A decade ago, Toronto tried something new, transferring vulnerable individuals picked up by the cops to a “situation table” of community workers, in order to tend to people in crisis within a day or two. On its 10-year anniversary, Xavier Richer Vis reports on how the program, called FOCUS, has “changed the game,” radically improving outcomes in delicate cases.
Read MoreThree urban farming projects are working toward making Toronto a food-sovereign city – and showing how almost every bit of space can be made to flourish.
Read MoreParkdale is an eviction hot spot. The number of notices that get served in the southwest neighbourhood are double the city average. And nowhere is the tension between affordable living and “financialized” landlords clearer than on West Lodge Avenue.
Read MoreNeighbours across the country offer insight into the ways life in lockdown has changed them.
Read MoreParkdale Library’s free instrument-lending program, Katrina Onstad writes, is that rare civic project that shows us at our best.
Read MoreRethinking the rink house at Dufferin Grove.
Read MoreNot to brag or anything, but I have two swimming pools. The public outdoor pools at Alexandra Park and Stanley Park (the Parks, Al and Stan, are not-so-distantly related, within a dozen blocks around Trinity Bellwoods Park) are my cooling station and people watching refuge, the backyards that sub in for the backyard I don’t have.
Read More