Gardening Mamas is a community-led container gardening initiative that addresses environmental inequity experienced by Black families with young children living in high-rise Toronto Community Housing in Scarborough. Rooted in a community-driven imperative, the program transforms isolated balconies into vibrant micro-ecosystems and safe, shaded outdoor spaces—critical adaptations during extreme summer heat. By centering culturally significant foods like dasheen bush (callaloo), Gardening Mamas strengthens cultural continuity, promotes healthy eating, and nurtures a deep sense of belonging and pride. The hands-on growing process supports healthy child development by enhancing fine motor skills, sensory exploration, cognitive growth, and curiosity toward the foods children help cultivate. Beyond growing food, the program grows leadership: mothers have moved from participants to program designers, securing their own grants to expand community-led projects. Gardening Mamas is a model of community resilience—turning even the unexpected, like a hummingbird visiting a 9th-floor garden, into a symbol of new ecological possibility in places where it was never imagined.

This project was funded by the City of Toronto, The EarlyON Innovation Grant: Reimagining Early Years Programming for Black Children and Families. 

TogetherKGO is a community-led pilot within the broader Food for Good (FFG) project—an initiative that strengthens local food systems in Scarborough through community-driven innovation. Led by the East Scarborough Storefront, with the Pamoja Institute serving as a key partner, the collaboration brings residents, grassroots groups, and nonprofit organizations together to address food insecurity in Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park (KGO) neighbourhoods in Scarborough.

The Pamoja Institute plays an essential role in shaping the design and development of the TogetherKGO digital tool, a hyper-local platform—Prototype v1, tentatively called KGO Connect—that maps food-related services across the neighbourhood, including informal and grassroots efforts often missing from traditional directories. Pamoja’s leadership in this space builds on related work such as the Zero Hunger App which uses socially conscious computing and AI to build cooperative food sovereignty networks in Victoria Village.

This Initiative is led by the East Scarborough Storefront

The East Scarborough Storefront is a community backbone organization dedicated to supporting local strategies, fostering collaboration, and promoting economic and social development in Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park (KGO)

Forget traditional food assistance programs that offer temporary relief. ZeroHunger is an innovative solution designed to eradicate hunger by cultivating strong community ties. Our app uses AI technology to identify opportunities to enhance resilience and social capital within communities. It’s not just about addressing immediate hunger concerns; it’s about creating robust networks that can sustain food security for future generations.

This project is a collaboration between The Pamoja Institute, Unified We Grow and Ontario Tech University.

Generous support provided by The Registered Nurses’ Foundation Of Ontario Nurse Innovator Award

Transforming Lives, Strengthening the Community

Through this project, we anticipate a ripple effect of positive outcomes in the community. The training of Black postpartum doulas leads to the provision of culturally sensitive and knowledgeable postpartum care. The newly trained doulas are anticipated to be the pillars of support for new mothers, enhancing their resilience and well-being. This, in turn, lays a foundation for healthier families and a stronger community.

The Need for a Culturally Relevant Curriculum

In a world where most doula training curriculums are Eurocentric, we recognized the need for a curriculum that is reflective of the experiences and needs of Black mothers. That's why we've taken the initiative to develop our own postpartum doula training curriculum. This culturally grounded curriculum embraces the rich history, traditions, and values of the Black community, ensuring that our doulas provide care that resonates with the cultural sensibilities of the mothers they serve.

The Genesis of the Idea

The Black Postpartum Doula Training Pilot is not an idea that emerged in isolation. Its roots are anchored in the tireless work and commitment of Jordyn Gibson, Mackenzie Watson, and Amanda Ottley during their tenure as Leading Social Justice Fellows. Recognizing the pronounced health disparities among Black mothers and babies, these three visionaries dedicated themselves to creating a world where equitable health outcomes become a reality, not a distant dream.

This project was funded by the City of Toronto, The EarlyON Innovation Grant: Reimagining Early Years Programming for Black Children and Families. 

This collection of children's stories is inspired by real-life Black women who have made a difference in their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. These stories are set in various locations across Canada, including British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Yukon, and Newfoundland, and they showcase the resilience, creativity, and determination of these women.

In one story, a young woman uses her platform to bring Black creatives together and give them a space to collaborate and express themselves openly. In another story, a Nigerian woman shares her experiences of building a life halfway around the world in a place she never expected. Another story follows a Black Jamaican Canadian woman who uses her skills to share the arts, history, and culture of African descent with her community. And in yet another story, we see the bond of sisterhood as two Black women come together to protect their community from the deadly impacts of the virus.

These stories are not only entertaining and engaging, but they are also important because they give Black children the opportunity to see themselves and their own experiences reflected in the pages of a book. By showcasing the real-life stories of Black women, this collection helps to broaden children's perspectives and inspire them to think about the world in a more inclusive way. It also helps to highlight the diversity and strength of our communities, and it encourages children to consider their own potential as leaders and agents of change.

This project was funded by the Government of Canada.