About Us
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Our Mission
To help build a civic society, we will capitalize on the considerable capacities of our staff, our board, our members, our volunteers, and our community partners, both locally and city-wide.
Social Planning Toronto is committed to independent social planning at the local and city-wide levels in order to improve the quality of life for all people in Toronto. It is committed to diversity, social and economic justice, and active civic participation in all aspects of community life.
Our Program Priorities
Each year, Social Planning Toronto focuses its work in primary programs mandated by the Board of Directors and developed by staff.
Policy Research and Analysis
Studying the social and economic effects on City residents of public policy at all levels of government and developing policy alternatives
Community Capacity Building
Strengthening the community resource base to enact essential social supports and enabling all community stakeholders to participate in decision-making processes on the social development of their communities and city.
Community Education and Advocacy
Promoting community discussion on important social and economic issues and facilitating research-based advocacy, especially for the most marginalized and vulnerable segments of the population.
Social Reporting
Conducting and facilitating local and city-wide research on social and economic conditions and the impact of a changing political environment on the quality of life for all members of the community.
2011-2012 Board of Directors
Karen Bell
Michael Creek
Celia Denov (President)
Miriam DiGiuseppe (Vice-President)
Diane Dyson
O’Neil Edwards
Charles Finlay
Tam Goossen (Secretary)
Nancy Henderson (Treasurer)
Dan Lopes
Sheldon Mahabir
Barbara Mellman
Anshula Ohri
Rhonda Roffey
Fana Seife
Karen Bell
Karen is Vice-President, Human Resources for Pitney Bowes. She spent the last 4 years building and branding the company as a Diversity employer. Pitney Bowes has been recognized both internally and externally for their efforts (RBC Skilled Immigrant Award, Innovation in Diversity Practices Awards ad Impact Award).
Karen has a rich history of working and volunteering in her community through various Board associations (United Way, Harlem YMCA, and Urban League) and community work. Karen has also done Board work with Literature for Life in Toronto. Karen has a particular interest in Education and Literacy.
Michael Creek
Michael Creek is the coordinator of the Toronto Speakers Bureau; Voices from the Street, where he has learned research, public policy and public speaking skills. Michael is Co-chair of the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction, working towards a Poverty Reduction Strategy for Ontario. Michael is Chair of the board of the Gerstein Crisis Center in Toronto.
Michael is a survivor of cancer, physical and mental abuse, homelessness, and poverty and is a psychiatric consumer/survivor. Michael speaks out and advocates on many health issues that affect those who live in poverty, knowing that poverty oppresses people and communities. It was his unwanted companion, and has caused more physical and emotional pain than any other illness that he has gone through in his life.
Celia Denov
Celia holds an MSW in Social Policy, Planning and Administration from the University of Toronto. She served in the Ontario Ministries of Community and Social Services, Health, and the Women’s Directorate, taking early retirement at the level of Assistant Deputy Minister in 2000. Celia has served on a number of non profit organizations including as President of St. Stephen’s Community House, Co-Chair of the Sparrow Lake Alliance, and Board member of Anaphylaxis Canada. She is currently President of Social Planning Toronto.
Celia is appointed Member of the Ontario Health Professions Review Board and of the Ontario Child and Family Services Review Board / Custody Review Board.
Miriam DiGiuseppe
Miriam’s first-hand experience as an immigrant to Canada and in the Canadian school system has translated to a lifelong interest and passion for issues affecting children and their families in the education system and the community.
As an educator, Miriam has worked in a variety of capacities in partnership with parents and community organizations, including being a teacher, Supervising Principal of ESL and International Languages and Principal of 3 inner-city, multicultural and multiracial schools. She has also served as Principal of ESL and ESL Specialist Additional Qualification Courses at York University. She has provided leadership for the development of numerous programs and curriculum documents. Internationally, Miriam worked as a senior program advisor for the International Children’s Institute, coordinating programs for children affected by the trauma of war and families living in refugee camps sponsored by the Canadian government through CIDA in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a volunteer, Miriam has served on a number of Boards of Directors of school based daycare centres. She is presently the Vice President of the Board of Directors of Family Service Toronto (FST) and Board member of the Chinese Lingual-Cultural Centre of Canada (CLCCC) and the Nepali Children’s Education Project (NCEP). In the past several years, she has been an active volunteer on a variety of projects at the SPT.
Diane Dyson
Diane Dyson is a social activist, researcher and blogger interested in issues of neighbourhoods, schooling, and poverty. She is currently Manager of Planning and Research at Woodgreen Community Services, a large neighbourhood-based multiservice agency in east end Toronto. Prior to this, Diane worked at United Way of Greater Toronto, where she co-authored Losing Ground, worked on the Strong Neighbourhood strategy, managed the Social Research Grants, and was Allocation Manager to a broad panel of agencies, including SPT. Diane has also held positions as Assistant Ombudsperson at Ryerson University and as president of Canadian University Press. Diane has been active in education politics for fifteen years, on the Steering Committee of People for Education and the Toronto Parent Network; chairing the Toronto District School Board’s Community Equity Advisory Group and Inner City Advisory Committee, and most recently, as a researcher on the review of the Learning Opportunity Index.
