Jin Huh

Jin's passion is bringing people together to find common ground, shared values, and vision. From grassroots organizing to nonprofit leadership, Jin has supported and led change efforts in communities, organizations, and nonprofit sectors, and collaborated with residents and decision-makers across the city. She has deep knowledge of how policies and priorities impact marginalized communities and agencies.  

Jin has over two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, with experience in community development, social planning, program development, sector development, and organizational development/change management. She comes to SPT from North York Community House, where as Program Director she oversaw the community development, civic engagement, and neighbourhood development initiatives, as well as settlement services and other programs/services. Previously, she led organizational development and held management roles at Toronto Community Housing, consulted, and was Organizational Standards Coordinator at OCASI. She has worked in women’s and 2SLGBTQ+ health, adult and popular education, and community arts, and was co-editor of HanKut: Critical Art and Writing by Korean Canadian Women. She serves on the Board of Toronto Environmental Alliance.

Jin holds a Master in Environmental Studies from York and an Honours Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Environment and Resource Studies from Waterloo.

Maria Serrano

Maria has extensive experience providing creative, innovative, and strategic leadership in the community sector in the areas of operations, and organizational and human resources. She's responsible for the development and implementation of systems, human resources, overall management of the administrative needs of Social Planning Toronto, and supervision of program support staff.

Mary Micallef

Mary brings decades of experience to Social Planning Toronto's offices. She provides program support to our staff operations.

Lisa Ferguson

Lisa combines her love of storytelling with a passion for social change, community, and culture. Her journalism has appeared in publications such as NOW, CityLab, Spacing, Torontoist, and Ms. From 2014 to 2016 she wrote the annual Toronto’s Vital Signs Report (a city “report card” that drives civic engagement, debate, and advocacy). She has bachelor's and master’s degrees in communications, and a certificate in community engagement, leadership and development.

Shahina Sayani

Shahina Sayani has 15 years of experience as a funder, Executive Director, community development worker, facilitator, consultant, and researcher. She is passionate about increasing access to grassroots and formal education, as well as developing community capacity building initiatives that facilitate sustainable leadership. She enjoys volunteering as a mentor and raising funds for youth scholarships.

Saroja Ponnambalam

Saroja has over seven years of experience in resident engagement in Toronto's diverse neighbourhoods. She is dedicated to reducing barriers to civic participation through local governance, and has worked with numerous community groups and networks across the city to organize around systemic issues, ranging from racial discrimination to housing inequity. She holds a Master of Arts in Human Geography from the University of Toronto. Saroja also has a media arts practice which utilizes community arts and documentary film as tools for advancing social justice and influencing policy.

Israt Ahmed

Israt Ahmed is Senior Community Planner at Social Planning Toronto, coordinating civic engagement initiatives and building resident leadership. She coordinates city-wide campaigns and local initiatives to make the city equitable, accessible, and affordable for Torontonians. She holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Sussex. She has taught courses on diversity, civic engagement, community development, and social planning at the University of Toronto, York University, and Ryerson.

Shadya Yasin

Shadya has over a decade of experience within the youth, education, and community development sectors. She is an artist, an advocate, and an organizer with local and international community development initiatives. Shadya studied African Studies, International Development, and Community Arts at York University, and is a certified teacher with a Masters of Education (with a focus on Adult Education and Community Development) from the University of Toronto. Shadya is a life-long learner, always looking forward to learning and sharing while working with children, youth, adults, and seniors. 

Beth Wilson

Beth Wilson is our lead on policy and research at Social Planning Toronto, starting at our organization in 2002. She has a Master of Social Work (MSW), Policy, Organization and Community.

Sharma Queiser

Sharma conducts community-based, action-oriented research and supports stakeholder engagement. Currently, her work focuses on academic streaming, access to recreation for equity-seeking groups, and community use of public spaces. A social worker by training, Sharma is dedicated to addressing the root causes of social injustices.

Angelica de Jesus-Bretschneider

Angelica is committed to driving social change through community based research. She has led and supported numerous qualitative and quantitative research initiatives on public policy and planning matters that affect marginalized populations in Toronto and in various countries around the globe. Angelica has extensive experiences in the non-profit, government, and academic sectors. She has a Ph.D. in Planning degree from the University of Toronto.