Mitzie Hunter to take CivicAction helm

Mitzie Hunter to take CivicAction helm. Mitzie Hunter has been named CEO of Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance and takes up her new post in January 2012. Courtesy/Darren Goldstein

CivicAction unites leaders from across the Greater Toronto Area from business, labour, academic, non-profit and voluntary sectors to devise solutions to issues such as the environment, housing, infrastructure, regional economic development, jobs and income and transportation.

Hunter, 40, takes the helm from outgoing CEO Julia Deans on Jan. 9 and will work with CivicAction chair John Tory. Since 2006, Hunter has co-chaired CivicAction's Emerging Leaders Network as a volunteer. She has been involved since the organization was founded in 2002.

"I believe in CivicAction. I'm very passionate about city-building," Hunter said in an interview. "It's an amazing network of people who care about the city and who are seeking ways to improve the city."

CivicAction reports Hunter beat out 200 applicants for the post.

Tory announced Hunter as CivicAction's new CEO at a recent gathering of its Emerging Leaders Network.

"With her long involvement in CivicAction and her tremendous experience working in and across sectors, Mitzie is the ideal person to lead and represent our organization..." Tory said in a statement.

Hunter was a regional director at Bell Canada in her mid-20s. From 2002 to 2009, she was a vice-president with Goodwill Industries of Toronto before she joined Toronto Community Housing.

"I worked across the region on economic development initiatives with Bell Canada," Hunter said. "Working in the non-profit sector for Goodwill has allowed me to really connect with the needs of people trying to link to the labour market, those groups that really need a hand-up to do that: newcomers, people who face barriers to employment.

"Working as part of a corporation owned by a municipality has been very helpful in understanding housing as a core asset to our city. How we need to involve all parts of our city as we do city-building. Try to ensure no one is excluded from us advancing as a city region."

Breaking Boundaries: Time to Think and Act Like a Region, the report that came out of the 2011 CivicAction city summit, will inform the 2012 priorities of the multi-sector coalition.

Hunter said a shortage of social housing across the region is reflected in wait lists for social housing, anywhere from two to 21 years, Six per cent of Torontonians, an even high percentage of seniors, live in Toronto Community Housing.

The United Way Vertical Poverty report outlines the need for major capital investment in and maintenance of existing highrise social housing stock, much of which was built in the 1960s and '70s.

"We need to involve all levels of government in that (financing) discussion, along with the social housing and affordable housing providers. We really do need to take a look at that. Provide the investments where they're needed...The City of Toronto and other municipalities, under the Housing Services Act, now need to have a strategy for housing. It now needs to be supported with this funding."

Connecting people with jobs, building a strong economic region and creating a long-term strategy to invest and co-ordinate transportation across the region remain critical files for CivicAction, Hunter said.

"What CivicAction is looking at is how do we function as a city region. How do we build a very strong economic zone in the Greater Toronto Area. How do we attract those investments that we really need. Ensuring that there is an appropriate business environment so that companies and entrepreneurs can continue to grow and provide those jobs.

"What's needed is a very good quality of life. Talent and investment is attracted to that. People want to live, work and play in very vibrant city regions."

The late David Pecaut founded the city-building group in 2002. It was formerly known as Toronto City Summit Alliance.