Photo courtesy Katherine Childs.

Walking the walk
Jane Farrow, Executive Director, Jane's Walk

Jane Farrow is becoming locally and internationally renowned for her ground-breaking work in urban Walkability issues.

As Executive Director of Jane's Walk – a series of free neighbourhood walking tours named in celebration of the late Jane Jacobs, a leading urbanist, writer, and advocate – she’s helped put people in touch with their environment and with each other, closing social and geographic gaps and creating a space for urban neighbourhoods to discover themselves.

Her community involvements have been incredibly varied, ranging from radio production and program hosting (CBC and campus radio), to researching, writing and editing articles and books (The Book of Lists, Wanted Words, Saturday Night Magazine, among others), to teaching at University of Toronto, Ryerson University and George Brown College. But through it all, Jane’s committed to civic engagement and helping people in under-served neighbourhoods build networks and tools to engage meaningfully in city-building. Recently, Jane’s been spearheading research and resident consultation through North America’s first inner-suburban Walkability studies which explore some of Toronto’s poorest neighbourhoods and point to simple and inexpensive solutions for improving accessibility in high-rise communities.

Thanks to her Vital People grant, Jane will attend the international Walk 21 2010 Conference in The Netherlands, increasing her leadership skills and knowledge base by sharing civic engagement techniques and best practices and developing a resilient and resourceful network of peers.

More Information
Learn more about the Vital Toronto Fund's Vital People granting program ››