Centre For Local Research into Public Space (CELOS)
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You are on the [Urban Fellows 2024] page of folder [Research Library ]
For the cover page of this folder go to the Urban Fellows Program 2024
June 17,2024
From: Jutta Mason <mail@celos.ca> Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 6:54 PM Subject: Concern about your Urban Fellows program To: <MaryMadiganLee@toronto.ca> Cc: Councillor Bravo <Councillor_Bravo@toronto.ca>, <PaulJohnson@toronto.ca>
Dear Mary Madigan-Lee,
I am writing to you with a concern about your "Urban Fellows" program.
I have been very actively involved in City public space issues for about 40 years, based in the Dufferin Grove Park area but also elsewhere in the city. Our small public space charity has collaborated a great deal with city staff in the past. That collaboration works much better when there are good staff, so I have always paid attention when I encountered a young person who seems unusually motivated or capable or -- even better -- both.
I see that it's the same for your division -- your phone directory lists 16 full time staff whose job is "talent acquisition," plus another 82 whose job is staff recruitment. Everybody knows the city needs good staff.
So when I met a young woman with a recent Masters of Architecture and unusually broad experience in unhousing/hands-on research, and saw how she worked, I encouraged her to apply for your Urban Fellows Program. So she did.
Remarkably, when I asked her afterwards, I found that she got no reply. So not even an interview.
This is concerning, beyond this particular case. Would you be able to connect me with someone on your staff who could answer some broader questions about the city's goals with this project, and on what basis you reply to applications? I write a public-space focused newsletter in the neighbourhood, and I'd like to include this information in my next issue.
June 18, 2024
From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Jun 18, 2024 at 11:37 AM Subject: Fwd: Concern about your Urban Fellows program To: <Akesha.Smith@toronto.ca>
Dear Akesha Smith, I'm following up my voice mail -- here is the email I'm trying to send, which just bounces back. If you could let me know the way to get to the right person for my question, that would be appreciated.
July 8, 2024
From: Akesha Smith <Akesha.Smith@toronto.ca> Date: Mon, Jul 8, 2024 at 8:43 AM Subject: RE: Fwd: Concern about your Urban Fellows program To: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Cc: Councillor Bravo <Councillor_Bravo@toronto.ca>
Good morning Jutta,
Confirmed receipt. I will forward on to someone who can help.
Thank you and I will ask them to get back to you asap.
Warm Regards,
Akesha Smith
Pronouns: She/Her
Executive Assistant to the Chief People Officer
City of Toronto | Metro Hall | 55 John Street | Toronto, ON M5V 3C6
Cell: 437.233.8265 | Email: akesha.smith@toronto.ca
July 10, 2024
On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM Debbie Burke-Benn <Debbie.Burke-Benn@toronto.ca> wrote:
This message is being sent on behalf of Debbie Burke-Benn, Director, Equity & Human Rights
Good day Jutta, Thank you for your email.
I have been asked by Mary to respond on her behalf. The Toronto Urban Fellows program is overseen by the Human Rights and Equity section, which falls under my responsibility as the Director of Equity and Human Rights.
The Toronto Urban Fellows program is a competitive program attracting national interest from graduates from a broad range Masters and PhD programs. This year we saw well over 500 applicants for only 17 positions in the program. Candidates are asked to carefully review the job posting which details key qualifications and skills as well as particular content to be outlined in the cover letter and resume. Details of the application process are outlined on the Toronto Urban Fellows webpage.
All applicants are reviewed by a screening committee here at the city to ensure the process upholds a high degree of integrity. While it is disappointing to not be selected, we encourage all unsuccessful applicants to consider reapplying in subsequent years if eligible and to consider other employment opportunities at the City of Toronto as outlined at jobs.toronto.ca.
