“Imagine a truly communal learning environment where children, parents and teachers are all thriving. Imagine a K-8 school and learning centre for parents and teachers under a single roof.”
Quinn Simpson, Co-Founder and Board Chair, Gedi Village Foundation
Welcome to Camp Gedi, the inaugural community initiative spearheaded by the Gedi Village Foundation. At our core is a resolute commitment to positioning Toronto as a global hub for groundbreaking education. The foundation is dedicated to championing innovative and entrepreneurial ideas in communal learning, liberatory design thinking, and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) from students, caregivers, educators, and the wider community.
Embracing an Intentional Philanthropy Model, we are currently undertaking the creation of Gedi Village—an avant-garde communal learning facility encompassing a K-8 school and a professional development center tailored for both parents and educators. This transformative project aims to cultivate an interconnected and dynamic environment, fostering creativity, collaboration, and the advancement of education.
We invite you to join us on this extraordinary journey toward a brighter future for children, their families, and our teachers. Your support will play a pivotal role in shaping a community-driven approach to learning and nurturing the next generation. Together, let's make an impact that resonates far beyond the walls of Gedi Village.
Our Co-Founders
MEET ASHLEY
Ashley Baylen is one of the co-founders of Camp Gedi and is the Camp Director. She is a serial entrepreneur and community organizer, starting at age eight and continuing to present day. After graduating from film school, Ashley founded a social media strategy company where she quickly established a reputation for cultivating local and global partnerships prior to the days of influencer marketing. Entering motherhood in 2017 inspired Ashley’s career transition to educate, make positive change, and increase justice for both kids and caregivers. At the beginning of COVID, recognizing the devastating loss of connection and community, Ashley co-founded ByUs Box: educational Toolkits to guide parents in raising anti-racist and inclusive kids. Ashley’s work with ByUs Box led to her joining Lovevery as their Senior Advisor to E&I. Driven by research in anti-bias education, social emotional learning and early childhood development, Ashley develops educational products and courses through an equity lens.
MEET QUINN
Quinn Simpson is one of the co-founders of Camp Gedi and heads up Staff Development. Over the last decade she has been building Graydin, an organisation working to revolutionize the ways we support, empower and connect with our next generations so they can thrive at school and at home. Together with more than 300 schools and Universities world-wide, Graydin has been at the forefront of the coaching movement in education since 2011. Quinn has 15 years of experience in coaching, teacher-training and learning content creation for teachers, students and caregivers. She is a certified Co-Active Coach and NLP Coach Practitioner, and at the age of 24, she co-founded a small charity called Akosia that operated for 10 years using coaching as a facilitation technique in filmmaking projects for underprivileged children and women.