even as restrictions have been lifted. Rx for Social Connection is an applied research project that used The Bentway, a revitalized public space under the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, as a living lab to examine how “softer” city-building strategies – prioritizing care, repair, intimacy, and co-creation – can nurture more socially connected urban environments and combat loneliness. The project focused on The Bentway’s 2024 programming season, which positioned public art and shared spaces as case studies for urban research, using public life observation, public health surveys, and expert interviews. The project invited participants to reflect on public space design and programming, along with the role they play in fostering social connection. The study demonstrated that public spaces are powerful public health tools that encourage connection, reduce loneliness, and promote well-being. As the population’s health needs evolve, public space design and programming should be recognized as essential interventions – ones that invite people to gather, linger, and feel that they matter.

Government Street, one of the most visited public places in Victoria, remains strongly defined by its colonial history, with little acknowledgement of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations whose unceded territories the city occupies. The City of Victoria is working to repair that narrative, incorporating Indigenous language, culture, and history into the space to make it more welcoming and to foster a sense of belonging and recognition for Indigenous peoples. Rather than a fixed plan or timeline, the Government Street Refresh initiative envisions long-term, incremental transformation through collaboration, experimentation, and investment. Current efforts include introducing car-free zones – some timed, some permanent – for outdoor seating and cultural programming; co-developing, with the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, a cultural interpretive strategy and a set of guiding principles for reconciliation-based public-realm design; and advancing detailed design for two flexible pedestrian-priority blocks that incorporate plantings and trees, reflecting Indigenous cultural expression at the site. Together, these efforts signal a shift toward a more inclusive and responsive urban landscape – one that honours Indigenous presence, invites shared stewardship, and reimagines Government Street as a place for the whole community.

Jane’s Walk is a global festival of walking conversations that are led by local residents, creating spaces for people to share stories, ideas, and insights about the places they live, work, and play. Started in Toronto in 2007 and named after urbanist Jane Jacobs, who advocated walking through cities to understand how people lived and created communities within them, the organization continues her legacy of curiosity. Jane’s Walks, which are free, reconnect people and places by creating spaces for residents to share their passion for and knowledge about the cities they live in. Held annually on the first weekend of May, the community-led festival fosters civic dialogue, trust, and connection in an increasingly fragmented urban landscape. In 2025, the festival included 158 walks in Toronto – among thousands of walks in the 500 cities that have participated – reaching up to 5,000 participants across the city. Survey results showed that nearly all participants engaged actively in discussions, felt a greater sense of belonging, and felt more connected to the city. These outcomes show a strong appetite for meaningful civic engagement and community dialogue. Jane’s Walk empowers city residents to explore, reflect, and connect, recognizing that everyone is an expert in their own experience and has a role in shaping the city they call home.

Strong democratic institutions bring together residents, decision-makers, and civil society to co-create solutions that reflect public needs and uphold shared values within real-world constraints. Canada is an innovator in creating a new model for collective policy-making: the citizens’ assembly. First held in 2004 in British Columbia to evaluate a provincial electoral reform proposal, there has since been a “deliberative wave” of hundreds of assemblies worldwide, including dozens across Canada. Citizens’ assemblies recruit diverse participants through civic lotteries and engage them in learning and deliberation to craft policy recommendations. While their input is typically not binding, decision-makers are often sponsors of the process and offer a formal response to the public, including rationales for why recommendations were or were not followed – thus bringing citizens closer to the process of making the policies that affect them. In 2024 the City of New Westminster, B.C. was the first municipality in Canada to establish a permanent assembly reporting directly to staff and Council. Facilitated by Simon Fraser University's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, this New Westminster's Community Advisory Assembly brought together 36 residents over the course of a year to provide recommendations on diverse city priorities. Citizens’ assemblies offer a scalable and effective model for collaborative public engagement, leading to enhanced trust, democratic resilience, and social cohesion.

