For the past six years, Effie Vlachoyannacos has worked on diverse community engagement programs and campaigns across Toronto, with particular focus on Scarborough.
With Public Interest, Effie has worked extensively with tenants in Toronto Community Housing on a variety of housing, environmental, and children’s program projects, including Save Our Structures, Building Stronger Futures and the Anti-Ableism Committee. In addition, Effie has also contributed to Toronto Community Housing policy reviews, organizing the LeSage review into the tenant eviction process and assisting in the development of a partnership framework for the organization.
As past Coordinator of the Scarborough Civic Action Network, Effie organized multiple annual Scarborough Community Summits, which engaged residents to identify issues and solutions that addressed local challenges. Effie’s work with Scarborough residents has included organizing on transit accessibility issues and local health care concerns with The Scarborough Hospital, in addition to supporting the development of two community hubs in Scarborough.
Effie’s work with Public Interest has also involved support for provincial and national not-for-profit organizations. Effie supports Canadian Doctors for Medicare, a physician-led organization that advocates for the maintenance and improvement of Canada's universal, single-payer health care system. This support involves membership development, and developing and implementing cohesive communication strategies. Effie’s work with the Centre for Civic Governance has included the coordination of a network of over 300 members that include municipally elected representatives for the Columbia Institute. She has organized large annual Forums, focused on sharing best practices, current and emerging policy analysis in a variety of fields and providing tools for locally elected leaders to implement and improve environmental initiatives and policies in their communities.
Effie is an active member of the Good Jobs for All Coalition, Public Transit Coalition, and Chair of the board of directors for the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations. Effie was raised in North York and Scarborough, is a graduate of York University and holds a Bachelor of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
