instigator-in-chief

Yasmin plays a lead role in the company’s housing and community engagement practice, working to advance specific projects to meet the needs of our clients and diverse communities. A no-nonsense organizer, Yasmin coordinates community engagement campaigns, including the recruitment, training and supervision of neighbourhood canvass teams. She engages and coordinates stakeholder groups and helps clients to build on their existing relationships in the community.

As a dedicated advocate for social justice, Yasmin brings a wealth of experience from her years supporting at-risk and marginalized communities, especially racialized youth and their families. She has been deeply involved in multiple community engagement projects throughout her career. Her tireless work ensures that the community is granted equal rights to meet their basic needs, develop their capacity to make healthy life choices and achieve their goals. .

Eric Cohen brings a wide variety of skills, experience and leadership to Public Progress and its non-profit housing clients. 

Eric recently retired from a lengthy career as a senior executive with the Ontario Government, where his expertise spanned Finance, Procurement, Project Management, Business Planning, Communications and Change Management, Policy Development, and Systems Development. 

Eric has spent over 15 years advancing non-profit and affordable housing in Toronto, serving on the Boards of two prominent private non-profit housing foundations—the Ridgeford Charitable Foundation and the Brenyon Way Charitable Foundation -- playing an instrumental role in overseeing three high-rise towers in Scarborough, encompassing 650 apartments and 112 townhouses. Notably, this includes a new 180-unit tower completed in 2022.

Eric is at the forefront of the foundation’s latest project—a new development in Scarborough that is currently under construction and will add two more apartment towers with 300 affordable units, scheduled for completion in 2026.

Eric has also served on the Board of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association, is an active member of HousingNowTO (a volunteer group advocating for increased affordable housing in Toronto) and is the founding Board Chair of Renew Non-Profit Housing Corporation. 

His extensive volunteer experience also includes serving as Board Chair of a community service organization, a private school, and as a City of Toronto appointee to the Board of the Canadian National Exhibition Association.

Paul Smith, Senior Consultant (Kingston, Ontario)

Paul has joined the Public Progress affordable housing practice where he will support non-profit, post-secondary and municipal clients with transitional, supportive, affordable and student housing projects from the company’s offices in Kingston, Ontario. 

Paul will play a lead role liaising with municipalities and agencies across eastern Ontario. 

Paul recently retired from a successful career in post-secondary student services and career development alongside extensive involvement with community groups in the not-for-profit

sector. He has worked with agencies involved in transitional housing, child and youth welfare, career transition / workforce development and, just for fun, community theatre. He has also

been a political organizer in Ontario and in his native Newfoundland and Labrador.

A volunteer Board Member of Ryandale Transitional Housing in Kingston, Paul is well-versed in the operation and funding of transitional and supportive housing and the needs of vulnerable

clients.

Paul is a frequent conference presenter, a skilled networker, and an advocate for allowing people to reach their potential. Time and again, in his working life and in his community involvement, he has stepped up and pitched in to help others succeed.

Bri Gardner-Ford brings her award-winning community experience to Public Progress, managing social media content and providing support for our housing and shelter community engagement projects. Bri is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor-General’s Community Service Award, an RBC INSPIRE Award, and a LAMP CHC Award of Merit.  Currently pursuing a Master of Theological Studies at the University of Toronto, she holds a Specialized Hon. BA in Political Science from York University.

Bri is also the Managing Director of the South Etobicoke Community Land Trust and has been twice elected People’s Warden of St Margaret New Toronto. Throughout her career, Bri has gained considerable experience working with LAMP Community Health Centre for over ten years to coordinate fundraisers and community events. She sits on the advisory committee to the GARDENS Pod Project, was a founding member of the Lakeshore Affordable Housing Advocacy and Action Group, and sat on the advisory committee of the South Etobicoke Housing Affordability research project at Humber Polytechnic.

Bri spent two years as Events and Communications Coordinator of the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre, managing numerous marketing campaigns for the museum while cultivating its brand identity. She worked with numerous artists, arts administrators, and students to promote and market art exhibitions and events. 

Diana Chan McNally (she/they) brings her considerable experience to Public Progress as a long-time, passionate community worker with homeless people. As someone with lived-experience of social services and of being unhoused, Diana is a well-known and respected advocate whose work focuses on equitable service access and a rights-based approach to homelessness. She has a Dipl. CW, BFA, MA, MEd.  

Diana is also an education professional, teaching at the post-secondary level as well as in the community and social services sector. Her early career was in design and communications, including as a graphic designer and illustrator in the University of Toronto's news room.

In addition to working with Public Progress, Diana is a Maytree Fellow and a recently appointed member of the City of Toronto's Housing Rights Advisory Committee.