By Dawar Naeem
(Dawar is a journalist with the Focus Media Arts Centre, working under the direction of  Dimitrije Martinovic and Fred Alvarado, journalists employed under CACTUS's Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada))

The Employment and Economic Development Working Group is one of the four priority areas of the Regent Park Social Development Plan.   The committee comprised of TCHC residents, Market residents. Service Providers and Grassroots Groups meets monthly.
 
The February 15, 2022, bi-monthly meeting of the EED Working Group was facilitated by the new TCHC co-chair, Ismail Afrah.   Ismail was supported by Gail Lynch, the Market resident Co-chair.
 
One of the city funded initiatives of the Employment and Economic Working Group was to hire a coordinator to implement the research recommendations from the EED Community Research Report that was released in the fall of 2021.   Among the roles of the coordinator was to strengthen the Employment and Economic Table’s presence in the community to increase resident’s awareness and ability to connect with employment opportunities, programs and services.
 
At the meeting, Michael Psulanthar, representing the project trustee from Yonge Street Mission, announced that the EED coordinator who was carrying out this project will not be continuing in the position. Michael informed the group that the role will be reviewed prior to rehiring.   No information was forthcoming on why the position was ended due to confidentiality issues.
 
Following Michael’s announcement Gail Lynch announced her interest in starting a Women’s Entrepreneurship Women’s Group. The group will be focused on supporting women residents of Regent Park interested in entrepreneur activities.   Gail announced that she will begin outreaching for members.
 
Ismail Afrah announced that the EED working group with support from service providers, submitted a $200,000 application to the Metcalf Foundation in support of employment and entrepreneurship related initiatives.   The results of the application will be known in April.
 
There were three presentations made at the EED meeting: one from Tridel about employment, training and scholarship opportunities; one from the Centre for Learning and Development about employment training and skills development targeted at immigrant women from Regent Park and around the City; and one from the Evaluation and Benchmark committee.
 
The EED Working Group meets on the third Tuesday of each month from 5 pm to 7 pm.