After 25+ years working in the world of planning and development, I often get asked for tips and tricks on navigating complex projects.
Sometimes, people are surprised by my answer—because the truth is, it has little to do with the traditional, technical approaches to navigating permitting and approvals. It’s about crafting the right questions and asking those questions of the right people.
The most important thing I’ve done for my career—and my biggest point of feedback when working with those newer to this industry—is to actively seek out mentorship.
Since early in my career, the most worthwhile investment of my time has been seeking out the right mentors and building important connections from the ground up. My path continues to be enriched by hundreds of unique people with specific knowledge. I’m constantly gaining new wisdom by asking questions.
Today, I’m honored to be a mentor for many in this space, both through independently forged relationships, a myriad of industry mentoring programs, and through programs like the Approvals Accelerator. Nurturing the next generation of leaders in our industry has been a long term passion of mine.
And, lately, I’ve felt called to take my expertise a step further. In doing this, I’ve been talking with tens of the very brightest experts in the industry (thank you all!) about how best to provide even more tangible support through:
✨ Closing the capital gap to support landholders in funding the permitting and approvals process.
✨ Creating innovative investment opportunities for impact-minded real estate investors throughout Canada.
✨ Unlocking substantial housing supply to address the housing crisis.
This is all happening through my newest venture, The Uplift Fund: A collaborative capital solution for Canadian families, nonprofits, and private landholders seeking funding for land use approvals and permitting.
If you’re a landholder interested in unlocking capital for your land development project—or a real estate investor who’s curious about opportunities to get in on the ground-level of new developments in a way that contributes to ending the housing crisis—we would love to hear from you.
Visit our website to express your interest and be the first to receive updates when the Uplift Fund officially kicks off.
To building a better future together,
Tegan