On February 27, the Parkdale Community Economic Development (PCED) Planning project hosted the Parkdale Community Forum at the Parkdale Public Library. The PCED project has completed the first stage of the project – one-year participatory planning and community visioning. The first stage has generated a range of promising directions and ideas. At this forum, over 100 community members came together to learn about outcomes from the project and promising directions for the future of Parkdale.

Throughout the planning process, community members identified the four overarching values for Parkdale – affordability, diversity, inclusion, and equity. But then, Parkdale is changing. Due to the current pattern of neighbourhood change, what is at stake is these  Parkdale’s values. How can we protect affordability, diversity and inclusion while also promoting equitable development for shared wealth generation and decent work? This is one of the central questions for the PCED planning project.

To that end, we have identified a range of “directions” based on the inputs from the participatory planning process and research. There are seven key areas for community action and policy option:

  1. Social Infrastructure
  2. Affordable housing and land use
  3. Decent work and inclusive economic opportunities
  4. Health and food security
  5. Community financing
  6. Participatory local democracy
  7. Cultural development

The Parkdale Community Forum was held to report back promising directions as well as to kick off action planning process for implementation. The summary report can be Downloaded Below