Park People’s Executive Director, Erika Nikolai, has been honoured with the Distinguished Individual Award from World Urban Parks—an international recognition that celebrates her leadership and the growing national movement Park People has helped build here in Canada.
Why are events in parks important? How do grants fit into Park People’s larger goals for creating change in city parks?
The emerging stream of the Park People Nature Connect Fund provides up to $5,000 to grassroots and registered organizations across Canada that connect people with nature, foster ecological stewardship, and restore urban parks and green spaces.
The scaling stream of the Park People Nature Connect Fund offers up to $20,000 to registered organizations across Canada that connect people with nature while fostering ecological stewardship and restoring urban parks.
Learn more about green social prescribing, an evolving practice that encourages individuals to reestablish connections with nature and one another to enhance their mental, physical, and social wellbeing.
A reflection on the BEING BLACK IN PUBLIC Survey Report, exploring how Black communities experience parks and public spaces, and what fosters joy and belonging.
How do we build a healthier, greener, more joyful Toronto? We start at the park. Discover how communities across the city have transformed their green spaces over the past fifteen years. Then roll up your sleeves and help shape what comes next.
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
Senior Coordinator of Special Projects, FoodShare Toronto
Leslie is a food justice advocate with a background in tropical agroecology and community food security. As a student, Leslie spent a year in Northern Thailand managing an organic farm and developing an agricultural training curriculum, which inspired him to pursue a Master’s degree in Geography focusing on the social and ecological aspects of food systems. He then returned overseas, spending two years teaching agriculture in Indonesia and two years working in agricultural research and training in Ethiopia, after which Leslie returned to Canada, excited to engage with food issues more locally.
Leslie now works for FoodShare Toronto, where he supports community-led food access initiatives, research, and advocacy. This work seeks to broaden conversations about food insecurity to include discussions of the many systems of oppression that hold it in place – systems like colonialism, capitalism, systemic racism, and patriarchy. Leslie also currently sits on the board of directors of MakeWay (formerly Tides Canada), is a member of the Toronto Food Policy Council, and works as a food systems research consultant. He believes strongly in income-based solutions to food insecurity as implemented alongside universally accessible public services, and in the need for those most impacted by these issues to lead the solution-finding process.