Our newly named Local Economic Development Lab, a partnership with Ecotrust Canada, welcomes four new graduate student team members. Over the next eight months, Anna Migicovsky, Daniel Mundeva, Priyanka Roy, and Chris Puzio will work with community partners to support innovative projects in the Downtown Eastside. We’re delighted to partner with Potluck Cafe’s Recipes for Success program, the Carnegie Community Centre, the Binners’ Project, and the DTES Street Market in undertaking this work.
Anna Migicovsky
Anna is thrilled to be joining the Local Economic Development Lab to design, test and advance ideas for a new economy in Vancouver’s inner city. With a background in Environmental Science and Cultural Anthropology, she has always been drawn to learning about complex social and environmental issues happening in the world around her.
Growing up in Vancouver, Anna spent a lot of her childhood in nature (camping, kayaking, hiking, skiing) as well as surrounded by a robust community of like-minded individuals. She has been fortunate to live abroad and travel extensively, experiencing different cultures and methods of social interaction and inclusion. This has fueled her passion for creating positive change in our society.
After having worked in both non-profit and for-profit ventures, she decided to pursue a Masters in Business Administration with the aim to bridge the gap between business and social impact. As a MBA Candidate at Beedie School of Business at SFU, she is eager to bring her skills and experience to find long-term sustainable solutions.
In her spare time, Anna can be found playing Ultimate Frisbee or at her pottery studio where she is allowed to get messy and play with mud.
Daniel Mundeva
Daniel Mundeva is Masters of Arts student at Simon Fraser University. His greatest passion is people, development and the environment. He strongly believes that creating a society where everyone feels valued, supported and respected is crucial to ensure social and economic stability.
Coming from a developing country and humble background, Daniel understands not only the experiences and struggles of marginalized people but also their potential to succeed when given the opportunity. His experiences span from community development to environment sustainability, with his works being conducted in three different continents. He is joining the Local Economic Development Lab team as an intern to support the improvement and expansion of the Downtown Eastside Street Market. In his position, he hopes to improve the breakeven of the market and strengthen relations amongst all stakeholders, namely, vendors, shoppers, community members, City of Vancouver officials, and law enforcement units.
He is an avid hiker (having hiked the Westcoast trail on the Vancouver Island and also having summited Mount Kilimanjaro three times) and a recreational biker.
Chris Puzio
Chris is beyond excited to join the team at Local Economic Development Lab and to begin working with the Carnegie Community Center project this Fall. He is currently enrolled in the Masters of Urban Studies program at SFU where his research interests include community and social planning. He knows working with the Carnegie Community Centre Project will give him firsthand experience in seeing social innovation policy in practice, and that’s exciting! He’s had some experience working with the DTES community and he is glad to return and to work in a much greater capacity than he did previously. He is sure some amazing ideas and projects will emerge over the next 8 months that will have a positive impact on the community, and again, that’s exciting! He is also very excited for the learning experiences and collaboration that will take place over the next 8 months inside and outside of the Local Economic Development Lab.
He’s mentioned he’s excited at least 4 times in this short bio – he’s really excited to get this project started, meet and collaborate with great people, and hopefully work with delicious food and create positive change for a community!
Priyanka Roy
With a background in Architecture and currently finishing her masters in Urban Planning at UBC, Priyanka has always been deeply interested in working with communities. She has prior experience working as a social planner at the municipal level and has also worked with several non-profits based in the DTES. She is currently working with the Local Economic Development Lab on the Binners’ Project. She lives in Vancouver, loves riding her bike and has a pet turtle.