About Us – 20 Years of Exploration & Service

Innovation Toronto is supported by 2 charities, The Learning Support Council of Canada and The Greater Toronto Community Clearinghouse, serving locally, regionally and globally since 1993.

LSC and GTCC would like to thank the thousands of volunteers, corporations and NGOs who have made our work in the community possible.  This great collaboration helped thousands to learn, survive and even thrive in a difficult economic environment.

 

Greater Toronto Community Clearinghouse (GTCC)

153 . 169 . 185 Eastern Avenue Photos

 Activity Highlights Since 1993

1. Implemented “Project: Warmth” that distributed over 250,000 sleeping bags and blankets to the homeless in the GTA for over 8 years in collaboration with Canadian Tire, Toronto Police, Toronto Fire, Citytv, CTV and many other caring community partners.
2. Incubated “Chill Out” that collected clothing and household goods for distribution to the poor and needy.
3. Acted as the GTA staging facility for Manitoba Flood Relief in 1994.
4. Acted as the GTA staging facility for Saguenay Flood Relief in 1995.
5. Acted as the GTA staging facility for Kosovo Relief sponsored by Canadian Tire in 1998.
6. Acted as the GTA staging facility for the Eastern Ontario/ Quebec Ice Storm of 1999.
7. Created “Toronto Cooks” with the top chefs of Toronto in collaboration with Second Harvest to get great hot meals to those in the dark triangle in Quebec who hadn’t had a hot meal in weeks.
8. Created Project: Water that provided over 100,000 bottles of water to the homeless during high-heat summer periods.
9. Provided space for “Raising the Roof”, a national charity focused on helping to generate money and awareness about homelessness.
10. Provided ongoing overflow warehousing for The United Way of Greater Toronto.
11. Created and ran 5 Auction.org live auctions to raise money for charity at our169 Eastern Avenue facility.
12. Have delivered over 87,500+ computers and peripherals to schools, non-profit organizations, community agencies and monetarily challenged individuals in Canada and 17 other countries.
13. Facilitated the creation and execution of Student Vote Canada which is a national program to engage high school youth in a mock vote to teach them the value of participating in the democratic process through participation in local, provincial and federal elections.
14. Incubated over 38 different community initiatives over 19 years of operation.
15. Facilitated and organized the first Toronto Startup Weekend.
16. Facilitated and organized the first Toronto Facebook Weekend.
17. Supported the creation, implementation and ongoing development of Innovation Toronto
18. Supported the research and development of the Resource Auction project.

We wish to thank the Premier and the Government of Ontario for providing the  60,000 sq. ft. facilities that made our work possible.

A special shout out to former Mayor of Toronto Barbara Hall for helping us to secure the facilities.

 

Activity Highlights Since 1993

1. Created the first computer refurbishing/redistribution program (The Technology For Learning Project) in Canada (Toronto) that redeployed over 85,000 working computers back into the community to schools, non-profit organizations, community agencies and promising individuals.
2. Helped to create a similar provincial program in Nova Scotia with the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Industry Canada (initial regional project for Computers for Schools).
3. Helped the Science Council of British Columbia to create a similar provincial program for B.C. (second provincial program for Computers for Schools).
4. Held 2 Learning Summits, sponsored by CIBC, bringing together leaders from business, education and the community to explore mutual opportunities to help learning evolve to meet the needs of the 21^st century.
5. Created and executed The First National Youth Referendum that engaged high school students across Canada  in a mock election during the 1995 Referendum.
6. Piloted a unique combination of computer hardware/software training with the refurbishing program in collaboration with the Scarborough Board of Education.
7. Cloned the Scarborough pilot in York Region with the York Region Catholic Separate School Board and in Hamiltonwith the Hamilton-Wentworth Board of Education.
8. Helped to create a national program/council for the marketing and promotion of a national standard for computer hardware technicians A+ in collaboration with Human Resources Development Canada, the Sector Council for the Electronic Appliance Service Industry (EASI) and representatives from the I/CT industry.
9. Convened, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the first North American Conference on Technology Redeployment at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
10. Consulted to the Office of the Vice President (United States) on the process of distributing technology from federal government agencies to have-not schools in the United States.
11. Worked in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning, the British Council, the Commonwealth Secretariat and others to create the Commonwealth Education Network for Schools and Education (CENSE).
12. Facilitated the creation and execution of Student Vote Canada which is a national program to engage high school youth in a mock vote to teach them the value of participating in the democratic process through participation in local, provincial and federal elections.
13. Supported the creation, implementation and ongoing development of Innovation Toronto.
14. Supported the creation of the first Toronto Facebook Weekend.
15. Sponsored The Jamaican Literacy Camp Initiative now in its 5th year.  This project enables grade 4 students to stay in school in order to have a chance at a bright future.  Made possible with the generous support of The Funding Network – Toronto Fund.
16. Supported the research and development of the Resource Auction project.

 

A sampling of the great projects and programs that we are pleased to have helped over time:

 

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The Technology for Learning Project (TLC Project)