Partner Communities
Toronto Home Energy Network works directly with Partner Communities in collaborative relationships to offer local homeowners the resources, support and engaged peer network to get their homes off gas and dramatically reduce their pollution.
A Partner Community can be your geographic neighbourhood, workplace, faith group, alumni network, or other local organization that shares a commitment to improving your community's environmental and economic well-being. By recognizing the diverse fabric of Toronto’s communities, THE Network's support program aims to create a tailored solution for each community that resonates with their specific needs and interests.
Our Partner Communities are lead by local leadership teams that actively organize within communities. Whether it's engaging interested homeowners, providing community to those upgrading their homes, or encouraging electrification by sharing the achievements and insights of those who have already completed their projects, our communities show that Heat Pumps and home electrification is for all Toronto homes.
Toronto Home Energy Network equips Partner Communities with resources, connections, and materials to take part as a network of communities. Inspired by the "neighbours helping neighbours" model of the Pocket Change Project and other community organizing, our templates, guides, training and ongoing support make it possible for you to focus on what you do best—engaging speaking directly to the needs of your neighbours. Together we create a network of homeowners taking action to make their houses more sustainable. Each homeowner is supported by their community, and our impact is felt across the city as our homes become cleaner, healthier and better for our environment.
Add Your Community
We strongly believe in the power of neighbours talking to neighbours. We're excited to chat about yours.
Phase 1: Foundation
This phase focuses on establishing the solid groundwork for your retrofit initiative by forming a leadership team and identifying early adopters. It ensures that you have the necessary tools and resources to inspire community engagement.
What The Toronto Home Energy Network Offers:
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Guidance in establishing a strong leadership team.
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Support in formalizing your partnership with THE Network.
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Assistance in identifying early adopters within your community.
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Templates for team roles, outreach materials, and access to valuable homeowner resources.
Phase 2: Spread the Word
In this phase, the goal is to engage motivated homeowners and amplify outreach efforts through various communication strategies. By showcasing early adopters, you can inspire others to participate in retrofitting.
What The Toronto Home Energy Network Offers:
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Resources for outreach initiatives, including templates for newsletters and event planning.
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Support in building a community contact list.
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Sharing of resources that empower homeowners and encourage participation.
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Resources for tracking engagement progress and measuring impact.
Phase 3: Energizing Community
The focus of this phase is to motivate additional homeowners to join your retrofit initiative, creating broader community involvement. Engaging curious homeowners and utilizing targeted communications helps drive participation.
What The Toronto Home Energy Network Offers:
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Tools for conducting community surveys to identify potential participants.
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Development of targeted outreach communications to engage new homeowners.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive; we are working collaboratively with our pilot community groups to refine our support based on their needs. We expect our support offerings to evolve as we grow and reach new communities.
Program Support
A community retrofit project has three stages. It begins by building a team and engaging early adopters and evolves into an ongoing program that identifies and reaches out to homeowners when they are poised to make a change. Here is how THE Network can help you in each stage: