Community Benefits Learning Series – Session One

By Fred Alvarado
Fred is journalist with FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE
 
The first Community Benefits Learning session was held on September 28, 2021, from 6pm to 8pm, over Zoom.  Entitled, Community Learning Session 101, the event was a collaboration between Regent Park Neighbourhood Association, the Regent Park Community Benefits Coalition, Toronto Community Housing Corporation and Tridel Builders.

As many Regent Park residents are aware, Tridel Builders was the selected TCHC development partner for phase 4 and 5 of the Regent Park Redevelopment.  However, what many people may not know is that Tridel Builders has pledged 26.8 million dollars in community benefits to Regent Park.  Subsequently, the aim of the Community Benefits Learning Series is to provide residents with an opportunity to know what community benefits are and how residents can get involved in deciding how the 26.8 million pledge will be spent.

Community Benefits 101, started with a welcome and a land acknowledgement from the facilitators Pavithra Sulanthar and Walied Khogali.
 
Following the land acknowledgement, Kumsa Baker from the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN), explained a little about TCBN and gave a quick overview about what the community benefits are.  According to Kumsa, the Toronto Community Benefits Network is a coalition made up of 115 members including community organizations, labour organizations, and social enterprises.

“As we know, there are a lot of developments happening in Toronto whether it is private or public projects, we see construction activities happening not only in the downtown core but also across the city. With that, we also understand there are a lot of potential impacts as well as opportunities for the community to benefit from these developments.” Kumsa said.

According to Kumsa, community benefits are additional physical, social and economic benefits for the local community that are leveraged from major infrastructure and urban development projects. One of the key tools that the Toronto Community Benefits Network developed in learning from indigenous communities, who have had a lot of history of resources development projects, is the importance of developing Community Benefits Agreements also known as Impact Benefit Agreements.  These are legally binding, enforceable contracts that set forth specific benefits for an infrastructure or development project.

Community Benefit Agreements are usually negotiated between a developer or infrastructure builder and a community group or coalition. Benefits are defined through an inclusive community engagement process.

At the session, Kumsa guided the attendees on the definition of community benefits.  
 
Community benefits:

 •    Ensure equitable economic opportunities that promote economic inclusion for people from historically disadvantaged communities and equity seeking groups.
 •    Contribute to the development of a system of training and workforce development programs that can enable economic inclusion.
 •    Contribute to sustainable communities with neighborhood and environmental improvements and investments.
 •    Ensure clear commitments, targets, monitoring, accountability from all parties through the negotiating a Community Benefits Agreement.

According to Kumsa, the approach is to ensure that the community is an equal stakeholder in the community to be engaged not only with the Government but also with Developers, Unions and Local Businesses.

Examples from across Toronto that have included a Community Benefits Program are:

 •    Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit
 •    Finch West Light Rail Transit and Community Hub
 •    Woodbine Casino Expansion
 •    West Park Healthcare Centre
 •    York University Campus Expansion Projects

Next, Will Mendes from TCHC, gave examples of community benefits from Phases 1-3 in Regent Park starting from 2003 when they secured Daniels Corporation as the developer. Many types of benefits were brought to Regent Park including:

 •    Over 600 jobs were secured by Regent Park Residents.
 •    Athletics Field – Daniel Spectrum – Increased Community Service Space – Aquatics Centre - Affordable Housing – Affordable Home Ownership – Business Incubation Space.
 •    Job Training Programs and funding of hundreds of community development and social initiatives.
Other examples from across other TCHC revitalizations:
 •    There are 8 revitalizations underway within TCHC with site specific benefits which range from scholarships, training employment to business incubation, community business spaces and new facilities.
 •    Over 1200 tenants have secured job opportunities
 •    These agreements range from a percentage of jobs to specific targets aligned with community needs.
According to Will Mendes, a lot of learning came out of phases 1-3 Regent Park Revitalization Community Benefits.

Following Will’s presentation, community resident, Ibrahim Afrah showed a video that spoke about the making of the Daniel Spectrum Arts Centre in Regent Park.  Ibrahim emphasized that the building of this centre came about as a result of the collaboration between Toronto Community Housing as the land owner and Daniels Corporation as the developer.  Daniels took the leadership in raising private funding to build this building.

Walied Khogali talked about the principles of revitalization and gave a brief history of the Regent Park Community Benefits Coalition between the years of 2018 to 2020 ending with the decision to have the Regent park Community Benefits Coalition under the umbrella of the SDP as a way of monitoring and enforcing a community benefits agreement.

After the breakout rooms, Regent Park residents shared their thoughts about what they discussed. There were conversations about their favorites moments at Regent Park, the different events, meeting people and connections.  They also talked about what they learned through the videos, access to jobs and about the people who are not engaged in anything in the community and how the Community Benefits could help these people be more engaged and productive. Lastly, they talked about concerns around security, the need to support youth, jobs, parking challenges, and the need for community programs to support the families.