Hi neighbours!
If you’ve been following along, you might have noticed we mentioned something new in our last post about the community walk.
We’re launching a Community of Practice, a series of monthly in-person gatherings where neighbours get to meet each other, share ideas, and think about the future of Cedarvale Park and Ravine.
For over 10 years, Friends of Cedarvale has been bringing people together through stewardship, litter pickup, and nature walks. These are wonderful ways to care for the park, and yet we’ve been hearing from neighbours that they want more chances to meet each other, more space to share ideas, and more ways to be part of shaping what happens in this place we all share and care about.
Also, did you know that 66% of Toronto residents know only a few of their neighbours, or none at all? We want to change that!
In simple terms, it’s a group of people who come together regularly around a shared interest or place, to learn from one another and work towards something together. Ours is rooted in Cedarvale Park and Ravine.
We’ll be coming up with a better name for this project… “community of practice” is a bit of a mouthful, and this group deserves something that feels like ours 🌱
From end of June to December 2026, we’ll gather once a month for 1.5-hour sessions. Each gathering will follow a simple structure:
Time for connection and meeting neighbours
Quick updates from Friends of Cedarvale on what we’ve been working on
Interactive activities where we share ideas and think together
Open sharing and next steps
The first few months will focus on getting to know each other and exploring what neighbours care about most. Later sessions will shift toward looking at those ideas together and figuring out what’s possible.
No experience or preparation are needed! You can also come to one session or all of them (we will love to see you every month).
Everyone in our neighbourhood! Whether you walk your dog here every morning, play cricket on weekends, bring your kids to the playground, steward with us on Saturdays and Mondays, or just enjoy sitting on a bench, this is for you. We want to bring together people who use the park in different ways, connect longtime residents with newcomers, and create a space for ideas to grow.
Our longer-term goal is to turn this pilot project into a process model — a documented set of steps, tools, and learnings that other neighbourhood groups across Toronto can adapt to their own parks and green spaces. The City of Toronto has also expressed interest in supporting this project, which opens the door to connecting with other groups caring for parks and ravines across the city.
But right now, it starts with us and with Cedarvale.
Join us for our community walk on Saturday, June 6 (2pm–4pm) and launch of the pilot project. Ten stops, ten different neighbours and community members, and a picnic after. It’s free, open to everyone, and a great way to meet neighbours and learn more about the park.
🗓️ Date: Saturday, June 6
⏰ Time: 2:00-4:00 PM
📍 Meeting Point: Heath Street West entrance by the St. Clair West subway exit.
👟 You can join us at any point along the route. If you need help finding us, contact Valentina at friendsofcedarvale@gmail.com
A quick note on weather: the walk will happen rain or shine! If it’s heavy rain, we may postpone it to the next weekend. So far the weather seems to be clear during the walk hours at our neighbourhood. We’ll send an update tomorrow morning with the latest forecast. Keep an eye out for that!
As always, this event is free and no registration is required, but we recommend grabbing a free Eventbrite ticket if you’d like to receive an email reminder. You can get your ticket here!
If you’re interested in being part of the monthly sessions, fill out our interest form (it takes less than a minute and helps us plan):
Any questions? Reply to this email or reach out to us at friendsofcedarvale@gmail.com
It’s been a long time coming, and we can’t wait to build this together.
Hope to see you Saturday,
Valentina
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