Thank you,
Debbie
Debbie Burke-Benn (she/her)
Director, Equity and Human Rights
People and Equity Division
City of Toronto
Debbie.Burke-Benn@toronto.ca
July 10, 2024
From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 9:00 PM Subject: Re: Concern about your hiring practices To: <Debbie.Burke-Benn@toronto.ca>
Cc: Councillor Fletcher <councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca>, <councillor_carroll@toronto.ca>, Councillor Bravo <Councillor_Bravo@toronto.ca>, Councillor Malik <Councillor_Malik@toronto.ca>, <Councillor_Moise@toronto.ca>, <Paul.R.Johnson@toronto.ca>, <Mary.Madigan-Lee@toronto.ca>, <Pat.Tobin@toronto.ca>
Dear Debbie,
thank you for your response. Since it's quite general, please see the attached letter, with some more specifics about the centralized HR hiring-practices problem we are raising here.
Since some councillors at the July 4 ECDC meeting expressed particular concern about city hiring practices, I have copied the members of the committee and the staff responder here. Councillor Fletcher suggested that if a problem is uncovered about the HR hiring system, remedies should come quite a bit sooner than November. I have attached my transcript of this section of the ECDC conversation to my email, as well.
Debbie Burke-Benn
Director, Equity and Human Rights People and Equity Division City of Toronto
Hello Debbie,
Thanks for your response, general though it is. It sounds like 500 applications for 17 fellowships would overwhelm any office. However, I think that people in Toronto would like to know that you have ways of making sure you don't miss good candidates at least in the first sifting.
In this case we heard that there was apparently not even an acknowledgement of receipt of an urban fellows application submitted by a candidate whose experience seems to correspond closely with multiple issues having a high profile in the city -- particularly the applicant’s Masters research into the lived experience of encampments. That is not only a citywide issue but also a local one in our neighbourhood, where PFR uses the "Dufferin Grove Park framework" for encampments in the park. Could there be more transparency in how the urban fellows program is shaped?
There is a similar and far more widespread HR problem: missed applications for part-time recreation jobs. We are told that applications are simply discarded if a staff person at a centralized HR portal doesn’t manage to get through the pile by the time the job call closes. The result seems to be that local needs for good staffing are often not met. Those applicants who never heard back, and who didn't already take other work elsewhere, are told they need to start their application all over again. It took us a while to grasp this situation, but now it's time to share it and hopefully, look at remedies.
Since some councillors at the July 4 ECDC meeting expressed particular concern about city hiring practices, I have copied the members of the committee and the staff responder here. Councillor Fletcher suggested that if a problem is uncovered about the HR hiring system, remedies should come quite a bit sooner than November. I have attached my transcript of this section of the ECDC conversation to my email.
With Council’s commitment to inclusive economic development, it seems like now is the right time to talk more specifically about what seems to be a serious flaw in the city's HR structure. Would you like us to help ground the conversation by sending you some more specific documentation?
July 15, 2024
Original deadline was Tues May 21, extended to end of day Friday May 24. She applied on May 20 or 21. She didn't check the status until the weekend (after the posting closed) but by the weekend it had already been declined.
It's possible that it was an automated rejection if it occurred between Friday 5pm and the weekend. However, if staff were reviewing the applications as they came in, it could have been reviewed by a human and declined.
July 29, 2024
From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Jul 29, 2024 at 10:42 AM Subject: Does HR use automation for your Urban Fellows program? To: Akesha Smith <Akesha.Smith@toronto.ca>
Good morning Akesha, I wonder if you could ask a knowledgeable HR staff about one detail about the hiring practice for the Urban Fellows program. I never did get another response to my follow-up letter, but I am now working on an item for our next Dufferin Grove Park monthly newsletter, which comes out on August 1.
Did HR use an automation (robot) feature to do the initial screening of the 500+ applicants for this year's UF program?
The young M. architecture candidate we're interested in clarified that she was not surprised to be sent no acknowledgement of her application. But she was surprised at this:
The original deadline was Tues May 21, extended to end of day Friday May 24. I applied on May 20 or 21. I didn't check the status until the weekend (after the posting closed) but by the weekend it had already been declined. My first thought was that it was an automated rejection if it occured between Friday 5pm and the weekend. If HR uses no automation for its UF program, but just had HR staff working through that first weekend, it would be good to know that for the newsletter.