instigator-in-chief
Bruce Davis, President, Public Progress
Bruce Davis is a consultant specializing in communications, community outreach, development consulting and project management. He is a facilitator, project manager, public speaker, writer and housing nerd with 30+ years working at the intersection of private business, government and the public.
He is also the chief instigator at Public Progress.
These days Bruce is primarily focused on the creation of quality, safe, affordable housing; he has worked on more than ten Rapid Housing projects since 2020 on community outreach or project management. He routinely works with clients to develop housing, from site selection to feasibility analysis to community engagement and project management.
In the 1980's and 90's Bruce ran political campaigns across Canada and raised money for various charities. For nine years he worked for the Canadian Red Cross in fundraising, strategic planning and blood donor recruitment before moving to a small advertising agency. In 1997 he co-founded Urban Intelligence, a small municipal affairs consultancy, and Novae Res Urbis, a municipal news service. In 2002 he was a partner in the acquisition and relaunch of a small publishing company in the UK.
Since 1997 Bruce has been involved in policy issues across Canada, including the passage of non-smoking by-laws across Ontario and the first Toronto by-law banning the cosmetic use of pesticides. His practice has also included work on economic development, real estate development, housing, energy, public health, environmental issues and tax policy.
Bruce is no stranger to issues affecting Canada’s most vulnerable citizens. In 1990 he was the first Returning Officer in Canada to enumerate homeless voters. In 1995 as a volunteer he helped establish an Out-of-the-Cold program in downtown Toronto. He was a community outreach consultant on the redevelopment of Liberty House as supportive housing at 793 Gerrard Street East. Since then he has been involved in the launching of several affordable housing projects, respite sites, municipal shelters and consumption treatment centres. In 2021-2021 Bruce managed the City of Kingston's encampment working group, helping to manage challenging issues facing unhoused individuals and the community.
Bruce has worked with young offenders, Somali-Canadian women focused on youth violence, organizations serving asylum-seekers, and from 2000 to 2010 Bruce was a trustee on the Toronto District School Board -- at that time a $2.5-billion organization. He has sat on the board of a regional theatre and a local BIA and now sits on the board of the South Etobicoke Community Land Trust. In 2012 Bruce received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his community service.
In addition to his work on social justice issues and housing, Bruce has also owned and operated a B & B (2008-2016), founded a small craft brewery (2011-2018) and owned and operated a 100-seat bar (2016-2020).
Bruce divides his time between Toronto and Kingston, Ontario.
Key team members
Yasmin Yusuf, Housing and Community Engagement Consultant (Toronto, ON)
Yasmin Yusuf, Housing and Community Engagement Consultant (Toronto, ON)
Yasmin Yusuf, Housing and Community Engagement Consultant (Toronto, ON)
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. .
Alexa Gilmour, Community Engagement Specialist (Toronto, ON)
Yasmin Yusuf, Housing and Community Engagement Consultant (Toronto, ON)
Yasmin Yusuf, Housing and Community Engagement Consultant (Toronto, ON)
Alexa works closely with the Public Progress team on specific housing, health and community development outreach assignments. Whether she is working with local Business Improvement Association, housing clients, faith leaders or community organizations, Alexa brings her organizational skills and values to deliver projects on time, on budget and with exceptional results.
Alexa is a sought-after preacher, public speaker, and author of magazine articles on topics of poverty, homelessness, and refugees, and has been highly effective providing public engagement and outreach service with Public Progress. Alexa’s calling spans many aspects of service and justice. Her work with refugees began in 2013 when she led her congregation in a decision to provide sanctuary, for a year and a half, within their walls to a refugee family facing deportation. In 2016, she founded The Stone Soup Network, which was recognized by the City of Toronto with a City Champion Award for exemplary service to community during the COVID pandemic. She was on the ground during the summer of 2023 supporting African refugee claimants who were sleeping outside. If she isn’t at work, she is giggling over a good joke with her spouse and their five children or hiking a trail in the City or Provincial parks.
Eric Cohen, Senior Consultant (Toronto, ON)
Paul Smith, Senior Consultant (Kingston, ON)
Paul Smith, Senior Consultant (Kingston, ON)
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, ON)
Paul Smith, Senior Consultant (Kingston, ON)
Paul Smith, Senior Consultant (Kingston, ON)
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.