| Our Staff |
Anita Khanna - Community Engagement CoordinatorAnita Khanna has joined CASSA as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Welcoming Communities Initiative project. She completed her Master of Social Work at the University of Toronto with focus on community based mental health work. Anita has over 10 years of experience in community organizing, youth work, arts programming, environmental and social justice work rooted in feminist, anti-oppressive and anti-racist principles. Her research experience has focused on the social determinants of health as they relate to livelihoods and globalization in rural India, surviving on social assistance in Ontario and family homelessness in Toronto. Raised in Cambridge, Ontario, Anita is familiar with the barriers people of colour and other marginalized groups face in communities outside the GTA. She looks forward to organizing efforts to enhance equity, access and inclusion in partnership with community members and groups across Ontario.Anu Radha Verma - Community OrganizerAnu Radha Verma is a community organizer with CASSA. She has a B.A. (Honours) in Environmental Studies and Women's Studies, and her experience is in organizing around gender, race, sexuality and environmental issues. Born in North York and raised in Mississauga, she has also lived in Peterborough and most recently in New Delhi (India). She enjoying writing and performing spoken word poetry, connecting art and social justice.Arran Liddel - Communications CoordinatorNeethan Shan - Executive DirectorNeethan Shan currently works as the Executive Director of Council of Agencies Serving South Asians. Neethan Shan also represents a very diverse population in Markham as a Public School Trustee in York Region District School Board.Neethan graduated from University of Toronto with Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education. He is currently pursuing a M.A degree at OISE/UT in the field of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education. Neethan began his work as a youth outreach worker. Later at a very young age of 22, he took up a challenging Executive Director role at a social service agency, CanTYD. Later, he became a manager for youth programs in Malvern, where he developed and implemented over twenty programs in many schools. Neethan’s other involvement in the social services sector includes his roles with Parent Action on Drugs, Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, Canadian Tamil Congress, Youth Gang Work Group (City of Toronto), Malvern Community Coalition, Community Use of Schools Council, Scarborough Youth Task Group, Tsunami Relief Coordinating Committee and many more. He also produces and hosts interactive talk shows on social issues in Canadian Multicultural Radio CMR FM 101.3 and Tamil Vision International (TVi). He was also a Project Director, at Boreal Institute for Civil Society (an Institute affiliated with University of Toronto through Munk Centre for International Studies). He received many awards including Race Relations Award from Urban Alliance for Race Relations and Vital People award from Toronto Community Foundation |