Events
YES IN MY BACKYARD (YIMBY) FESTIVAL
The YIMBY! Festival provides a social space for people and groups involved in grassroots, locally-driven community development to gather, exchange ideas and strategies to effect change, and imagine their future city. It's a chance to celebrate achievements and identify new challenges and opportunities, in an atmosphere focused on listening, learning and engaging.
The YIMBY festival was founded by Christina Zeidler in 2006 as a result of her work with neighbourhood groups who were responding to widespread unchecked development in Toronto's Queen West Triangle. She realized that many neighbourhood groups were presumed to engage solely in antagonistic relationships that pitted them against city policy makers, and unfairly labeled them as being part of a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) movement. YIMBY is about promoting the role of neigbourhood groups as a positive force for change, who seek developments and projects that enhance the quality of life of the community, and bring the vitality that meets local needs. Local residents know the most about the needs and challenges of their neighborhoods, and the festival stresses the importance of working with government staff and the development, business and institutional sectors to take charge of the planning process in their area.
Toronto has a rich history of civic engagement and community involvement. This one-day event invites community groups from across Toronto to turn the table on politicians and policy makers, to educate them and each other about the issues that face each community. This is an opportunity for neighbours to meet neighbours, residents to meet politicians and politicians to meet community groups in the spirit of people coming together for positive change.
No RSVP necessary! Anyone is welcome to drop in anytime between 11:00 and 4:00. A kids' table will be provided for our youngest Torontonians.
