Sonia Dong

Diversity Project Manager at Sustainability Network

Sonia Dong

Sonia Dong is the Diversity Project Manager at Sustainability Network, where she leads the Environment & Diversity Project, a collaborative initiative designed to help the Ontario environmental NGO community consider, develop and implement strategies to better reflect and engage under-represented communities. With nearly 10 years of experience working in the environmental non-profit sector, she has also held positions with EcoSpark (formerly Citizens’ Environment Watch) and Environmental Defence. Sonia is passionate about building long-term capacity in the environmental sector and is also a co-leaderfor Young Conservation Professionals, a development program for emerging environmental leaders. She is a member of the Maytree Leadership Network and currently sits on the boards of Greenest City and the North York Seniors Centre. Sonia holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Waterloo and a post-graduate certificate in Environmental Control from Sheridan College.

Brief Description of Project Work
The Environment & Diversity Project supports environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) in considering, developing and implementing strategies to better reflect and engage ethno-cultural and Aboriginal communities by responding to the extensive knowledge, interests and important needs of those communities. The project provides customized, ongoing coaching, training, networking opportunities and resources to help ENGOs set realistic diversity goals and embark on an organizational change process that includes embracing diversity at the board, staff and volunteer levels as well as through accessible communications and programming. A key area of focus is communications – using social media to reach a wider audience as well as how to best use traditional and ethnic media outlets to address the “digital divide” (i.e. those who are not comfortable with digital media or who do not have ready access to digital media).