It's all about our clients.

We're proud to serve a wide variety of clients. Below, find profiles of some of them.

Would you like to be featured? Shoot us an email!

IFH Rebrands as Birch Housing

Birch Housing is a private nonprofit community housing provider with over 45 years of experience. In line with the organization’s vision that every person has a safe and quality space to live, Birch Housing has remained steadfast in its commitment to fostering social equity and providing affordable housing to those who need it.

Before rebranding as Birch Housing in 2020, the organization was known as Inter Faith Homes, operating through four separate corporations. Its complicated corporate structure reflects both its regional nature and its evolution. Each of the four was formed with the overall goal of developing new community housing, coming together at various times in the 80s and early 90s, together providing quality housing for low and moderate-income homes. Continue reading “Client Profile: IFH Rebrands as Birch Housing”

Client Profile – Pride Toronto

June is Pride Month in Toronto and no organization is busier than Pride Toronto. Founded 40 years ago following the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids, but with origins from a decade earlier, Pride Toronto is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to bring people together to celebrate the history, courage, and diversity of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Continue reading “Client Profile – Pride Toronto”

AIS joins WoodGreen – a case study on organizational integration

A Tudor style, 3-storey walk-up apartment building with 13 units built in 1995. A landscaped rear patio, and large trees add to the appeal of this building located within 10 minutes of the beaches.

An east end café was the setting for an energetic conversation between a leader of a small supportive housing program and the CEO of a large community service organization. Accommodation, Information and Support Inc. (AIS) a pioneer of the supportive housing model for persons with mental health challenges and WoodGreen Community Services, a systems leader in providing innovative solutions to challenging social issues, began a conversation about the mutual benefits of joining forces. Despite the global pandemic, we continued with our plans and completed a voluntary integration on April 1, 2020 into a single corporation, WoodGreen Community Services. We felt it was an opportune time to leverage our combined expertise to better serve clients, who need us now more than ever, with intensive mental health and supportive housing supports. Continue reading “AIS joins WoodGreen – a case study on organizational integration”

St. Clare’s celebrates opening 22 new deeply affordable housing units

The new building with its cut-steel artwork adorning the balconies.

St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society is a charitable organization that provides affordable mixed-income housing in downtown Toronto. St. Clare’s was formed in 1998 by people who knew that the only way to end homelessness was to build affordable housing. This summer, St. Clare’s celebrated the opening of 22 new deeply affordable units in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighborhood.

Continue reading “Client Profile: St. Clare’s celebrates opening 22 new deeply affordable housing units”

A shattered supply chain and unprecedented online demand; how Coach House Books has weathered the pandemic

Coach House Books’ Heidelberg printing press

Having some time at home — okay, a lot of time at home — during the pandemic has reminded many Canadians how edifying, relaxing, and downright satisfying it is to read a good book. The pandemic also reminded a lot of us how important it is to support smaller and local businesses. So, as people settled into lock-down, demand for Coach House books was high. But with a shattered supply chain, it was difficult for them to meet that demand.

Coach House Books publishes literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, and is one of only three publishers in Canada to print their own books; they have a Heidelberg press in their office, an old coach house in an alley at Bloor and Spadina in downtown Toronto. But the shut-down order issued by the province in mid-March meant that they had to close down the printing shop — at a time when only half of their Spring 2020 books had been printed. Those titles have now been rescheduled for times throughout the rest of the year.

Continue reading “A shattered supply chain and unprecedented online demand; how Coach House Books has weathered the pandemic”

How the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto is navigating COVID‑19

Audrey King, a Direct Funding program participant since 1995, and her attendant, Louis George wearing face shields as part of the personal protective equipment used to keep each other safe.

Through the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, information about where to find precious commodities like masks and gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE) items was shared and traded by many, particularly by individuals with disabilities who need regular physical assistance with activities of daily living like showering and dressing. Many people checked with traditional sources like medical supply stores, online retailers and big box stores, but not everyone would think to order surgical masks from their local convenience store to be delivered the same day, no less, via a food delivery and takeout app.

This unique suggestion came from one Toronto man in a Zoom call with a few dozen other participants of the Direct Funding program, which is administered by the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT). The participants are funded by the program to hire and manage the workers who assist them through the day; since it is impossible to maintain physical distance when one person is helping another to take a shower, PPE is critical for the health and safety of both individuals.

Continue reading “Client Profile: How the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto is navigating COVID‑19”

See more client profiles on our blog