Meet the Department
of Words & Deeds
The Dept of Words & Deeds is nimble and flexible, able to show up, scale up and collaborate on projects as needed. Our team has the expertise and experience to deliver on a wide range of engagement assignments in urban and transportation planning, housing affordability, culture policy, strategic planning and communications, graphic and website design, social media integration, economic development and workforce planning.
Consultation Strategy
& Design
Facilitation
& Community Engagement
WalkShops
& Fieldnotes
Moderating Panels
& Events
Immersive Engagement
& Ethnography
Virtual Engagement Platforms
& Online Surveys
Intercept Surveys
& Pop-up Engagement
Expertise
Project Discussion Guides, Backgrounders & Presentations
Survey Development
& Research Analysis
Project
Reporting
Stakeholder Mapping
& Outreach
Focus Groups
& Stakeholder Roundtables
Communications
& Website Design
Graphic design
& Social Media Integration
“When Jane Farrow is present, good things happen. Her warmth, energy, insight and respect for people mean that she can tell it like it is… and get people off their rear ends to do good work—all while generating an atmosphere of enthusiasm and mutual support.”
Jane Farrow
Writer
Broadcaster
Veteran dinner party host
Moderator & facilitator
Jane Farrow is a public consultation specialist working in the areas of city building, transportation planning, culture strategy and economic development policy. She worked for 10 years as a CBC radio producer for shows like This Morning and The Sunday Edition and hosted shows like Workology and Wanted Words. She is the co-editor of the two editions of The Book of Lists (Knopf Canada, 2017 & 2005) and Any Other Way, a queer history anthology of Toronto (Coach House Books 2017) shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. Jane was the founding Executive Director of Jane’s Walk, a global initiative involving free, locally-led walking tours inspired by urbanist Jane Jacobs’ ideas about connected, livable neighbourhoods.
Mia
Hunt
Enthographer
Planner
Academic
Community catalyst
Designer
Cultural geographer
Mia is a multidisciplinary urbanist with broad expertise in
community engagement, research-led design thinking, project management, communications and visual culture. She has collaborated with Jane Farrow and the Dept of Words & Deeds for well over a decade and is now directing projects in Ottawa. Mia’s community, professional, and academic projects incorporate ethnography, creative methodologies, and participant action approaches to bring people together and create meaningful dialogue. She has a BFA in Design from Concordia University, a Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Toronto and a PhD in Cultural Geography from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Pauline Craig
Transportation planner
Precision writer
Bee-lover
UNDER DEPARTMENTAL REVIEW
Pauline has a varied professional career that spans several years working as a project coordinator and manager for municipal policy and infrastructure projects, and has operated her own consulting business providing planning expertise to governments and non-profits. Pauline is an entrepreneur and in 2020 started a business in sustainable agriculture, growing and selling native plants that attract pollinators and beneficial insects. In all her work and business endeavours, Pauline brings her strengths of adaptability, resilience, creativity and resourcefulness.
Tracey
Prehay
Curator
Producer
Project Manager
Superpower
Tracey Prehay is a cultural producer, artist, and curator who grew up in North York. Tracey works to support the visibility of arts and culture across the city, and most recently, acted as the Hub North coordinator for ArtworxTO and the Year of Public Art. She has worked for Artscape, Nuit Blanche and acted as a curatorial and communications assistant for Humber College. As a visual artist, Tracey explores personal/cultural memory through publicly-engaged projects and workshops
Laser focus on deadlines
Jenna Stevenato
Executor
Systems thinker
Organizer
Tiny house dweller
Superpower
Jenna is a business development consultant in the non-profit sector, working to enhance organizations’ social and community impact. Jenna takes a systems-level approach to every project, and strives to embed equity and justice into the DNA of the systems she works within, including procurement, education and digital media. She has worked on national and regional projects at both the institutional and municipal levels, providing support on strategic clarity, communications, design, facilitation, business modeling and impact evaluation. Jenna embraces any challenge as a learning opportunity, and seeks to make positive change in whatever role she is in.
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