As the changing labour market forces more people into precarious employment and low-income work, the Metcalf Foundation is committed to supporting the individuals, organizations, and ideas that can strengthen our communities’ economic well-being.

The Resilient Neighbourhood Economies (RNE) project was a three-year pilot that ran from 2012–2015. It was designed to help create economic opportunities for low-income residents of Thorncliffe Park and Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park.

Working alongside community partners that were already active in economic development in these two neighbourhoods — East Scarborough Storefront, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Thorncliffe Park Women’s Committee, and the Centre for City Ecology — we designed a program framework that allowed us to shift our goals and alter activities based on what was being tested and learned by our partners on the ground.

The Metcalf Foundation is pleased to share our findings from the project in Resilient Neighbourhood Economies: A Foundation’s strategic learning from a three-year investment in local economies. Charting the origins of the pilot project, its undertakings, and the lessons we learned along the way, the report is intended to inform others interested in undertaking local economic place-based work and forging community-foundation partnerships.