“For more than 20 years, The East Scarborough Storefront has been exploring innovative and groundbreaking ways to support the people in East Scarborough. University of Toronto students have played a significant role in the organization’s evolution. There are so many examples of when students, especially students from UTSC, stepped up for the local community that it is hard to pick just one.  We are grateful for students supporting so much including: frontline work; focus groups and facilitated conversations; the development of an internal website; research and research support; and the development and implementation of the course Cities and Community Development, which has been offered at UTSC for 8 years. With the help of several students who documented reflections and learnings, and conducted literature reviews, we have recently published, A Connected Community Approach: Citizens and Governments Working Together Towards Community-Centered Resilience. Students are a key part of any ecosystem, and it has been a truly rewarding experience to share learnings with so many as they try their hand at taking theoretical knowledge to real life scenarios.” 

East Scarborough Storefront