April 2025 – 2026
- “Green Hearts in Action” podcast series with interviews showcasing GNN members:
- Krissan Veerasingam, 2025 Green Hearts Awardee, Scarborough Environmental Association, Apr 2025
- Paul Mero, EcoSpark, May 2025
- Vince Schutt, Motivational Interviewing, June 2025
- Tim Murphy, Repair Cafe Toronto, Aug 2025
- John Cummings, Friends of Cedarvale, Sept 2025
- Andrew Knox, Transition Toronto, Dec 2025
- Charles Lin, Impact Net Zero, Jan 2026
- Anne Keary, 2026 Green Hearts Awardee, Mar 2026
- Hosted GNN outreach tables at:
- Willowdale EcoFair, Apr 2025
- Earth Day Rally “Necessities of Life” with Seniors for Climate, Apr 2025
- Beach United EcoFair, May 2025
- Threading Change’s “Fair Fashion Festival” in Vaughan, June 2025
- City of Toronto World Environment Day, June 2025
- YRES York Region Volunteer Day, June 2025
- Green Liberty Village Eco-Family-Fair, Sept 2025
- Long Branch Tree Fest, Sept 2025
- Building Legacy Initiative, Eco Fair, Oct 2025
- UNAC EcoClub Youth Conference 2026-02-15
- 1UP Youth City Builders Conference, 2026-03-28
- Hosted or Co-hosted the following events;
- GNN & THE Network: Organizing Around Home Energy, on Zoom, Oct 29 2025
- 2025-11-02 EcoFair Toronto at Wychwood Barns, with Transition Toronto, Nov 2 2025
- 2025-11-20 Tour of TRCA Admin Building, Nov 20 2025
- 3rd annual “Green Hearts for Valentine’s Day” event in celebration of GNN volunteers, supporters, and GNN green group leaders and partners, Feb 7 2026
- 2nd annual online Silent Auction Fundraiser in support of GNN and participating GNN member groups, February 2026
- Launched interactive GNN website in May 2025, developed in partnership with Small Change Fund’s Greener Toronto Fund and support fromThe Chawkers Foundation:
- Update based on User Experience surveys of GNN-members performed by volunteer GK Okpora in 2024
- Website upgrade by Humber College Co-op Student, GK Okpora with support of Small Change Fund’s Greener Toronto Fund, Oct 2024-Sept 2025
- Website project planning and user training by Zenaida Yi Sanchez, in partnership with Small Change Fund’s Greener Toronto Fund, May 2025-present
- New website presented to GNN member group leaders in online webinars:
- GNN Website Demo Tour, online, May 2025
- Discover GNN’s New Volunteer Matching System & Group Features, online, Sept 2025
- Reinvigorated GNN’s Communications Team in partnership with Small Change Fund’s Greener Toronto Fund and support from The Chawkers Foundation, new volunteers are amplifying GNN’s outreach using the website event calendar and blogs, and social media channels
- Planned 1st spring edition of 2026 EcoFair Toronto at Evergreen Brickworks, to be held Sun Apr 26, co-hosted with Transition Toronto
- Awarded 3 Canada Summer Jobs positions in Scarborough, summer 2026
April 2024 – 25
- “Green Hearts in Action” podcast series with interviews showcasing GNN members:
- Helen Mills, Lost Rivers, Mar 2024
- Tim Grant, Net Zero Carbon Project, Apr 2024
- Rochelle Byrne, A Greener Future, May 2024
- Dorte Windmuller, Cliffcrest Butterflyway, June 2024
- Rhonda Teitel-Payne, Toronto Urban Growers, Dec 2024
- Anna Hoad, Toronto Nature Stewards, Jan 2025
- Hosted GNN outreach tables at:
- CICS-Scarborough Seedy Saturday & Green Fair, Apr 2024
- Willowdale Environment Day & EcoFair, Apr 2024
- Beach United Church EcoFair, May 2024
- Willowdale Climate Action Circle, May 2024
- Bloor West Village “Movin N Groovin”, June 2024
- Greenest City Good Food Market, July 2024
- Willowdale Environment Day, July 2024
- Greenest City Good Food Market, July 2024
- Willowdale Climate and Health Forum, Oct 2024
- EcoFair Toronto, Nov 2024
- Awarded two Canada Summer Jobs-funded intern positions for our project “Biodiversity Counts”, June-July 2024
- Our two “Biodiversity Counts” interns worked in collaboration with five neighbourhood member groups; PHP4CA, Green13, Greenest City of West Neighbourhood House, and Friends of South Kingsway in Parkdale-High Park, and Beach United Church in Beaches-East York
- Co-hosted 2024 EcoFair Toronto with Transition Toronto, November 3 at Wychwood Barns; EcoFair attracted over 1200 attendees and showcased 60 eco-organization and business exhibitors and activities
- Were awarded “2024 Greener City Award” on Dec 4th from Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) for our collaborative summer survey project in 2023, in partnership with the University of Toronto Trash Team, TEA, Enviromentum, Small Change Fund, volunteers from six Green Neighbours Network member groups, and the work of four summer interns interviewing restaurant owners about their use of disposable and reusable foodware.