Synapcity, a non-profit focused on civic connection and community action, launched the Pulses program to help strengthen Ottawa’s civic fabric and give people opportunities to socialize with neighbours through regular, facilitated, in-person conversations. The program operates with a chapter-based model similar to that of Scouts and Guides, providing an avenue for hyper-local dialogue and creating welcoming spaces where residents can connect, flex their civic muscles, and engage meaningfully with their communities. The program began in summer 2025 in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library, which has an existing network of spaces to meet. Priorities evolved organically based on the participants in each individual chapter, with tailored outcomes for each group. One embraced themes of civic action and is now working on launching local initiatives in their neighbourhood, while another prioritized the notion of deep dialogue and developed a civics book club. Moving forward, a program to train group leaders in facilitation techniques is in the works (pending funding) and will enable to program to scale as a sandbox for civic curiosity, sparking vibrant conversations across Ottawa and nurturing a more connected, resilient city.

The East Scarborough Storefront is a community hub in east Toronto that responds to local challenges in a comprehensive way. Its Connected Community Approach (CCA) helps create the conditions for transformative change with, and in, communities. Developed over 25 years, CCA is a model that works to remove barriers to opportunity, build capacity, and respond to community problems with solutions that are grounded in local contexts. Rather than focusing on isolated programs, CCA at The Storefront nurtures the conditions for collaboration, civic trust, and community-led resilience in responding to various challenges, from climate change to food insecurity to the need for public spaces. For example, food security projects include the Food for Good project to improve resilience and equity in the local food system; a community garden; and the Eco-Food Hub, where resident leaders served 10,000 meals in 2023. The Storefront is a connector, a communicator, and a convenor: it referred over 8,800 people to community resources in 2023, and facilitates partnerships among over 90 local leaders, non-profits, governments, and institutions, including Native Child and Family Services, East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club, University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Toronto Zoo. The CCA lens is now being applied to procurement, supply chains, and arts and culture. This approach offers a powerful alternative to fragmented systems, showing what’s possible when communities are connected, trusted, and empowered.

United for All is a United Way initiative to address systemic issues fueling discrimination and division in Ottawa at a time when incidents of hate, racism, and discrimination have risen steadily in the city over the past five years. An estimated 78% of hate incidents across Canada go unreported, suggesting that many people remain uncomfortable using formal reporting processes and highlighting the need for alternative responses to hate. Established in 2016, United for All brings together a wide network of social service agencies, faith groups, human rights organizations, policy-makers, educators, health providers, grassroots activists, and cultural groups to coordinate action against hate, violence, and extremism. Recent initiatives include partnering with the Ottawa Police Service to secure funding for work addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, anti-Black racism, and anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate; hosting community dialogues to navigate geopolitical tensions; and supporting refugee resettlement. It also delivers Upstander training to community leaders to strengthen the capacity of individuals to recognize and respond to hate and discrimination incidents when they happen. Meetings, events, and training sessions have reached full capacity, demonstrating a strong collective commitment to fostering inclusion, safety, and belonging across Ottawa. United for All continues to harness this momentum to build stronger, united communities.

CleanStart is a property maintenance service company that grew out of a waste collection and removal project in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It now provides stable and dignified work to individuals with lived experience of homelessness, poverty, or addiction, all of which can make finding and holding a job more challenging. CleanStart works with non-profit housing providers, property managers, construction companies, and residential clients to provide junk removal, pest control, and cleaning services. The jobs at CleanStart pay a living wage, include extended health benefits, and provide on-the-job training. Its workforce model is rooted in community understanding and is designed to be flexible to accommodate employees’ abilities and schedules. Through its leadership in social procurement, CleanStart generated over $420,000 in social return on employment in 2024. This figure accounts for the quantitative value of social impact created from the company’s hiring practices, which have resulted in over 50% of its workforce being made up of individuals who experience moderate to severe barriers to traditional employment. For example, over 40% of their staff have experienced homelessness, 20% identify as First Nations, Metis, or Inuit, and 20% identify as 2SLGBTQ+. Over half of their staff have reported that secure employment with CleanStart has significantly improved their housing situation, illustrating the wide-ranging impact of employment support.

Through its WorkFirst program, Goodwill Industries provides supportive employment for people experiencing difficulties finding or maintaining a job. This means that, in addition to employment opportunities, they provide services like coaching and mentorship that help people find and then keep jobs in the face of barriers such as poverty, physical disability, mental illness or addiction, lack of language skills, low education or work experience, and competing responsibilities like caregiving at home. Employees are hired in positions within the Goodwill social enterprise itself through its network of donation centres, community stores, boutique stores, bookstores, cafes, career centres, and Goodwill Business Solutions services, and paid a competitive wage. Both full- and part-time employees have access to health and dental benefits, skills development, and coaching in life, financial, and career skills. Through its “second chance” policy, Goodwill helps every employee develop both a Career Plan and a Life Plan to help them overcome the challenges they are experiencing in any aspect of their life and build a lasting career. In this way, the WorkFirst program sets up all employees with both the confidence and the wraparound services they need to succeed in their careers.

The Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity Initiative (ILEO), a collaborative model convened by the United Way Greater Toronto and BMO Financial Group, brings together the private, public, and community sectors to find innovative ways to reduce economic gaps at the neighbourhood level. The first focus neighbourhood is the Greater Golden Mile in Scarborough, which is expecting to see rapid commercial and residential development as the three major transit projects within its borders are completed, and where many residents earn less than the city’s median income. Among the ILEO’s initiatives to support economic development there is the Storefront Starter Golden Mile, a free three-phase program that helps new and aspiring entrepreneurs launch or scale their ideas through business training, access to startup capital, and relationship building with large corporations within the ILEO network. The program provides business owners with market and retail opportunities in prime locations around Toronto, including the Distillery District and the Yonge Eglinton Centre. Another initiative is ILEO’s Construction Union Employment Pathway, which is a six-week program that helps marginalized, low-income residents in the Greater Golden Mile enter the construction trades. Participants are trained and given paid placements on construction projects locally and across the GTA, and provided with wraparound support services and mentorship. As the Greater Golden Mile evolves, ILEO’s model offers a locally rooted model for building opportunity, resilience, and shared prosperity.

The Toronto neighbourhoods of Regent Park, Moss Park, and St. James Town are home to many new Canadians and a large youth population. Seeing the potential of peer support to ease the transition into life in Canada, the non-profit Happy Mom Happy Children employs local youth to help children achieve academic success and help newcomer families navigate life and school. Through their Tutoring and Youth Employment Program, they train local youth tutors (aged 13 to 29) to provide academic tutoring for children in the community (aged 4 to 12). The paid youth tutors receive mentorship, leadership training, and workshops on relevant subjects like communication, child engagement, and career development. For many young people this is their first job, which they use as a stepping stone to develop their careers. Many return to mentor or train new youth tutors. In 2024/25 alone, 63 youth were trained as tutors, who in turn tutored 127 students. Happy Mom Happy Children also provides services that bring mothers together, such as their Let’s Eat Healthy cooking classes, their Let’s Hit the Gym fitness classes, and their Grab a Book & Join Us reading program for mothers and children. By nurturing local youth, Happy Mom Happy Children is creating a cycle of mutual care and expertise that enriches the entire community across multiple generations.

Big changes, including a subway station on the future Ontario Line, are in the works for Toronto’s Moss Park neighbourhood. Major public and private investments will bring not only subway access but park revitalization, a new recreation centre, and dozens of private sector housing developments. Moss Park is one of Toronto’s lowest income neighbourhoods, with a high number of recent immigrants. In response to this planned rapid development, a group of residents, community organizations, and service providers formed the Moss Park Coalition to advocate for a CBA for the Moss Park Station project in order to ensure the community takes part in shaping these developments – and that it benefits from them. Through community engagement efforts, with the support of the University of Toronto’s Housing Justice Lab in 2024/25, the Coalition issued a report identifying several top issues for residents: affordable housing, tenant protection, food access, and local employment. This report has become an essential tool in the efforts to put pressure on government officials for a CBA that will help the community address their priorities. The Moss Park Coalition has organized across the community and built grassroots capacity to advocate for – and steer the future of – the neighbourhood, in particular fighting against displacement so residents can live well and keep their community in place.

Fireweed Food Co-op (FFC) is a non-profit co-op based in Winnipeg for producers and consumers of food that is grown sustainably in Manitoba. FFC supports the development of a short-chain regional food system that is more resilient to disruptions and can respond to changing conditions more quickly than a globalized supply chain, and that engages everyone from farmers to eaters. It operates three connected projects that strengthen the local food system: the South Osborne Farmers' Market, Fireweed Food Hub, and Fireweed Veggie Van. Since it began in 2016, the South Osborne Farmers' Market has grown to become the second-largest farmers' market in Winnipeg. The Food Hub is Winnipeg’s first cooperatively run aggregator and wholesale distributor of food. Sourcing from over 35 local producers, it provides a competitive alternative to the global supply chain by making it easier for wholesale customers to source locally. The Veggie Van is the most recent venture: a mobile market that distributes fresh fruits and veggies in communities with few fresh food options throughout Winnipeg using a pay-what-you-can model, thus removing common barriers – location and affordability – and increasing food security. These projects contribute to a thriving local food system that keeps more dollars in the local economy, builds important community connections and reduces food waste.

