Tech & Programs for Social Good.
I’m Deneille Macas (Walters). Since starting my career in learning design in 2015, I’ve kept returning to one question: how can information help people take part in shaping the programs and places they care about? Today, I work at the intersection of programs, partnerships and technology to make that participation possible.
Program Leadership
As Program Manager at CivicAction, I led BoardShift’s technology migration and built the infrastructure for national scaling. Now I work with private-sector, nonprofit and government partners to expand access to the program for leaders pursuing nonprofit board and leadership pathways.
At Small Economy Works, I similarly led platform implementations and program revitalization to scale the flagship program for Indigenous youth entrepreneurship, and support non-profit and government partnerships. I’ve also managed the development of TMU’s EDI in Practice Guide and facilitated the development of the City of Brampton’s Heartbeats in Performing Arts framework.
Social Impact Tech & Works in Progress
I love Toronto, and I want people to have more ways to understand, connect with and shape the city they call home. These projects are one way I try to make that possible.
Toronto Housing Society (tohs.ca) | Founder + Strategic Director
A civic housing platform I founded in 2019 to support our decade old, 150k community of landlords, renters, and everyone in between. With a strict mandate of dignified, affordable and transparent rentals, Toronto Housing Society has become an internationally-recognized peer-to-peer rental network and resource platform for Ontario.
I spent 5 months of 2026 completing my biggest rebuild yet: a ground-up redevelopment of the tech & tools, a data (and nuanced-knowledge) migration, and co-designing the volunteer ops with a new amazing team to ensure its longevity beyond myself.
Grid & Ground (gridandground.ca) | Slowly building
As I started bringing on more contributors to TOHS and being needed less for the day-to-day, I wanted a little development playground again. Something simple, useful and deliberately narrow. It needed to be slow to grow, delightful to the people using it, and a pleasure for me to create and maintain. Something that was less AI-everything and back to my Google Sheets + Apps Scripts, and hours upon hours of design decision-making.
So I made a calendar. A sexy, civic calendar. With the hopes that people who love Toronto as much as I do can discover ways to shape it.
My forever WIP | But also the definition of perfection
The best moments of my day come from encouraging the curiosities of my threenager while keeping everyone’s fingers attached.
Want to connect? Get in touch, find me on LinkedIn, or occasionally find me at Civic Tech TO.