- Launched our first-ever online Silent Auction Fundraiser on Feb 7th to raise awareness and funds for grassroots environmental action in Toronto and the GTA.
- Hosted second annual “Green Hearts for Valentine’s Day” event to celebrate GNN volunteers, supporters, and green group leaders of GNN’s member groups and partners
- Awarded second “GNN Green Hearts Award” in February 2024 to Krissan Veerasingam for his inspiring work co-founding and fostering Scarborough Environmental Association.
- Published 4 editions of the GNN e-Newsletter
April 2023 – 24
- Awarded three Canada Summer Jobs-funded intern positions for our project “Reducing Litter at its Source”
- Interns worked in collaboration with six neighbourhood member groups; PHP4CA, Green13, SLNA Zero Waste Group, St Lawrence Reduces, Scarborough Environmental Association, and Scarborough Zero Waste
- Successfully added a fourth summer intern in Scarborough to the project by fundraising through the Small Change Fund’s Greener Toronto Fund
- GNN interns surveyed restaurant managers about their use of single use takeaway items with the long term goal of reducing litter at its source, project partners included Toronto Environmental Alliance, Enviromentum, UofT Trash Team, and WalkRollMap.org (June-July 2023)
- Hosted GNN outreach tables at:
- EcoFair at Beach United Church, May 2023
- Lakeshore Environmental Gardening Society (LEGS) Annual Plant Exchange and Seedy Saturday Community Event, May 2023
- Regal Heights BIA Recycling Event, June 2023
- PHP4CA and G13’s Test-Ride Electric Bicycles & Scooters, June 2023
- TO March to End Fossil Fuels, Sept 2023
- Parkdale Seedy Saturday, Mar 2024
- Organized a GNN “Plant-Pull & Picnic”, co-hosted with Cherry Beach Nature Stewards
- Recruited our first University of Toronto Geography placement student who used mapping and urban geography data to study the characteristics of areas of the city that currently lack GNN neighbourhood green groups
- Migrated GNN accounts from “Quickbooks” to “Netsuite for NonProfits”, founded a GNN finance team
- Co-hosted 2023 EcoFair Toronto with Transition Toronto, November 5th at Wychwood Barns; EcoFair attracted over 1100 attendees and showcased a record 63 eco-organizations and businesses
- Hosted first “Green Hearts for Valentine’s Day” event to celebrate GNN volunteers, supporters, and green group leaders of GNN’s member groups and partners
- Awarded first “GNN Green Hearts Award” in February 2024 to Helen Mills for her inspiring work founding and fostering Lost Rivers and Lost Rivers Walks
- Launched “Green Hearts in Action” podcast series featuring Helen Mills and Lost Rivers, Mar 2024
- Published 8 editions of the GNN e-Newsletter
April 2022 – 23
- Launched the “Greener Toronto Fund”, a project of the Small Change Fund, July 2022
- Hired our first “Greener Toronto Fund” intern, a young environmental champion to accelerate our progress to a more sustainable city, Aug 2022
- Partnered with WalkRollMap.org to bring their crowd-sourced mapping tool to Toronto neighbourhoods to improve sidewalk safety and promote active transportation, May – Nov 2022
- Awarded four Canada Summer Jobs projects in collaboration with five neighbourhood member groups: Pocket Change, PHP4CA, Green13, Harbord Village Net Zero Committee, and Etobicoke Climate Action, Apr 2022
- With this funding, GNN hired eight Canada Summer Jobs interns for our project “Reducing Gas at Home and on the Move” to survey people in four neighbourhoods, June-Aug, 2022
- Hosted GNN outreach tables at:
- Green11 at “Bike with Mike” May 2022
- Climatefast at St Matthew’s United Church, Doors Open Toronto, May 2022
- PHP4CA and Green13 at “Test-ride electric bicycles and scooters” event, June 2022
- Etobicoke Climate Action at the Long Branch Tree Fest, September 2022
- Outreach presentation for MP Majid Jowhari’s Environment Council of Richmond Hill, November 2022
