Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises
Year of inception: 2001
Brand name:
Address: 1499 Queen Street West suite 203, Toronto, ON, Canada
Postal code: M6R 1A3
Business category: Urban Agriculture
Primary Contact Details
Name: Aaron Harpell
Email: greenthumb@workingforchange.ca
Phone: (416) 537-9551
Website: https://www.pgte.org/
Identifier: SE
Company Description
Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises (PGTE) is a landscaping workplace integration social enterprise based in Toronto.
PGTE provides outstanding results for diverse landscaping services to our clients including:
- Rooftop garden installation and maintenance
- Grounds-keeping
- Seasonal planter installation and maintenance
- Gardening installation and maintenance services
- Installation and maintenance of pollinator gardens
- Street cleaning services
- Indoor plant installation and maintenance
In all our projects, PGTE focuses upon enviromental sustainability. We plant native and non-invasive plants as recommended by the Ontario Invasive Plant Council, limit the amount of gas-powered equipment used, avoid excessive water usage, use only organic fertilizers, and focus upon biodiversity.
In 2014 and 2018, PGTE won the TABIA award for streetscaping for our beautiful garden designs and maintenance.
Community & Social Impact
PGTE is a Toronto-based workplace integration social enterprise under the oversight of the nonprofit organization, Working For Change. We are responsible to our Board and our community for the successful delivery on our mission.
Our trauma-informed and equity-based mission supplies recovery pathways through employment for people confronting extreme marginalization due to addiction, physical and/or mental illness, those experiencing homelessness, survivors of gender-based violence, and refugees from global conflict. Our enterprise lowers barriers to accessing and sustaining employment in a safe, supportive, and flexible workspace that celebrates employee participant accomplishments, encourages growth, and provides stability when employee participants deal with unique challenges related to their lived experience.
Since 2001, PGTE has helped more than 150 individuals stabilize their daily lives through our social enterprise with low barriers to employment and a workplace that celebrates their achievements. Our current staff include 95% on public assistance, 66% who are female, and all who are members of equity seeking groups.
PGTE partners with CAMH and other nonprofits to find individuals who would benefit from our employment program. Our goal is to first provide stabilization for these individuals. We then train our staff in the fundamentals of the landscape industry. Many of our staff go on the obtain employment at conventional
Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises is a long-standing member of Buy Social Canada and can guarantee our mission fulfills the social procurement mandate for many institutions.
Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises is also a proud member of Landscape Ontario, Canada’s largest landscape trade group, and completed Employer of Choice certification, a training program through L.O. that ensuring that landscape businesses embody the highest workplace standards.