The Good Greens Food Reclamation Program operates in partnership with the Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market to address the dual issues of food waste and food insecurity in Windsor’s urban core. At the close of each Saturday market, Good Greens purchases unsold produce, baked goods, and preserves from local vendors at 20–80% below retail prices. These goods are then weighed and sorted by a team of (primarily youth) volunteers and redistributed that same afternoon to a network of seven downtown-based shelters and social service organizations, many of whom rely on food donations to meet rising demand with limited funding. Since launching in October 2023, the program has reclaimed over 7,500 kilograms of locally grown fruits and vegetables, 5,200 baked goods, and 47 litres of preserves. These goods have contributed to more than 18,000 meals served through distributor partners, reaching many individuals living in Windsor’s downtown, where food can be difficult to access. With a redistribution success rate over 97%, the program has prevented thousands of kilograms of CO₂ emissions in 2024 by diverting food from landfills, avoiding the need to produce more food in replacement. By reclaiming surplus food from the Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market and redistributing it to front-line organizations, the program not only nourishes thousands of residents in Windsor’s urban core but also champions environmental sustainability.

Located in Toronto’s East End, Nourish East End is a market-style food bank that runs a community dinner on the fourth Monday of every month, a longstanding tradition that predates the food bank itself. The dinners began as a collective effort in recognition of the challenges experienced by many people in the community living in poverty and experiencing food insecurity and social isolation. The Community Dinner Program strives to address these issues by providing meaningful social interaction in the company of neighbours and friends while sharing hot, nutritious, and culturally diverse meals in a safe and welcoming space. After dinner, guests are invited to a “Gab & Games” social event. Along with a chance to chat and play games over snacks, it features a resource table and a referral service that assists community members seeking access to local resources. These dinners are run by volunteers and use an innovative sponsorship model where organizations can sponsor a dinner either by providing a donation or by hosting the dinner – including planning, paying for, and cooking the meal as well as providing volunteers to help with serving. In a city where food insecurity and social isolation often go hand in hand, Nourish East End’s community dinner model offers a reliable and warm respite, one meal at a time.

Not Far From The Tree (NFFTT) harvests and shares fruit from trees in Toronto – trees that constitute an “urban orchard” producing over 1.5 million pounds of fruit on city property and over 6 million on private property. Much of this fruit is left to rot each year, creating food waste and adding the emissions equivalent of burning 1.5 million pounds of coal. Since 2008, NFFTT has picked and shared over 280,000 pounds of fruit, splitting the harvest three ways: a third to the tree owner, a third to volunteers, and a third donated to community agency partners. Over 97,000 pounds of fruit were donated to these 70-plus partners, which include shelters, food banks, community fridges, and housing and meal programs. Every year, NFFTT mobilizes over 1,000 volunteers to pick fruit throughout the summer and early fall. They also steward the health of the urban orchard by registering trees, planting new trees, and caring for older ones. Through the power of fruit trees, Not Far From The Tree and its community of volunteers and tree owners nurture sustainable and connected communities across Toronto that can enjoy their urban orchard for generations to come.

In the City of Vaughan, north of Toronto, a community of neighbours living around Marita Payne Park worked with the municipal government to create new opportunities for both resident engagement and urban agriculture in this vibrant green space. They piloted a food forest in the park with edible and pollinator-friendly plantings, with the Friends of Marita Payne Park group forming to steward it. The community then created a vision for the initiative’s future in which the park will become a year-round hub for nature-based learning and connection through outdoor programming like story walks, meditation, and art shows. In this vision, the food forest will continue to provide community members with free access to fruit trees, herbs, and shrubs while improving the park’s biodiversity (for example, adding bird and bat boxes), as well as being a place for people to foster friendships and knowledge about food forest stewardship. The park could also become a place to pilot new technologies, like a tool that uses AI, geographic information systems (GIS), and publicly available datasets to help the City track carbon sequestering in its green spaces, and educational apps and nest cams that would engage young people in the environment. The Marita Payne Park project is an ever-growing pilot that serves as a model for reimagining a park as a living hub for nature, innovation, and community.

