Selected Projects/Experience  •  Community Benefits

Metrolinx (2010-2014)

Dina negotiated the regional transportation agency's groundbreaking Community Benefits Framework in 2014. The Framework commits Metrolinx to maximize apprenticeship, training, employment and local supplier opportunities on the Toronto transit projects. Community benefits are now being implemented on the $5B Eglinton Crosstown LRT, and community benefits requirements are being included in tenders for other Metrolinx LRT projects across the region.

Employer:  Metrolinx
Role:  Director, Community and Stakeholder Relations

Community Benefits in Practice and in Policy: Lessons from the US and the UK (2016)

Dina travelled to Los Angeles with the Atkinson Foundation’s Executive Director for a study tour in the spring of 2016 to interview different stakeholders working to further equitable economic development through community benefits. This report examines best practices in the US and UK and provides recommendations about the adoption of community benefits by governments and public agencies in Ontario.

Client:  Atkinson Foundation
Role:   Consultant, Author
Read the paper

Ontario’s Long Term Infrastructure Plan (2017)

Working with members of Community Benefits Ontario (a network of Ontario nonprofits, foundations, labour groups, community organizations, municipal representatives and social enterprise leaders),  Dina wrote a detailed submission to the Government of Ontario about how to incorporate community benefits into the province’s long-term infrastructure plan.

Client:  Atkinson Foundation
Role:   Consultant

Community Benefits and Tower Renewal (2015)

This report provides an overview of how community benefits have been used in the U.S., Canada and Scotland, and explores how they can be used to revitalize high-rise tower neighbourhoods in need of both physical rehabilitation and socio-economic revitalization.

Client:  Evergreen
Role:  Consultant, Author
Read the paper

Realizing Social and Economic Objectives through Infrastructure Planning and Investment (2017)

Dina co-authored a study that explores how municipalities can incorporate community benefits into their asset management planning, provides preliminary thinking as to how community benefits can be evaluated, and provides recommendations for successful implementation.

Client:  Evergreen
Role:    Consultant, Co-Author with Neluka Leanage
Read the paper

RFQs/RFPs

 

Dina consults to private contractors who are tendering bids for infrastructure projects that have community benefits requirements.  Previous and current clients include Comtech, Kiewit Canada and Trillium Transit Partners.