Work at CSI for the day with our new Lounge Pass!

CSI Supports: Leadership from our CEO during COVID-19

CSI was created to build social cohesion – we have been carefully designed to facilitate human-to-human connections. You can just imagine what the idea of social distancing does to us – it pretty much breaks our hearts. Today I am writing to you to announce that we have decided to close our spaces and move our love and belonging into the cloud where we will continue to foster community and social innovation together.

For the last week, CSI has been implementing increasing levels of social distancing and now, with Ontario’s Emergency shut down, we have made the difficult but responsible decision to close our buildings effective Wednesday, March 18 at 4pm. We have made this choice because we believe that a community-wide effort is needed as we work together to #flattenthecurve and protect our vulnerable populations.

What does this mean for you, our community?

  • Our buildings are closed to the community and public at this time. No public events will be permitted in the space. All common areas will be closed. Tenants and members will still be able to access their own spaces and are strongly encouraged to stay home in solidarity with those most at risk.
  • We will also be closing our event spaces and asking for planned events to be postponed effective tomorrow in order to adhere to the call to action from Canada’s top health officer, from Toronto Public Health, and the Premier to cancel all gatherings of 10 people or more.
  • We will not be postponing any meeting room bookings at this time but we do strongly recommend to members that they consider moving their meetings online or postponing them as a way to maintain the two metres of distance recommended by our health officials to combat COVID-19 transmission.
Just as fast as we are closing our spaces, we are also opening up new online convenings and ramping up our news and information about local solutions and strategies to help us all through this extremely challenging time. Watch our daily online newsletter – CLICK – for all of the latest from around the world and right here at home. We are also organizing a major online convening on how COVID-19 may be a catapult to the Next Economy and devising a Universal Basic Income advocacy strategy. Ironically, we were already implementing a digital transformation – talk about an impetus to make that happen faster than ever. Suffice it to say that we expect to be very busy in the coming weeks as we work to feel a little less isolated and a little more socially connected.

We have no idea how long this will last but we will be reviewing this position on a daily basis. I think it is fair to say that we expect to be out for at least as long as the schools are out and are looking to the province and Toronto Public Health for their best advice.

Strangely, when you step back, it is kind of amazing that the world is demonstrating its capacity to act at a global level to address a global threat. Never in the history of the world have we ever seen such clear alignment and demonstration of what we are capable of. This gives me profound hope and maybe, just maybe, we will see that this capacity can be applied to many of the other global threats that we face. The one thing I know is that we are being forever changed.

With so much solidarity and love in my heart, please take care, reach out if you need something, use this moment to breathe, appreciate what we do have, and act with patience and love.

In peace,

Tonya Surman
CEO, Centre for Social Innovation
Keep Reading
CSI Spadina in the ground floor kitchen, looking out towards the lounge and meeting rooms. In the foreground is a kitchen counter, with waffles, toppings, and glasses of coffees and teas. In the background, CSI CEO Tonya Surman is speaking into a microphone on the left. In the middle and on the right, a variety of people stand and sit, listening to her speak.
One of the keys to CSI's magic is our Community Animator Program (CAP) and, specifically, the Community Animators themselves! Through this program, we've worked with more than 1,000 exceptional individuals who have each brought a little something different, and a little sparkle, to our spaces. And we're so glad to have had them in our community, because we've learned that each and every one of them has some exceptional talents, skills, and experiences to offer the world!  
Third floor lounge of CSI Spadina. In the foreground is a light blue loveseat sofa. In the background, we see two people working separately at coworking desks and tables. On the ceiling is a chandelier; to the right, a progress Pride flag.
The CSI staff team includes Pride veterans, newcomers, and everywhere in between! This year, as we celebrated Pride in our spaces and with our member community, we turned to our staff team to learn what Pride means to them. Some experienced it for the first time this year and were awash in the joy; others delighted in the fact that Pride remains such a fun celebration decades later. Others noted the increasing corporatization, which draws our attention away from the central premise of Pride - a protest.
whai header
CSI is many things - a coworking space, a non-profit organization, and a launchpad - but, first and foremost, we are a community. A community of innovators, of changemakers, of neighbours, of people putting people and planet first. And the awesome work that our members do, each and every day, never ceases to amaze us! So of course, we do our best to highlight our members whenever possible. Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Molly Bannerman, Director of Women HIV/Aids Initiative (WHAI), a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among cis and trans women in Ontario. Below is an edited summary of our chat, where we discussed the work of WHAI and their latest Collective Action Community Change report.
Become A Member