February 4, 2021
City of Toronto Executive Committee
Re: Agenda Item Ex. 20.7 – Advancing the Community Benefits Framework
Dear Executive Committee Members,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Scarborough Business Association, the voice of Scarborough’s businesses, to express our support for the Toronto Community Benefits Network’s (TCBN) recommendations to the Advancing the Community Benefits Framework, which aims to foster and develop an inclusive workforce and business landscape by creating opportunities for local hiring and training for Toronto residents and social procurement for local businesses and diverse suppliers.
The proposed Community Benefits Framework represents a focused, inclusive and equitable framework for sustainable community development which aims to maximize economic opportunities for Scarborough’s businesses and residents as they relate to development projects in our community. For these reasons, the SBA stands ready, willing and able to work with Scarborough’s anchor institutions, the City of Toronto and the TCBN to help connect Scarborough’s businesses, entrepreneurs and residents to opportunities resulting from the framework’s adoption.
With many major developments planned for Scarborough in the near future, we believe the framework’s focus on workforce development, training and employment; social procurement from local businesses, diverse suppliers or social enterprises; and creating tangible community benefits, such as affordable housing and community space is right for our community. In order to achieve these goals, we strongly support TCBN’s recommendations that the framework set a 10% minimum hard target for equity hiring in construction on all large scale capital projects and designate TCBN as a key strategic City partner to support the negotiations, implementation, monitoring and evaluation functions of the City’s Community Benefits Framework.
Throughout COVID-19, the SBA has remained intensely focused on highlighting Scarborough’s economic advantages of location, skilled labour and diversity. The recommendations proposed by the TCBN to the Community Benefits Framework would help solidify these advantages and would help make Scarborough a more prosperous, inclusive and dynamic community for residents and businesses alike.
Sincerely,
Andrea Hazell
President of the Scarborough Business Association
Scarborough Business Association
10 Thornmount Dr. Scarborough, ON M1B 3J4 | 647-979-2677 info@scarboroughbusinessassociation.com | www.scarboroughbusinessassociation.com