People

Raisa is an ethnographer, urban planner, and community developer—with a multidisciplinary background and expertise in academia, advanced research, grassroots advocacy, NGO work, and affordable housing development. Raisa maintained two prestigious scholarships during graduate school and published her M.A. thesis in 2022, which illustrated the vivacity of locally driven labour activism, and the necessity to address racialized and gendered barriers facing wage workers in the global garments assembly line. Raisa was awarded the Top Graduate Student by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto upon completing her B.A. Additionally, she was a Research Assistant on an SSHRC-funded project that led her to analyze the widespread adoption of alternative dwelling models pursued by local communities and municipalities across North American cities–to tackle the rising housing crisis.

Raisa regards decolonization and knowledge mobilization as integral to her continued efforts and activism. She is passionate about crafting creative and sustainable solutions for urban planning and infrastructure development. Raisa is the Program Officer at the Infrastructure Institute. She manages all matters of program outreach and implementation for the Groundwork program and supports the development of the ‘Roadmap Connect’ Training Series.