As Dave Harvey retires from his co-leadership position at Park People, he reflects on the incredible journey since founding the organization in 2011.
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.
The programs offers community members from equity-deserving neighbourhoods training and coaching to help them enhance or transform vacant or underused spaces into public green areas.
A guidance and resources to measure the impact of your park work on community health and wellbeing, integrating a social equity lens.
Meet the Ontario Community Changemakers and learn more about their inspiring initiatives transforming parks across the province.
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By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
Dr. Nadha Hassen and Ayan Mohamed, with support from Dr. Kate Mulligan, the Community Advisory Group (Evgeny Slonimerov (Eugene), Jessica Iraci, Leah Yuyitung, Mohiuddin Shah Golam, Ping Gu, Safia Parveen) and Park People (Wesley Reibeling, Ayesha Talreja, Cindy Hashie, Natalie Brown, Joy Sammy)
Oct 21, 2025 Greater Toronto Area
Learn more about the tools we used in our Health, Wellbeing, and Equity Toolkit.
Public areas like parks, ravines, and other greenspaces have become crucial during a growing period of isolation, inequality, and climate anxiety. They provide a space for healing, connection, and growth, in addition to a place to play, rest, and get fresh air. Parks offer a chance to reclaim space, foster a sense of community, and inspire local leadership for many groups, particularly those that are historically underrepresented in decision-making processes.
Community members are converting their local parks into vibrant hubs of connection, joy, and action; that spirit is celebrated in this report. It draws attention to the value of community-driven transformation and grassroots leadership in our common green areas.
Through an evaluation of the Sparking Change Toronto program Park People aimed to understand the impact of the program in four key areas outlined in Park People’s Theory of Change:
Discover the impact of the Sparking Change program in Toronto.
Equity, Health, Sparking Change
From our work to the community leaders we support in activating their local parks to the municipalities that use our insights to create better park policy, the movement continues to expand. We’re pleased to share just some of these impacts in our Impact Report.
Driven by a passion to help, Nawal co-founded Flemingdon Community Support Services, a volunteer-led organization which help the community access food, housing and employment.