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.
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.
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. Despite a higher than average education rate, 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
Postal Codes:
Victoria Village (Includes Flemingdon Park) M4A, M3C
Golden Mile M1L, M1K
Ionview (Includes Kennedy Park and Eglinton East) M1K, M1J
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.
Small Business Catalyzer
A coordinated set of training and supports for new and emerging retail entrepreneurs.
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
Founding members of the ILEO initiative:
Ayman Antoun
President, IBM Canada
Anne Babcock
President and Chief Executive Officer, WoodGreen Community Services
John M. Beck
Founder and non-Executive Chairman, Aecon Group Inc.
Denise Campbell
Executive Director, Social Development, Finance & Administration, City of Toronto
Giuliana Carbone
Deputy City Manager, Community & Social Services, City of Toronto
Mitchell Cohen
President, The Daniels Corporation
Dean Connor
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sun Life Financial
Ehren Cory
President and Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Ontario
Dan Doctoroff
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sidewalk Labs
Cynthia Du Mont
Executive Director, West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre
Michael Friisdahl
President and Chief Executive Officer, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Meric Gertler
President, University of Toronto
Jonathan Gitlin
President and Chief Operating Officer, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
Claude Guay
President and General Manager, IBM Canada
Cynthia Hansen
Executive Vice President and President, Gas Distribution & Storage, Enbridge
John Honderich
Chair of the Board, Torstar Corporation
Sandy Houston
President and Chief Executive Officer , Metcalf Foundation
Nicolas Marcoux
Chief Executive Officer, PwC Canada
Michael McCain
President and Chief Executive Officer, Maple Leaf Foods
Marcia Moffat
Managing Director and Country Head of Canada, BlackRock
Colette Murphy
Chief Executive Officer , Atkinson Foundation
Andrew Pickersgill
Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company Canada
Allison Pond
Chief Executive Officer, ACCES Employment
Marcie Ponte
Executive Director, Working Women Community Centre
Rosemarie Powell
Executive Director, Toronto Community Benefits Network
Andrew Pringle
Principal and Chairman, RP Investment Advisors
Ginelle Skerritt
Executive Director, Warden Woods Community Centre
Kenneth Tanenbaum
Vice-Chairman, Kilmer Van Nostrand Co. Ltd.
Darryl White
Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group (Co-Chair)
Mike Williams
General Manager, Economic Development & Culture, City of Toronto
Beth Wilson
Canada Chief Executive Officer, Dentons
Daniele Zanotti
President & Chief Executive Officer, United Way Greater Toronto (Co-Chair)
Access the ILEO Resource Hub
If you are a ILEO partner organization, you can access all ILEO resources here.