- Recruited our first York University placement students to support the activities of two member groups
- Co-hosted 2022 EcoFair Toronto with Transition Toronto, November 2022, at Artscape Wychwood Barns with 1022 attendees showcasing 44 eco-organizations and businesses
- Submitted applications in three Toronto ridings for 2023 Canada Summer Jobs Interns to survey restaurants about their use of single use takeaway items, Jan 2023
- Published 8 editions of the GNN e-Newsletter
April 2021 – 22
- Organized and hosted Annual General Meeting & online GNN Member Celebration event, May 2021
- Launched member group renewal drive, with 98% renewing their membership
- Co-hosted EcoFair Toronto with Transition Toronto, 4-day online event plus in-life bike tour, Nov 4-7 2021, 426 attendees and 24 participating eco-exhibitors
- Awarded three Canada Summer Jobs interns to work on social media, the new GNN website, and to upgrade the GNN database with integrations and automations, Aug 2021 to Jan 2022
- Founded GNN’s Political Engagement Team, Jan 2022
- Launched new logo and new GNN website gnntoronto.ca, spring 2022
- Began manual for GNN “Standard Operating Procedures”, 2022
- Applied for nine Canada Summer Jobs interns in Jan 2022 in 4 grant applications submitted in collaboration with five neighbourhood groups; Pocket Change, PHP4CA, Green13, Harbord Village Net Zero Committee, and Etobicoke Climate Action
- Published 8 editions of the GNN e-Newsletter
April 2020 – 21
- Incorporated federally as a not-for-profit, May 2020
- Participated in the “Community Sewing Face Mask Project” organized by TNO – The Neighbourhood Organization, Mar – Dec 2020
- Organized GNN Mix’n Mingle online event, Aug 2020
- Hosted an outreach table with Etobicoke Climate Action in-life at Long Branch Tree Fest, Sept 2020
- Awarded first Canada Summer Jobs project; GNN intern created 28 EcoFair exhibitor and 3 GNN member group videos, and surveyed GNN’s 41 member groups to evaluate GNN’s performance and future plans, Sept 2020-Jan 2021
- Co-hosted EcoFair Toronto with Transition Toronto, 16 online events involving over 1000 attendees and 76 environmental organizations and eco-businesses, Oct 15 – Nov 8, 2020
- Piloted $1000 micro-grant program; supported ten GNN member groups using a donation from Vancity Community Investment Bank, Dec 2020 – Mar 2021
- Founded GNN’s Retrofits Team; community groups and individuals learned, discussed, helped develop and promote projects, and worked together to reduce carbon emissions in their homes and neighbourhoods, 13 meetings Feb – Dec 2021
- Applied for three Canada Summer Jobs interns to help GNN with communications and database development in Jan 2022
- Published 8 editions of the GNN e-Newsletter
April 2019 – 20
- First birthday after launch, held Spring Party to celebrate, June 2019
- Hosted Volunteer Coordinator training workshop, June 2019
- Promoted participation of GNN members in GreenPAC’s 100Debates for the Environment, Aug-Sep 2019
- Launched Climate Crafts outreach activity
- Hosted GNN outreach tables at:
- TRCA Humber by Canoe, Sept 2019
- Long Branch Tree Fest, Sept 2019
- Salmon Festival at Highland Creek, Oct 2019
- EcoFair at the Barns, Nov 2019
- Created GNN’s bylaws, recruited first Board of Directors, Jan-Mar 2020
- Published 12 editions of the GNN e-Newsletter
April 2018 – 19
- Internal Launch of Green Neighbours Network, April 2018
- Founded GNN’s Zero Waste Team, April 2018
- Published first issue of GNN Newsletter, Oct 2018
- Hosted GNN outreach tables at:
- EcoFair at the Barns, Nov 2018
- Scarborough Seedy Saturday and Green Fair, March 2019
- GNN partnered with Climatefast and Toronto Green Community on a Low Carbon Neighbourhood grant funded by The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) called “Our Community Futures – Sustainable Neighbourhoods grant” to promote environmental engagement in Scarborough and Etobicoke, Jan-June 2019
