Community Organizing
The People's Pantry - Cofounder and Executive Member
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a handful of QTW/BPOC community organizers and graduate students from UofT and YorkU began providing free home-cooked meals and groceries to folx across the GTHA who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. We have since banded together to form The People’s Pantry: a Toronto-based grassroots initiative dedicated to safely providing and delivering home cooked meals and grocery care packages to food insecure families in/near the GTHA. Free of charge, not questions asked, no fixed address required.
Donate, volunteer, request, and follow us on social media
New Sociology: Journal of Critical Praxis - Founder and EIC
New Sociology is a peer reviewed, academic journal organized and maintained by QTW/BPOC sociology graduate students at York university. Read our inaugural issue or submit to our journa here.
Media presence
Interview
Kay, Michelle. (2021). “‘Solidarity, not charity’: The People’s Pantry connects volunteer cooks with those experiencing food insecurity in the GTA.” Toronto Star. May 20. Available at:
Interview
Rocky, Petkov. (2021). “Ep. 007 The People’s Pantry.” Atlas of Resistance [Podcast], March, Available at: https://atlasofresistance.org/
Interview
Little, Olivia. (2021). “The People’s Pantry in Toronto provides free home-cooked meals to those in need.” BlogTo, January 12th. Available at: www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2021/01/peoples-pantry-toronto-provides-free-home-cooked-meals-those-need/
Interview
Eli Speigel (2021). "The People's Pantry: A Documentary." Available at:
Interview
Aksich, Caroline et. al. 2020. "Reasons to Love Toronto. No. 1: Because our home chefs are feeding the hungry" Toronto Life. October 20th. Available at: torontolife.com/city/reasons-to-love-toronto/no-1-because-our-home-chefs-are-feeding-the-hungry/
Interview
Al Donato (2020). ‘The People’s Pantry’ Gives Free Food to Torontonians Experiencing Food Insecurity. HuffPost Canada. June 03. Available at: www.huffingtonpost.ca/
Interview
Acquisto, Stella. (2020). The Peoples Pantry is Helping Combat Food Insecurity. CityNews Toronto, July 28th. Available at: https://toronto.citynews.ca
Interview
Shaw, Stephanie. (2020). “Grad student addresses food insecurity in Ontario as co-founder of a grassroots community initiative.” yFile, August 13. Available at: https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2020/08/13/laps-student-addresses-food-insecurity-in-ontario-with-grassroots-community-initiative-note-use-they-their-pronouns/
Invited Talks
Da Costa, Jade Crimson Rose. (2021). “Food justice, Sovereignty, and Security.” Victoria College Sustainability Commission, Toronto, ON, March (Digital Panel).
DeGrey, T., Aiello, D., Da Costa, J., and Turner, L. (2021). “Mutual Aid Panel.” Studies in National and International Development, Queens University, February (Digital Panel).
Akuno, K., Da Costa, J., and Mann, N. (2020). “The Evolution of Mutual Aid.” Shaping a Just Recovery in Davenport, Toronto, ON, November (Digital Panel).
Wood, L., Da Costa, J., Peters, K., Moyo, N., Marsili, L., Cinquemani, L., & Tagliavia, F. (2020). “Organizing During a Pandemic: Lessons for the Left.” SIS Salon, Palermo, Sicily, June (Digital Conference).
Da Costa, J., Dadui, K., Khalema, T., & Lena. G. (2020). Re:Framing Gender Exhibition, York University, Toronto, ON. January. Available at:
Recent Conference Presentations
Da Costa, Jade Crimson Rose. 2021. “Monstrous Awakenings: Queer Necropolitics in Vivek Shraya and Ness Lee’s Death Threat.” The Sexuality Studies Association's Annual Conference, virtual conference, June.
Da Costa, Jade Crimson Rose. 2021. “The "New" White Feminism: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism and the Problem of Biological Determinism in Feminist Theory.” The 5th International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre, Brazil, February.
Da Costa, Jade Crimson Rose. 2021. "Binge-Watching: Self-Care or Self-Harm? Understanding the Health Subjectivities of Binge-Watchers under Neoliberalism." The 5th International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre, Brazil, July. February.
Recent Conference Panels
Ali, Naydia, Anane-Bediakoh, Beatrice, and Jade Crimson Rose Da Costa. 2021. “Breaking Apart the Margins: Unpacking the Politics of Exclusion”. The 5th International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre, Brazil, February.