The Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity (ILEO) Initiative brings together the private, public, and community sectors to find innovative ways to reduce gaps in economic prosperity at the neighbourhood level. ILEO is convened by United Way Greater Toronto and BMO.
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What is ILEO?
In 2018, United Way Greater Toronto and BMO Financial Group launched a made-in-the-GTA initiative to respond to an urgent challenge. In the face of growing neighbourhood inequality, we wanted to ensure that every GTA community had the chance to benefit from our region’s prosperity. The Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity (ILEO) initiative builds on United Way’s resident-led work to continue strengthening neighbourhoods that BMO has invested in since 2005.
ILEO galvanizes the strengths and levers of all sectors and industries to drive economic opportunity at the neighbourhood level. It is a deliberate place-based approach to catalyze specific opportunities and enable the community, corporate, and public sectors to work together towards our common goal. Scarborough’s Greater Golden Mile is the first neighbourhood to be part of the initiative.
Leaders from across sectors have come together to co-create pilot projects that we continue to develop with local residents. These pilots are tailor-made to respond to the strengths, needs, and desires of residents in the Greater Golden Mile. What has emerged from this collaboration is a multi-sector approach focusing on reducing gaps in economic prosperity in the Toronto region and creating lasting inclusive economic vitality at the neighbourhood level.
As the pilot projects continue to rollout, ILEO has already accomplished something significant: a model for creative new ways of working across sectors and bringing all levers of influence to collectively tackle a shared challenge. The work continues.
The ILEO Pilots
There are currently five ILEO pilot projects being launched. Each is convened by UWGT and led by a multi-sector team from ILEO organizations.
Good Jobs
A neighbourhood-based and employer-focused program that targets hard-to-hire-for-jobs and works with companies and community agencies to design bespoke training and support that prepares local talent to meet their needs.
Storefront Starter Golden Mile
A comprehensive program supporting new and aspiring retail entrepreneurs to build their businesses and contribute to a vibrant local retail environment as the Greater Golden Mile neighbourhood undergoes commercial and residential revitalization.
A-GM Joint Venture
A community-owned construction company, led by Aecon, that will meet supply chain needs for construction/maintenance contracts in part resulting from the Eglinton Crosstown LRT expansion.
Inclusive Procurement
A purchasing initiative focussed on supporting small and medium sized businesses located in Scarborough’s Greater Golden Mile
Destination Golden Mile
A coordinated approach to influencing aspects of the development in Scarborough’s Greater Golden Mile
A Focus on the Greater Golden Mile
The Greater Golden Mile in Scarborough, an inner suburb of Toronto, centres around a largely commercial strip surrounded by residential areas. It was formerly a hub of large-scale manufacturing, but the economic power of the neighbourhood declined through the latter half of the 20th century after manufacturers moved to more affordable areas. Today, the strip is dominated by big box stores.
Major transit development is underway, connecting the Greater Golden Mile to the downtown and other parts of the GTA as never before. This has brought significant development attention, including for commercial and residential revitalization that will transform the neighbourhood.
The Greater Golden Mile is home to diverse communities, with significant immigrant and racialized populations. Income and employment rates in the neighbourhood are below average compared to the rest of the city – a key indication that opportunity is not reaching residents.
We chose the Greater Golden Mile as the first neighbourhood to test the ILEO approach because of three characteristics:
- Opportunity to leverage public and private investments that would be a part of its upcoming revitalization
- Timing of investments coinciding with the timeline of the initiative
- Need in the community. Critically, Greater Golden Mile residents had also identified economic opportunity as a key priority and were keen to catalyze ILEO in their neighbourhood
Neighbourhoods
- Golden Mile
- Ionview
- Victoria Village
- Eglinton East
- Kennedy Park
- Flemingdon Park
Postal Codes (first three characters)
- M4A
- M3C
- M1L
- M1K
- M1J
ILEO Leadership Table Members:
Frank Attaie
General Manager – Technology
IBM Canada
Anne Babcock
President and Chief Executive Officer
WoodGreen Community Services
Ameen Binwalee
Chief Executive Officer
Out of the Box Social Enterprise
Romy Bowers
President & CEO
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Rowena Chan
President & Senior Vice-President, Distribution
Sun Life Financial Distributors (Canada) Inc.
Dean Connor
Former President & Chief Executive Officer
Sun Life Financial
Michael Cooper
President and Chief Responsible Officer
Dream Unlimited
Meric Gertler
President
University of Toronto
Tim Haney
Canada Chief Executive Officer
Dentons
Joshua Hood
Executive Director
West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre
Ahmed Hussein
Chief Executive Officer
TNO – The Neighbourhood Organization
Stephen Liptrap
President and Chief Executive Officer
LifeWorks
Marcia Moffat
Head of Canada
BlackRock
Colette Murphy
Chief Executive Officer
Atkinson Foundation
Allison Pond
Chief Executive Officer
ACCES Employment
Rosemarie Powell
Executive Director
Toronto Community Benefits Network
Steve Shallhorn
Executive Director
Labour Education Centre
Darryl White
Chief Executive Officer
BMO Financial Group (Co-Chair)
Daniele Zanotti
President and Chief Executive Officer
United Way Greater Toronto (Co-Chair)
Tom Azouz
General Manager
Toronto Employment & Social Services
City of Toronto
John M. Beck
Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
Aecon Group Inc.
Cheryl Blackman
Acting General Manager
Economic Development & Culture
City of Toronto
Denise Campbell
Executive Director, Social Development
Finance & Administration
City of Toronto
Mitchell Cohen
President & Chief Executive Officer
The Daniels Corporation
Nick Eaves
Chief Venues & Operations Officer
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Jonathan Gitlin
President and Chief Executive Officer
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
Michele Harradence
President, Gas Distribution & Storage
Enbridge
Sandy Houston
President & Chief Executive Officer
Metcalf Foundation
Paul Johnson
Deputy City Manager
Community & Social Services,
City of Toronto
Heather McGregor
Chief Executive Officer
YWCA Toronto
Nicolas Marcoux
Chief Executive Officer
PwC Canada
Hailee Morrison
Executive Director
Warden Woods Community Centre
Andrew Pickersgill
Managing Partner
McKinsey & Company Canada
Marcie Ponte
Executive Director
Working Women Community Centre
Andrew Pringle
Principal and Chairperson
RPIA
Kenneth Tanenbaum
Founder and Chairman of Kilmer Developments
Access the ILEO Resource Hub
If you are a ILEO partner organization, you can access all ILEO resources here.