Dear friends of CivicAction,

As Chair of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, I would like to welcome you to this new chapter in the history of this organization.

Formerly called the “Toronto City Summit Alliance,” this organization has made a name for itself in the city-building sphere, having built a long list of accomplishments and contributions to the social, economic and environmental well-being of the Toronto region. We wanted a name that better reflects our vision and the way we work: convening civic leaders from all corners of the Toronto region to take collective actions to improve our future. People we live and work with.

Behind the scenes at CivicAction, it is very much business as usual. We are continuing work on our current initiatives - Greening Greater Toronto, DiverseCity and the Emerging Leaders Network - and we are gearing up to address the outcomes of the Greater Toronto Summit 2011. Our dedicated board, staff and interns continue to work with our many committed partners, supporters and volunteers from all sectors to identify, develop and share civic leadership.

CivicAction remains a dynamic home for delivering creative and collaborative solutions to the regional challenges that affect us all.

I was fortunate to be part of building this unique organization at its inception and have been honoured to serve as its voluntary Chair since January 2010. The Toronto City Summit Alliance has been recognized as a key city builder, and CivicAction will continue on the same path of collective leadership, thoughtful risk-taking and civic action.

Besides our new name and look, CivicAction also recently hosted our Greater Toronto Summit 2011 which took place on February 10th and 11th. The Summit follows a year-long process of identifying the major challenges facing the region and working with hundreds of relevant volunteers to build a starting point fact base and possible options for tackling these challenges going forward. The Summit itself was an opportunity to identify and decide how to best act on the most promising opportunities for our great region, in a period when reinvigorating our regional economy and growth is crucial. Coming out of the Summit, we are working on an action plan that CivicAction and our partners can collectively use to address the challenges and exploit the opportunities.

Toronto is a fantastic place, full of promise, excitement and opportunity. It is the place I love and call home and I look forward to continuing to work with you, our CEO Julia Deans, our staff and the thousands of other people involved in CivicAction and other city-building initiatives to ensure the best possible future for all of the people who live and work here.

Warm regards,

John Tory
Chair