Since 2021, Malvern Family Resource Centre (MFRC) has led the Malvern Urban Farm, an urban agriculture project located under power lines along the Finch hydro corridor in Scarborough, in eastern Toronto. Seventeen farmers each maintain a plot on the urban farm. Together, they have produced over 120,000 pounds of culturally relevant produce – like callaloo, a staple of Caribbean cuisine – and launched 16 small businesses through their urban agriculture skills development lab, as well as supporting many underemployed and low-income residents in the community. Beyond food production, MFRC uses the farm to encourage community engagement through youth training, farm camp programs, and volunteering. In 2024, the Resource Center expanded its farmers' market, increasing vendor participation and food access. It also introduced “Market Bucks” – discreet tokens for low-income families – which successfully supported 200 households and generated a 37% increase in market sales. MFRC continues to expand, recently receiving City approval to add an additional acre under the hydroelectric lines to its farm. Starting in 2025, the Center has also been working with organizations in the neighbouring communities of Agincourt, West Hill, Scarborough Village, Morningside, and Kingston-Galloway as they launch their own community farms. The Malvern Urban Farm demonstrates how underutilized land can be put to productive, community-focused use, supporting neighbourhood food sovereignty, economic opportunity, and resilience.

The City of Edmonton is equipping its residents to respond to the climate crisis with community action in their own neighbourhoods. The Neighbouring for Climate initiative focuses on building local social infrastructure and fostering opportunities to build networks, increase skills, and take collective ownership. The underlying principle is that while addressing climate change can feel overwhelming, collective action can make participation more tangible and accessible. The program, launched in 2024 after a period of community co-design and pilot testing, is part of the city’s Climate Resilient Edmonton adaptation strategy and action plan. Neighbouring for Climate encourages residents to become “climate connectors” who bring neighbours together to learn, share ideas, and act on local projects, from hosting information sessions about electric vehicles and resilient landscaping to establishing cooling centres. Program participants are supported through an online hub, newsletters, workshops, networking opportunities, and a toolkit. The city has created easy-to-use, readily adaptable guidebooks, templates, and action cards for sharing ideas, which feature themes such as Emergency Preparedness, Food Security, Energy and Fuel savings, Nature and Plants, and Waste and Water. Beginning in 2026, the city is even offering micro-grants of between $500 and $5,000 to support neighbourhood-driven adaptation projects. Only a couple of years in, the program has onboarded 243 connectors in 111 Edmonton neighborhoods and partnered with various municipal departments and community leagues. It continues to grow and widen its reach, celebrating small wins and learning by doing along the way.

Cross-Econ, an open-data initiative based in London, Ontario, is helping smaller Canadian municipalities build capacity to derive and share data insights. Established in 2023, the organization uses information from federal data sets to publish standardized dashboards, reports, and maps that foreground local insights for communities. Cross-Econ has developed six national data products to date: (1) a housing affordability econometric model that highlights the benefits of municipal coordination, (2) an open housing-data platform with 30 years of data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, (3) housing-need benchmark reports, (4) a map of over 90,000 businesses that make up Canada’s climate economy, (5) a national AI-industry map illustrating the AI supply chain, and (6) a Canada Strong Fund map with municipal economic benchmarks. The initiative encourages organizations to keep their data sets open and free to all, making them available on a bilingual website so non-profits, governments, foundations, and grassroots organizations can more easily access, interpret, and share data. In three years and with no marketing budget, Cross-Econ has grown to thousands of users, with maps of over 1,000 communities. By creating a shared municipal data foundation, Cross-Econ is levelling the playing field for advocacy, planning, and decision-making across Canadian communities.

