Meet Our Community Development Team
The CDCD has a skilled and diverse research and community development team with a variety of areas of expertise and interests. We also have a diverse team of consultants and associates who are available to provide targeted expertise and skill sets to our work with you.
Tracey Vaughan-Barrett -
Executive Director
Tracey has dedicated her career to the enhancement of the social service sector and community engagement and development. She brings to the Durham community extensive experience from working with communities across Ontario in a wide variety of social services settings; and working with planning and advocacy organizations, grass roots community organizations, agencies of the voluntary sector, and academic institutions.
Her role as a volunteer in a number of community agencies demonstrates her commitment to advancing issues of social justice and inclusion. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, the Board of Directors for the Social Planning Network of Ontario, the Steering Committee for the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction, the Durham Economic Downturn Taskforce, Durham Continuing Education Community Advisory Board, and the Steering Committee for the Local Diversity and Immigration Partnership Council for Durham Region.
Ben Earle -
Manager of Community Development
Ben began his career in community development while studying at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. While working for the McMaster Students Union, he was responsible for the delivery and management of community outreach and engagement activities that helped build strong community university relations. Building on this experience, in 2004 Ben travelled to Belo Horizonte, Brazil to coordinate a community health study and planning project in one of the cities favela communities. This worked formed the basis of both a community health plan, to be implemented by a local not-for-profit organization, as well as his undergraduate thesis.
Ben graduated in the spring of 2005 with a degree in applied medical anthropology. In September 2005, he joined the CDCD in the role of Social Research Coordinator, and in 2008 was promoted to his current role of Manager of Community Development. Ben has developed skills in facilitation, research, policy analysis, and program and service planning; and a strong knowledge base in poverty and poverty reduction, diversity and immigration, praxis research and community development practice. Currently Ben is enrolled in the Master of Arts Program in Criminology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa. His research is focused on the political economy of crime and its intersection with diverse communities and the impact of poverty as a state crime.