Centring Equity and Resilience in Canadian City Parks – Launch Webinar

Jake Tobin Garrett has been with Park People for seven years as the manager of policy and planning. He leads Park People’s research projects, public life studies, and policy development work, including writing or co-writing numerous reports that have explored urban parks and inclusion, social connection, green infrastructure, density, design trends, governance, and more.

He led the creation and launch of the Canadian City Parks Report, which tracks the trends and challenges facing city parks and has co-authored the 2019 and 2020 reports. Jake has a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Toronto and a background as a reporter and freelance writer where he has covered urban issues.

Adri Stark is a project manager at Park People specializing in park research and policy. Aside from co-authoring the Canadian City Parks Report, Adri has co-led several public life studies and co-wrote Park People’s Sparking Change report on the social impacts of parks in underserved neighbourhoods.

Nahomi Amberber (she/her) is a Black public health researcher that uses data to push forward conversations of justice and health equity. A graduate of the Master of Public Health – Epidemiology program at the University of Toronto, she strives to bring her passion to all projects she works in, which have included those with Black Lives Matter – Toronto, the Wellesley Institute and The Centre for Active Transportation. As a researcher and budding organizer, Nahomi is constantly learning from the people around her who continue to defend the health and livelihoods of their communities.

Zahra is a public interest designer and strategist focused on shifting power to people who are typically underrepresented in institutions and systems. Her work has focused on deep, community-led approaches to policy, infrastructure, and service design. She is the CEO of Monumental, supporting vital institutions in their efforts around an equitable recovery, amplifying BIPOC leadership, and launching creative, socially-driven initiatives.

Prior to this role, she built and led Doblin Canada (Deloitte’s Human-Centred Design practice), focusing on engaging diverse sets of stakeholders to use human-centred design to address complex organizational and industry challenges. In her early career, Zahra led one of Canada’s first social design studios, working with communities to co-design towards better social outcomes and leading some of Canada’s most ambitious participatory infrastructure and policy programs. Zahra has taught at OCADU, MoMA, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto. She is the Vice-Chair of the Canadian Urban Institute and the Board Chair for Park People.