Taking inspiration from the Little Free Libraries that have become a common sight in many neighbourhoods, the youth group Finding Present established a Free Little Art Gallery in the foyer of the Timms Community Centre in downtown Langley, B.C., as a space for young artists to connect, share supplies, and exchange works of art. The gallery is specifically aimed at local youth, who often lack access to low-cost, welcoming places to socialize. With support from the Neighbourhood Small Grants program of the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of British Columbia, as well as from the City of Langley Youth Program, the Free Little Art Gallery opened in 2025 with a launch party that brought together youth of all ages to build connections and learn new artistic skills. The community has since taken collective ownership of the project, donating supplies and expanding the exhibition space. In 2026, additional grant funding helped the group create a series of summer programs linked to the gallery, including free crafting circles for youth artists and a program of “art drops” that encourage artists to leave small artworks in their favourite community spaces. By giving young people the space and materials to be creative, the Free Little Art Gallery is also fostering a culture of connection in Langley. 

In a rapidly growing Eastern Ontario community, the Municipality of North Grenville is experimenting with creating more missing middle housing through its Additional Residential Unit (ARU) Initiative, which encourages the building of self-contained units on properties that already have a primary residence. Also called “accessory dwelling units (ADUs),” or “in-law suites,” these secondary units can accommodate extended family or guests, or be rented out. ARUs contribute to intergenerational living arrangements, can create extra income for homeowners, and are an excellent option for the efficient and gentle densification of existing communities. Made possible by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund, the ARU Initiative offers North Grenville homeowners a one-time grant of $25,000 and four municipally approved detached ARU design options free to use for those eligible to build an additional unit on their properties. The municipality also reformed its zoning to allow ARUs as of right in many areas. In just over a year, the results have been striking: with the combined impact of the zoning reforms and the new initiative, over 30 new ARUs have been developed across the municipality, and 10 grants have been awarded. The municipality has continually improved the initiative: based on lessons learned from academia and community feedback, it has adjusted designs to lower costs, explored panelized construction options, and developed landlord and tenant education programs. The ARU Initiative is a model for expanding housing options through thoughtful experimentation, building capacity in North Grenville as the township transitions from its rural roots into a more urbanized centre.

A number of online rental platforms post listings of accommodations in Toronto, but the Toronto Home Zone (THZ) is unique in the support it offers renters seeking secure and affordable housing in Canada’s largest city. The online platform, created and hosted by the Toronto Housing Society, offers active moderation and human verification of its rental listings in order to protect its users from scams, discriminatory practices, illegal lease terms, and unwarranted price escalations. A volunteer-run digital network, THZ connects renters, roommates, subletters, and landlords, as well as offering templates for subletting and roommate agreements, rent receipts, and other tools for building knowledge of fair rental practices. A rolling 120-day Live Market Insights tool gives a picture of true market prices undistorted by false or underpriced listings. THZ’s strict community conduct rules facilitate a social infrastructure that increases transparency and protects its members from exploitative practices. THZ volunteers reviewed over 12,500 listings in 2025 alone, rejecting thousands that failed to meet community standards for fairness, transparency, or legitimacy. The platform’s trust-centred approach has attracted 150,000 members to date, demonstrating that bottom-up community action can improve safety and transparency within existing systems. Looking ahead, THZ is actively evolving to decentralize the platform and use lessons from its collected data to create a model ready for replicating in other communities throughout Ontario.

With consumer spending accounting for roughly 60% of Canada's GDP, the impact of purchasing decisions can extend far beyond the transaction itself. Many people want to buy local, but given the complexity of global supply chains and ownership structures it can be difficult to determine a product’s origins – standard labels such as “made in” or “product of” reveal little. The Shorefast Institute’s Economic Nutrition certification program closes this information gap by making the flow of dollars spent at a business or other organization more visible. Certified organizations trace each dollar they spend in a fiscal year and report the results on a label that meets Shorefast’s standard. Modelled on a food nutrition label, an Economic Nutrition certification mark traces the money that an organization spends in terms of geography (percentages to local, regional, national, and international destinations) and of activity (percentages to labour, material, business operations, wages and salaries, etc.). This transparency allows people to see where their money goes and how it strengthens local economies. Certified organizations include private businesses, social enterprises, non-profits, municipalities, chambers of commerce, and Indigenous organizations, demonstrating the concept’s adaptability across sectors and regions. At a time when governments are increasingly required to “buy Canadian” and public interest in supporting local is growing, the initiative's standardized framework for measuring and communicating impact has become more critical. While the model was first developed on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, in 2018, it has expanded to include partners in New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, showing the widespread value of connecting commerce with communities. 

