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 citizen 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.

2009-2010 Board of Directors

  • Mario Calla
  • Angela Connors
  • Celia Denov
  • Miriam DiGiuseppe
  • Diane Dyson
  • O’Neil Edwards
  • Tam Goossen
  • Mazher Jaffrey
  • Andrew Lalonde
  • Krishan Mehta
  • Barbara Mellman
  • Mary Elspeth Milosh
  • Vera Ndaba
  • Rhonda Roffey
  • Myra Wiener

Mario Calla

Mario holds an M.S.W. from the University of Toronto. He has been the Executive Director of COSTI Immigrant Services since 1987. COSTI is a social service agency that has been providing a broad range of services to immigrants and refugees in the Toronto area for the past 50 years. Prior to his current position, Mario was a manager with the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. Mario is involved in his community in a volunteer capacity. He has served as Chair of the City of York Community and Agency Social Planning Council, as Vice-President of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), and Vice-President of International Social Services of Canada, among other activities. He is immediate past President of the Board of Social Planning Toronto.

Angela Connors

Angela is a member of the Saugeen First Nation and has 15 years of experience in community services assisting the unemployed, new immigrants and refugees. She has 10 years of experience serving on various executive boards, among them the Social Planning Council of Peel Region, and has participated in a variety of volunteer activities including United Way campaigns. Angela is a soon-to-be graduate of the Maytree Foundation’s Leaders for Change program. She is an experienced and creative facilitator in anti-racism/anti-oppression work, and is experienced in life skills human resources, policy development and program management and coordination work. Angela was a steelworker for seven years.

Celia Denov

Celia Denov holds a MSW in Social Policy, Planning and Administration for 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 the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto. Celia is appointed a Member of the Ontario Health Professions and 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 in a lifelong interest and passion in 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 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 CSPC-T. 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 CSPC-T’s governance committee for the past year.

O’Neil Edwards

O’Neil is Program Manager Spanning the Gaps Access to Post Secondary Education 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. O’Neil is currently a member of the SPT Executive Committee.

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 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.

Mazher Jaffery

Mazher attended South Thames College and studied Audio Visual Technology. He also studied Business at York University and attended business programs at Harvard Business School. He started his career working for Rogers Cable, with the marketing department and helped launch the Pay TV program. After leaving Rogers in 1984, he started his own marketing company and successfully started a distribution business. He presently operates his own Career Colleges with branches in Toronto, the GTA, New York and London, England. He was appointed as one of the founding members of the Local Boards and then recommended to the Toronto Training Board, where he served as Co-Chair for Planning and was a Business Director from 1996 – 2002. He was appointed to the Board of Trade as a member of the Advisory Group for Municipal Affairs committee between 2004-2007. Presently he is an active committee member of the Program Committee for the Toronto Rotary Club. In 2007 he was also a founding member of the United Nations Ambassadors Emeritus in New York City and has been holding meetings at the City University of New York. He’s been an active member for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and he’s also the President and CEO for the Canadian Business College. Mazher is a member of SPT’s Research Advisory Committee.

Andrew Lalonde

Andrew is a Human Resource Business Partner BMO Financial Group. In his 10-plus years with BMO Financial Group he has held positions in Business Performance Management, Marketing, Communications and Change Management. He has been Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee for CSPC-T since September 2007 and has been a Board member since June 2006. Andrew sat on the Board of ALDER – Adult Learning Disabilities Employment Resources from March 2006 to March 2008 and was Chair of its Fundraising and Event Planning committee from September 2005 to March 2008. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from McMaster University and an MBA degree from York University.

Krishan Mehta

Krishan is the Director of Advancement at University of Toronto’s New College, home of many social justice and equity-oriented programs. Since he began in 2003, New College has received $2.4 million in major/planned gifts. Krishan is also a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE, University of Toronto where he is conducting research on transnational immigrant philanthropy. Most recently, Krishan was the board chair for the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention. Krishan is the Chair of the SPT Advancement Committee.

Barbara Mellman

Barbara Mellman is a lawyer licensed to practice law in the Province of Ontario and State of Michigan. She was Senior Counsel at Manulife Financial where she provided legal advice and counsel to the Human Resources and Corporate Communications Departments on a variety of employment, human rights and public affairs issues.

Barbara is an engaged community member who has a keen interest in community development and issues related to children and youth. As a volunteer, Barbara serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of St. Stephen’s Community House, a multi-service agency that helps build strong, healthy neighborhoods through a broad range of innovative programs.

Barbara has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Think First for Kids Canada, an injury prevention program, and the U.S.-Canada Business Association.

Mary Elspeth Milosh

Mary El Milosh has worked as a teacher, consultant, and administrator with the Toronto Board of Education, before her retirement from her position as Vice-Principal of Ryerson Community School in the Kensington community in 2004. In her role as administrator at this inner-city school, she worked closely with CAS workers, psychologists, social workers, community policy officers, and range of social services and supports. Mary El is the mother of two children, and lives in North York. She is currently on the Board of Directors of “Friends of Community Schools”, a charitable foundation supporting nutrition, technology, and arts programs in Toronto schools. Mary El also played an important role as an Advisory Committee member and volunteer with the “Kidbuilders” research on the academic success of homeless children living in Shelters, conducted by the SPT in collaboration with Aisling Discoveries.

Vera Ndaba

Formerly President of the City of York Community and Agency Social Planning Council, a predecessor agency of the CSPC-T, Vera also served on the CSPC-T Board after amalgamation. Vera is Financial Manager of the Canadian Institutes of Health research – Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes based at the Hospital for Sick Children. She previously worked with the Childcare Resources and Research Unit at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Urban and Community Studies. Her interests are primarily in accessible and quality childcare and other workplace supports for women. Vera is a former Treasurer of the SPT Board.

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.

Myra Wiener

Myra has been a member of the Board of Social Planning Toronto since 2005 and has served as chair of the Governance Committee (2005-06), chair of the Research Advisory Committee (2006-7) and as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee. She has very broad experience in human services and municipal planning. She was a founding member and first chair of the City of York Community and Agency Social Planning Council, has served on the Board of the Macaulay Child Development Centre and currently is a member of the Inclusion Committee of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. Myra was formerly Director, Developmental Services Policy, in the Ministry of Community and Social Services.