Welcome to our new blog series – Shorenet Stories – profiling members of Shorenet's first learning cohort. Shorenet is a dynamic national network committed to strengthening place-based economic development across Canada. Next up: the thriving community of Scarborough, ON.
A Neighbourhood on the Precipice of Change
Victoria Armit | Photo Credit: Siân Melton
The Greater Golden Mile stretches along Eglinton Avenue East in Toronto's Scarborough – a largely commercial corridor bounded by five areas the City of Toronto has identified as neighbourhoods facing the most inequitable outcomes. In the 1970s and 1980s, following the decline of the postwar manufacturing economy that helped shape the Golden Mile, thousands of jobs left the area as plants shifted production to other parts of Canada and abroad. Fast forward to today – the Greater Golden Mile area is home to over 93,000 people. Over the next 20 years, significant redevelopment will reshape this densely populated area. The question is: who will benefit?
Joining Shorenet was a step towards answering this question. Alongside Rosemarie Powell, Executive Director of Toronto Community Benefits Network and Anne Babcock, President and CEO of WoodGreen Community Services, Victoria Armit from The Centre for Inclusive Economic Opportunity (CIEO) joined Shorenet and made the journey to the inaugural Fogo Sessions November 3-7, 2025. It seemed to be the perfect time for the Shorenet participants to attend the Fogo Sessions together and bring their learnings back home to collectively help shape this next era in Scarborough’s story.
These organizations are collectively working towards ensuring local residents benefit from the upcoming infrastructure developments through employment and other opportunities. Over 75% of current Golden Mile residents identify as a visible minority with many struggling with a host of affordability challenges including low income, precarious housing and high unemployment rates.
We want to ensure that people not only stay in their neighbourhoods, but also leverage the economic opportunity here."
— Victoria Armit, Operations Manager, Business Growth and Community Development at CIEO
She adds that CIEO is currently exploring models for a community-centered enterprise.
Building Wealth That Stays
Witnessing the work of Shorefast’s various enterprises like Fogo Island Fish, Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island Workshops and Fogo Island Inn gave the organizations the opportunity to learn from their successes and gain a better understanding of the models used for community-centered enterprise.
One of CIEO’s own flagship initiatives, A-GM, is a community-owned construction company and joint venture with Aecon. A-GM provides residents – especially those who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to work in the trades – with an entry-point into the industry. CIEO's share of the profits (51%) will be reinvested back into the Greater Golden Mile community. Toronto Community Benefits Network has a similar approach, having built a strong community-labour partnership with a support base of workforce development agencies, learning institutions and funders.
"Currently, we're developing our principles and processes for community profit redistribution from A-GM," Armit shares. It was this work that drew CIEO to Shorenet and the Fogo Sessions. "Through the Fogo Sessions, we became familiar with a number of examples of how profit could be introduced into the community." Says Armit.
Anne Babcock | Photo Credit: Siân Melton
Rethinking Procurement
Traveling to Fogo Island also helped shape the Scarborough organizations’ approach to procurement. “Our vision is to play a role in connecting local businesses with procurement opportunities,” Armit says. But, she admits, fostering inclusive procurement with the development projects underway in Scarborough has been a challenge.
The most eye-opening experience was to see what goes into making inclusive procurement goals such a success, she adds. “It helped inspire us on how we can go beyond traditional tools.”
The most eye-opening experience was to see what goes into making inclusive procurement goals such a success, she adds. “It helped inspire us on how we can go beyond traditional tools.”
“We were able to learn in the Fogo Sessions how different local procurement models were implemented and how businesses were being engaged in that way.”
— Victoria Armit, Operations Manager, Business Growth and Community Development at CIEO
Finding Value in Shared Resources
Rosemarie Powell | Credit: Siân Melton
Other non-traditional tools that Scarbrorough’s Shorenet participants found beneficial came in the form of online training modules. Highlighting the value of pre-existing templates and tools for foundational work, the local team found them easy to pull from and tweak. “Rather than starting from scratch, there’s real value in being able to access a repository of tried-and-tested tools compiled by subject matter experts.” explained Armit.
And when it comes to relationship-building, there’s nothing as valuable as in-person interactions enabled by the Fogo Sessions on Fogo Island, participants said of an experience that fostered a new base of business and community contacts that the organizations can tap into in the future.
And when it comes to relationship-building, there’s nothing as valuable as in-person interactions enabled by the Fogo Sessions on Fogo Island, participants said of an experience that fostered a new base of business and community contacts that the organizations can tap into in the future.
As these groups take a deeper dive into building prosperity in the Greater Golden Mile area of Scarborough, Armit acknowledges the lasting impact of her recent engagement with Shorefast. “Our approach will continue to be influenced by the examples we saw through our Shorenet experience.” For a neighbourhood on the verge of transformation, those examples offer proof that development can be done differently – and that communities can be the architects of their own prosperity for years to come.