Nova Scotia’s Regional Enterprise Networks – August/September Update

See below for some recent updates from each of Nova Scotia’s Regional Enterprise Networks.

Reimagine. Rebuild. Revive. Cape Breton Partnership launches local infrastructure-focused campaignAs a number of major public infrastructure projects get underway in Cape Breton, the Cape Breton Partnership is proud to be launching the Building Tomorrow campaign. Developed in collaboration with partners at the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education, Nova Scotia Construction Sector Council, and more, the campaign aims to recognize, celebrate, and inform local infrastructure developments on the Island. Ongoing and upcoming major public projects include the NSCC Marconi Campus relocation, expansions of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, New Waterford Community Hub, Northside Health Complex, and Glace Bay Hospital. As the campaign continues to rollout, additional activities and events will be held both online and in-person, including community engagement sessions, work and training information workshops, and information sessions for the local business community. To learn more about the campaign and infrastructure development in Cape Breton, visit www.Building-Tomorrow.ca, the campaign’s social media accounts at @BuildingTomorrowCB.



CBRM Forward Community Engagement sessions lay the groundwork for the future of CBRM The Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) and the Cape Breton Partnership welcomed residents of the CBRM to three community engagement sessions at the end of August 2021. The sessions were interactive sessions where residents had the opportunity to share their opinions to inform decision-making for the next 10 to 25 years.  CBRM Forward is a comprehensive strategy to guide the CBRM into a bright future. The project includes the development of  an Economic Development Strategy, a Growth Strategy, and a thorough overhaul of the  Municipal Planning Strategy, the Land Use By-law, and other critical  by-laws. CBRM Forward seeks to provide an aspirational vision for the community rooted in the reality of the CBRM’s strengths and opportunities. This project is a three-phased approach that will provide a framework for action and set expectations over short, medium, and long-term goals and solutions. To learn more, visit https://engage.mysocialpinpoint.ca/cbrm.

The Path to Recovery – 2021 Economic Outlook Webinar BDC (The Bank for Canadian Entrepreneurs), together with Nova Scotia’s Regional Enterprise Networks, and the Halifax Partnership hosted a virtual webinar on Monday, September 13, 2021 about the economic outlook for 2021 and beyond. The keynote speaker, Pierre Cléroux, Vice President, Research and Chief Economist of BDC, delivered  an overview of the economic situation for 2021.



Population and workforce attraction The Cumberland Business Connector is continuing to work on different levels to address the growing labour force shortage in our region.  We continue to focus on attracting workers from across Canada to our region.  Our Downgrade to Better social media campaign at www.downgradetobetter.ca has attracted workers to Nova Scotia.  The Amherst and Area Chamber of Commerce and the Cumberland Business Connector have been supporting Victor Oluwakoya as he has went through the immigration process to come to Canada and as he opens his business in Amherst. Our Process Improvement for Employee Retention workshops were well received by manufacturers.  Our businesses benefited from the Design Thinking principles that our facilitators from Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre used to address employee retention.



Shop Here Pictou The PCREN in partnership with the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce is launching a “Shop Here – Pictou County” program. This program has a focus on local retailers and is a direct response to an identified need for promotion and online support. The Shop Here program will include social media workshops, marketing materials, and an ongoing feature on the pictoucounty.com website.

Pictoucounty.com The PCREN through the support of community partners is revising the pictoucounty.com website to provide a holistic “community site” lead by the “community”. The site will include Live Here, Work Here, Shop Here, Play Here and Do Business Here aspects, providing an online gateway into Pictou County.



Truro Colchester Partnership for Economic Prosperity (TCPEP) Update It’s been a busy summer at the Truro & Colchester Partnership. In addition to the dozens of businesses and startups that we assist and support everyday, our focus has been on working to address a number of major pain points for our community: physician recruitment, workforce development, the local housing crisis, and securing a business incubator space for the Truro Colchester.   We have been moving forward on exciting new initiatives on all of these issues, as making progress on them is critical to our efforts to grow the business ecosystem, economy, and prosperity of our region. Working closely with the municipalities that we represent, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and other key stakeholders, we are conducting research to better understand the physician recruitment process, and how to optimize our efforts on this file. Based on this research, future efforts will include surgically targeting graduates, residents, and physicians who, for a number of reasons, already have a predisposition to considering rural family medicine. On workforce development, we are working with the Chamber, Apprenticeship Nova Scotia and the NSCC to identify and quantify specific skills gaps and launch new initiatives to close them. Truro Colchester is one of the only major centers in Nova Scotia not to have a business incubation space. We are moving quickly to launch such a facility in downtown Truro. It is a serious challenge to attract people and businesses to our region if there is nowhere for new people to live. So TCP is working with the Chamber to drive collaboration among the municipalities and the developer community to accelerate local housing development. In order to retain talent in our region and make newcomers feel welcome and supported, we will be leading the effort to develop a volunteer welcoming committee to reach out to new residents, welcome them to our community, and assist in their transition in any way they can. Taken together,  all of these initiatives will smooth the way for the exponential growth of our business ecosystem, and greater prosperity in the Truro Colchester region.



Regional Workforce Development Strategy The Valley REN has been working on the creation of a Regional Workforce Development Strategy.   The strategy is a forward-thinking, multi-year plan which will assess current labour needs in the region and build an understanding of future needs.   Throughout the Spring, input was gathered from local stakeholders, employers, job seekers, high school and post-secondary students regarding workforce opportunities and challenges across the Annapolis Valley region.  An Education and Training Roundtable Session was held in June for all stakeholders involved in education and training in the region.  A Community Validation Session was held in August to present high level findings, and to validate the action plan and recommendations for next steps.  Due to overwhelming input and feedback from the Community Validation Session, the final strategy completion has moved to the end of September. For more information, please visit: http://www.valleyren.ca/workforcestrategy/

Regional Workforce Development Strategy The Valley REN has been working on the creation of a Regional Workforce Development Strategy.   The Succession Planning: Preparing Your Business for What’s Next PRESENTED BY: Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre, Business Development Bank of Canada, Cumberland Business Connector, Cape Breton Partnership, and the Valley Regional Enterprise Network   Succession Planning: Preparing Your Business for What’s Next is for businesses asking themselves any (or all) of the following questions: 1. What is the best and most profitable way to exit my business? 2. How can I move on from my business in a way that isn’t just good for me, but is good for the people around me, and the community my business serves? 3. Who can help me make my business succession fast, effective, and seamless?   Join a group of motivated entrepreneurs from around Nova Scotia to hear from succession planning experts including lenders, accountants, lawyers, business valuators, succession counsellors and more. Perhaps most important of all, you’ll hear from other business owners who have gone through this process themselves.   TO REGISTER and FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://successionplanning2021.eventbrite.com



Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has provided funding to the Western REN to lead in the creation of a Local Immigration Partnership (LIP). The LIP brings together diverse voices and partners to collaborate on innovative and community-driven strategies to meet our region’s changing needs and manage population growth. The Partnership Council, which includes members from more than 20 organizations, municipalities, and businesses, held its first meeting in June. The Immigrant Advisory Committee represents 13 different countries as well as several immigration “pathways.” The 18 members of this committee are keen to be involved in helping other immigrants settle and thrive in the Western region.   The next step is to get better data for the region by delivering three surveys: a) Employer Labour Needs Survey – focus on the types of roles and jobs our local employers are not able to fill with Canadian workers, b) Immigrant Survey- finding out who is in the region, their challenges, their sense of belonging and c) General Community Survey- assessing attitudes, concerns, perceptions when it comes to immigration integration.