Black youth can face significant barriers to accessing mental health support, including cost, long wait times, transportation challenges, cultural stigma, and a lack of culturally responsive services. Healing Roots, a youth mental health program run by the Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities, was created to address these barriers and support the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of Black youth aged 10 to 29 in Scarborough, Ontario. The program is designed to meet young people where they are through a range of evidence-based supports – such as peer connections, mentorship, mental health workshops, and summer camps – aimed at reducing stigma and building resilience among Black youth and their families. Healing Roots has also developed and filmed several public service announcements to encourage conversations about mental health and help-seeking in the community. The program is committed to ensuring that all services are representative of Black cultures, experiences, and identities. As demand for culturally responsive mental health services continues to grow, Healing Roots is working to expand its programming, increase outreach, strengthen partnerships, and improve service delivery.

Many young people experience climate anxiety, eco-grief, and the stress and uncertainty of growing up in a time of worsening climate impacts such as wildfires, drought, and extreme heat. Saskatchewan-based Break The Divide (BTD) created the Climate Emotions and Resilience Program to support youth in rural, newcomer, Indigenous, and racialized communities that are at the forefront of these changes by providing them with spaces to connect with each other and opportunities to take action in their own communities. The program helps young people process climate-related emotions, build coping skills, strengthen peer connections, and move from isolation toward agency, resilience, and local action. BTD hosts workshops and programming in schools and communities seeing the effects of climate change, using a framework of education, dialogue, storytelling, reflection, and action-oriented activities – often facilitated by near peers of the participants. The initiative moves beyond a focus on awareness and behaviour change to help young people form social connections and confidence that will support their mental health while also building local climate resilience, leadership, and belonging. To date, the program has reached over 2,500 students in schools and communities across Saskatchewan, and has helped to normalize conversations about emotions relating to climate change while equipping young people with practical tools for coping, reflection, and community action. 

Nearly 25% of households in Toronto experience food insecurity, with Black and Indigenous communities disproportionately affected. Traditional food banks are serving more people than ever, faced with higher demand and an increasingly challenging economic environment. FoodShare Toronto’s Grown in TO program tackles these problems with an approach that encompasses cultivation, distribution, and community action to create a robust and truly local food system. On urban farms across Toronto, growers cultivate food that is then distributed in produce boxes and bulk orders to seniors’ residences, schools, Indigenous child and family support centres, and community kitchens. FoodShare’s dedicated team of packers and drivers provides an affordable alternative to commercial delivery suppliers by prioritizing access to fresh food over profit. The organization also supports a city-wide network of more than 50 community produce markets intended to bring fresh food to the places where communities need it, including on college campuses and in the lobbies of social-housing buildings. Through this integrated system, FoodShare is supporting communities from growers to end consumers, improving the predictability of how food moves through the system, and creating a more sustainable, resilient, and local supply chain.

Malvern, located in the eastern Toronto district of Scarborough, is one of Canada’s densest, most diverse neighbourhoods. It is also the site of a major proposed redevelopment project – Malvern Town Centre – that will bring new opportunities to the area but also poses risks in the form of rising rents and the potential displacement of existing residents. While community planning is intended to take local needs and priorities into account, standard consultation processes rarely reach low-income residents, small business owners, newcomers, and tower communities, let alone produce genuine community co-creation. The Our Malvern, Our Future research initiative seeks to bring more community voices into the Malvern Town Centre planning process by connecting academic insights to community action. The initiative, launched in 2025 with the support of the City of Toronto and led by the Toronto Community Benefits Network and Our Greenway, has consistently prioritized community needs and Indigenous leadership, including calling for intergenerational spaces, affordable housing, and local-resident representation in art and design throughout the site. A technical advisory group translates the priorities voiced by community members into inputs for municipal engagement processes. And community canvassing, in partnership with the INTERACT health research collective, will collect data from 13,000 households to establish a baseline before construction begins so residents’ experiences can be tracked throughout the redevelopment. By establishing this model for applied research in a large-scale urban redevelopment, Our Malvern, Our Future empowers Malvern residents to play a central role in their future neighbourhood – and paves the way for further data-informed, community-led equitable urban redevelopment in Canada.