Diane grew up in Montreal and has degrees in political science (Concordia) and education (Theory and Policy Studies/OISE-UT). She curls, dragonboats, and speaks a few languages badly. She is the mother of two teenagers. Diane has been a member of SPT’s governance committee for the past year.
O’Neil Edwards
O’Neil is Program Manager of ‘Spanning the Gaps Access to Post Secondary Education’ at Ryerson University.
O’Neil received a BComm and a MBA from Queen’s University and has worked extensively in the corporate world, however, his passion lies in education. He obtained a teaching certificate from OISE at the University of Toronto and a Career Counselling Diploma from George Brown College. Presently O’Neil works at Ryerson University and has been a consultant for the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, YMCA, and Pathways to Education.
Charles Finlay
Charles currently serves on the Board of the Gerstein Centre in Toronto, where he chairs the Human Resources and Fundraising Committees. He has front-line volunteer experience with consumer/survivors of the mental health system (at the Canadian Mental Health Association, Halifax Branch), and with former inmates, as part of Circles of Support and Accountability. Charles is a litigation lawyer with knowledge of the law relating to board responsibilities, and has given substantial unpaid time to low-income clients. He’s currently Senior Counsel and Vice-President at the Bank of Montreal in Toronto.
Tam Goossen
Tam Goossen is a co-chair of the Good Jobs For All Coalition. Tam is past President and current Vice-president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, as well as a public member of the Ontario Press Council. She has worked with many community organizations including the Chinese Canadian National Council, the Metro Toronto Chinese South East Asian Legal Clinic and St. Stephen’s Community House. Tam served as a public school trustee on the former Toronto Board of Education from 1988 to 1997, where she played a key role in the Board’s initiatives around equity, language, and challenging racism. Tam is also a past President of Social Planning Toronto.
Nancy Henderson
Nancy Henderson is a lawyer who has worked in not-for-profit management positions for over 20 years. She was Executive Director for SPARC BC (Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia) for 10 years and consulted on issues of organizational governance and strategic planning. She is currently Clinic Director at Parkdale Community Legal Services. Nancy is a member of the Social Planning Toronto Finance Committee.
Dan Lopes
Dan was born and grew up in the GTA and now lives in downtown Toronto. He currently works for an IT consulting company and his professional background includes program and project management, budgeting, IT, communications, training and development, and people management. He has been member of the SPT board for the 2010-2011 term and in the past has volunteered for organizations as diverse as the Daily Bread Food Bank and the Canadian Opera Company.
Sheldon Mahabir
Sheldon Mahabir is the Recruitment/Outreach Coordinator of Maytree’s DiverseCity onBoard Program and a board member with Social Planning Toronto and volunteers with the United Way Toronto Speaker’s Bureau during their fall campaign session. He is also a member of the steering committee for Sports4Ontario, a provincial sport organization council dedicated to the promotion of sports and physical activity in Ontario.
Sheldon holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Windsor and is a certified Human Resources Management professional. He has worked with a variety of non profit organizations on issues ranging from strategic planning, to organizational development, diversity and inclusion. Sheldon’s commitment to inclusion and social responsibility has led to the placement of over 500 visible minorities and under-represented immigrant groups to agencies, boards and commissions throughout the GTA.
Barbara Mellman
Anshula Ohri
Anshula is a woman of colour, an immigrant, a mother, and an accountant. She has been involved with community work for the last 15 years, as a volunteer, and as treasurer/chair on community boards such as the Jane-Finch Community Centre and South Asian Women’s Centre, and other non-profit boards such as her condominium corporation. She is a certified general accountant, and works as a project advisor with Ontario’s energy regulator, the Ontario Energy Board. She has a good understanding of issues associated with immigrants, women, poverty, strategic planning and framing policy.
Rhonda Roffey
Rhonda is Executive Director of Women’s Habitat. Rhonda has dedicated many years to public advocacy based on a strong commitment to equality rights. Her policy interests center on ending violence against women, reproductive rights, Aboriginal issues and women’s equality. Rhonda’s formal education includes studies at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University’s Journalism Program. Rhonda also has extensive experience in community development with young people, women, and has engaged in international development in both Guatemala and El Salvador.
Fana Seife
Fana is the Chair of the SPT Advancement Committee. She’s a trained conflict mediator, team facilitator and public speaker. Fana has first-hand experience in access and discrimination issues; she represents a youth voice and is a connector with networks in the arts, media, peace-building circles, and small business and immigrant communities.
