Session 3 | October 10, 2025 | Virtual
Session 3 centered community partners’ lived experiences and expertise, using their work as a foundation for collective reflection, learning, and co-creation. Through panel discussions and breakout groups, participants explored how communities define themselves, navigate systemic challenges, and align their work with the SDGs.
Session 3 featured the following community voices:
 | Oliver Blunn, COO, Nucleus Independent Living Oliver Blunn has over 15 years’ experience leading innovation, strategy, and quality-based initiatives within home and community care. Oliver has a proven track record of advancing integrated, person-centred models of care. A trusted system collaborator, Oliver serves in leadership roles at local planning tables, including Co-Chairing the Mississauga OHT Digital Planning Table and two reginal PSW programs including hospital to home. With prior leadership experience at the Mississauga Halton LHIN managing performance-based funding and Indigenous partnerships, Oliver brings both strategic insight and operational depth to the evolving home and community care landscape. |
 | Mark Raghu, Senior Manager, Education Programs, YouthLink Mark Raghu, born and raised in Scarborough, has a lifelong connection to the community he now serves. For over 12 years, he has found a sense of purpose working within YouthLink’s Pathways to Education program in Scarborough Village—one of Toronto’s Neighborhood Improvement Areas—beginning as a frontline worker and rising to his current role as Senior Manager. His academic journey reflects his professional passion, having studied Social Service Work and Education, and earning a Master’s in Education with a focus on the socio-cultural context of learning. Mark’s work bridges education and community, fostering opportunities and support for local youth in the very neighborhood where he grew up. |
 | Zohra Rahman, Director of Community, Housing and Equity, YouthLink I hold a Masters in Social Work and a BA with honours in Criminology from York University. For over 10 years I provided trauma informed care in partnership with Guns and Gangs Parole and Probation, facilitated extra judicial sanctions programs and created curriculum and evaluations for "justice" involved youth. Becoming certified in EMDR in 2015, I established my psychotherapy practice- 5 Pillars. I am currently Director of Equity, Advocacy and Partnerships at YouthLink and a Professor at George Brown College in the SSW program. I am certified in Triple P, Gender Based Violence and am passionate about co- creating restorative justice models. I operate using a strength-based and asset focused lens and have led several needs assessments and research projects. I am a community advocate, visionary leader and dynamic facilitator who has been dedicated to youth work since 2004. I am a registered member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers since 2014. |
Session Summary
- Community-Defined Meaning: Community was framed as a system of reciprocal care, belonging, and shared responsibility rather than simply a collection of individuals.
- SDGs in Practice: Community partners illustrated how SDGs such as health, education, reduced inequalities, and sustainable cities guide real-world programming and advocacy.
- Interconnected Challenges: Participants explored overlaps between health, housing, education, climate, and economic precarity, emphasizing the interdependence of SDGs.
- Universities as Anchor Institutions: Discussions highlighted opportunities for universities to support community priorities through partnerships, mentorship, experiential learning, and applied research.
- Youth & Aging Populations: Parallel themes emerged around isolation, access to care, and the need for relationship-based, preventative approaches across generations.
- From Dialogue to Action: Participants expressed interest in advancing applied, community-driven projects that integrate research, practice, and SDG outcomes.
The presentations were very compelling. I appreciated that we were able to apply our CoP's collective capacity to helping these community organizations address big problems/questions - it seems like a good use of our CoP.
CoP Member