Joint Action for a Just Toronto is a project that engages over 350 community-sector agencies to advance equitable policies and shape government decisions regarding community investments and vital social infrastructure.
The work is guided by a coalition that meets quarterly to discuss opportunities to shape City policy on shared priorities. Some of the areas of focus include housing and shelter, food security, poverty reduction, community safety, harm reduction, and community sector infrastructure.
This project primarily supports agencies that participate in the Community Coordination Plan (CCP), developed in partnership with United Way Greater Toronto and the City of Toronto. More than 350 community-based organizations make up the CCP. The participating agencies are drawn from across the twelve CCP geographic clusters.
For more information about this initiative, please contact Melissa Wong, Director, Engagement & Strategic Initiatives, [email protected].
Goals and Objectives
JAJT has three broad project objectives:
Enabling Joint Action for an Equitable Toronto: Convening and enabling collaborative policy change work to support a shared vision and define key policy priorities for a more equitable city.
Engaging a Coalition of Partners: Regularly connecting with frontline service and multi-service agencies to ensure that their voices and efforts are collectively mobilized in support of this vision and priorities.
Building Capacity: Deepening the knowledge and opportunities for agencies (including smaller emerging organizations) to participate in systems and policy change through knowledge mobilization, convening, training, cross-sectoral dialogue, and thought leadership.
These goals and objectives are achieved by creating opportunities to take collective action and building the capacity of organizations to participate in systems change work. If your organization is involved in a CCP Cluster and is interested in building capacity to participate in advocacy and policy change or wanting to collaborate with other organizations, please get in touch!
Working Groups
The Housing & Shelters Working Group meets about six times a year to discuss municipal policies and program changes that relate to affordable housing, tenant protections and homelessness. The group also identifies emerging issues and challenges affecting the delivery of housing programs that support low-income and unhoused residents and discuss potential solutions and opportunities for collective action.
The Food Security Working Group meets about six times a year to discuss emerging issues that affect organizations that deliver community food security programs. They work collaboratively to identify policy solutions, take action to influence policy and funding decisions, and raise public awareness about the growing food security crisis and the solutions to address it.
If you are interested in staying informed about policy changes relating to housing and shelter, or food security, please contact Shannon Spencer [email protected]
New Name - Same Mission
The Committee started meeting in 2022 under the name Just Recovery Action Committee (JRAC). It was created following the COVID-19 pandemic to reimagine the policies and investments needed to achieve a just and equitable pandemic recovery in Toronto and cultivate a collective voice for the community services sector. JRAC shared Social Planning Toronto’s priorities in poverty reduction, sector convening, engaging communities in the city budget process, and building a more equitable city.
As of June 2025, the working group was renamed Joint Action Committee (JAC) to reflect its adaptability in responding to emerging issues. Older documents and webpages may still use the working group’s former name.
To learn more about our pandemic recovery, including the op-eds we have written, the discussions we have facilitated, and the resources that we have collected, check out our page, Ideas for Change: Just and Equitable Recovery.
