Abrigo Centre’s Ed Graça Sets Retirement Date and Agency Names New Co-Executive Directors
TORONTO, June 10, 2024 – Abrigo Centre Board Chair Lena Barreto announced today that after a long and storied career of 32 years with the social service agency that he helped build from the ground up, current Executive Director Ed Graça will be retiring from the agency on Friday, June 28, 2024.
With that change on the horizon, the Abrigo Centre’s Board of Directors have also named Mrs. Gila Raposo and Ms. Paula De Jesus as the new Co-Executive Directors of the agency effective July 2, 2024.
“The Abrigo Centre and our entire community is forever grateful to Ed Graça for his outstanding leadership of this agency for more than 30 years,” said Ms. Barreto. “Ed was here from day one, with a shoestring budget, and a staff you could count with one hand. Over the years he built Abrigo into an organization with a $1.8 million budget serving over 5,000 clients annually. More importantly, Ed and his team kept countless individuals who have experienced intimate partner violence out of serious danger and significantly improved the lives of tens of thousands of women, men and their families for more than three decades.”
The innovative Co-Executive Directors approach will provide Abrigo with the expertise of two long-standing stalwarts in the field of intimate partner violence and community development. “Both Gila and Paula have the background, knowledge, skills and vision to take Abrigo to new heights over the next decade,” says Ms. Barreto. “After a thorough and exhaustive process, the Abrigo Board was in 100 per cent agreement that Paula and Gila were the right people to take on the big shoes Ed is leaving behind.”
Paula De Jesus is currently Abrigo’s Programs Manager and Counselling Supervisor and she will continue to lead Abrigo’s core programing including the Gender-based Violence, Seniors and Youth Outreach programs. “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to continue the wonderful work our team does in these important areas,” said Ms. De Jesus. “With each passing month we see clients presenting with more and more complex cases. The challenge is to keep the level of service up to the demand. It’s something I’m looking forward to taking head on with a great team of counsellors.”
Gila Raposo is a former Abrigo Centre Board member who has spent most of her career dedicated to helping others. Currently working as an advisor to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, Mrs. Raposo will oversee Abrigo’s Community Development and Integration program, its Fundraising and Communication activities, as well as the finance and administration portfolios. “Abrigo has been a beacon of hope for women, children, and families for decades. I am honoured to be given the responsibility under increasingly challenging times to continue the outstanding work this agency has done since 1990,” said Mrs. Raposo.
Mrs. Raposo will be joining Abrigo on Portugal Day, Monday June 10, for a three-week transitioning period to gain insights into the organization under Mr. Graça’s guidance and tutelage.
Lena Barreto remarked that the agency is starting a new chapter in its long history of serving the community. “Abrigo will be on an exciting new journey in the coming months but the core work we do each day will not change. This agency will be a cornerstone of care for the Davenport community and beyond for a long time. We look forward to serving local residents with the same compassion and dedication we have always provided.”
Ed Graça Bio
Ed Graça has been a social work professional since 1981 and joined Abrigo as its Executive Director when the agency was founded in 1990. Abrigo’s primary role at that time was to assist women and children in the Portuguese-language community in Toronto who were facing domestic violence and abuse. Today, as a full-service agency, Abrigo not only assists the Portuguese-speaking community of Toronto and those living in the GTA, but residents of all ages across west Toronto as well.
Ed has served as Abrigo’s Executive Director for 32 of its 34 years and the agency has seen incredible growth over that time under his leadership. During Ed’s time as Executive Director, Abrigo has grown its Seniors, Partner Assault Response, Community Development, Youth Outreach and dynamic Volunteer programs into vital community resources for the residents with assistance of a team today of 16 staff members.
During his time with the agency Ed built wonderful partnerships over the years with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, the United Way Greater Toronto, Ministry of the Attorney General, City of Toronto, Canadian Women’s Foundation, WomanACT and many more. Throughout his tenure as its leader, Ed Graça has always put Abrigo’s clients first, including seamlessly transitioning Abrigo’s counselling services online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rarely has such a small agency made such a big impact on a community.
Gila Raposo Bio
Gila Raposo is a strong community development worker and project manager with over 25 years of dedicated service. In her role at West Neighbourhood House, Gila oversaw a multidisciplinary team ensuring the delivery of comprehensive support services to individuals affected by gender-based violence, newcomer families, child and youth recreation and education programs. Mrs. Raposo is drawn to social causes and seeks to make a difference. Her drive to affect change has led her to allow her the opportunity to work with all three levels of government funding, United Way and many foundations.
Most recently Gila worked as a consultant with the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services where she led impactful projects and city-wide initiatives. Gila is a strong communicator and a strategic thinker, and she used those skills to strengthen cohesion, alliances and collaboration across more than 30 social service agencies and with all four Toronto Child Protection Agencies.
Mrs. Raposo’s education path, like many immigrants to Canada, was one with many turns; adult education, night school, college and university. Today, she is happy to say that Humber College, George Brown College, Toronto Metropolitan University and York University have all contributed to her education in Early Childhood Education, Infant Development and Women’s Studies. Although she is grateful to the academic institutions, she is mostly thankful to all those people who allowed her to be a part of their lives. The learning has been expediential, and Gila acquired her experience working with a myriad of organizations. The Toronto Catholic District School Board, City of Toronto Child Care Services, Jane and Finch Family Services to name a few.
Gila has a history of giving back to her community as she has been the Co-Chair of the City of Toronto Board of Health “Drug Prevention Review Panel”, Co-Chair of Toronto Region MCCSS Transitional Housing and Support Program and Past Chair of the Portuguese Interagency Network.
Paula De Jesus Bio
Paula De Jesus has dedicated her extensive career to supporting women, children, youth and men free themselves from the effects of abuse and intimate partner violence and pursue healthy relationships with those important in their lives. For the last 10 years she has managed teams working with Intimate Partner Violence clients supporting excellence in service delivery from a trauma informed and anti-oppression framework.
Paula is currently the Abrigo Centre’s Programs Manager and Clinical Supervisor, a role she has held for close to three years. She leads all clinical programming and supervises a counselling team of 14 individuals. Out of the 5,000+ clients Abrigo assists each year, 500 are women facing intimate partner violence.
Paula sits on the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services’ System Planning Table, a round table made up of Gender-based Violence serving agencies across Toronto. She is also a member of various tables and networks including the provincial VAW Counselling Network, where she served as co-chair for four years. She is also a member of Ontario’s Transitional Housing and Support Program Managers Network.
For more information or inquires please contact:
Gerald Luciano
Manager, Fundraising and Communications
gluciano@abrigo.ca
416-534-3434 ext. 247