Annual Report 2004 - Halifax Regional Municipality

I
T’S all about collaboration at the
Halifax Regional Development
Agency. HRDA works with hundreds
of community volunteers, entrepreneurs,
government officials, youth, immigrants
and many stakeholders involved in fostering
economic development in Halifax Regional
Municipality. The mission of HRDA is to
create, facilitate and strengthen community
economic development in the rural and
suburban areas of HRM. The vision is
that HRM is an inspired community
experiencing such social and economic
prosperity that it is recognized as one of
Canada’s great places to live.
A C C O M P L I S H M E N T S
A new three year strategic plan which
highlights the Agency’s strategic direction
for the 2004-2007 years was developed.
A new youth initiative was launched
which provided employment and life skills
counselling services to youth.
The Agency generated over $1,000,000
in investment and created over sixty full-time
jobs through its business counselling services.
Eight full-time jobs were created and
over $600,000 was invested through its
community economic development services.
An Employment Development Plan for
the Eastern Shore of HRM was completed.
I N I T I AT I V E S
The Province of Nova Scotia has
introduced a new Immigration Strategy. It
is anticipated that within this new strategy,
the Provincial Nominee Program will be
expanded. It will be strategically important
for the Agency to focus on providing support
to immigrant candidates and their families.
This will include immigrant entrepreneurs
or those who are bringing valuable skills to
our local workforce, as well as helping to
foster genuinely welcoming communities.
It is well recognized that small business
is at the centre of job creation. Accordingly,
the Agency intends to further emphasize
the support of small business expansion. For
the past two years special projects have been
initiated in this field and a “toolkit” of best
practices has been developed. This earlier
research and knowledge will be applied
to a stronger and more focussed approach
to fostering business expansion and the
creation of new jobs in the coming year.
As a priority, the Agency has identified
the need to work with young individuals to
foster the development of entrepreneurial,
social and employability skills and further
educational achievement towards longterm
employment. The Agency has created
the Alternative Pathways Program and has
received funding from various levels of
government to support these initiatives.
The Community Partnership Council
is a project funded by a public-private
partnership that is focussed on the Eastern
Shore of HRM. The primary purpose of
the Council is to foster inter-community
planning and action to address key
economic and social initiatives which
were identified within the Community
Employment Development Plan.
There are a range of issues that
businesses face and that are common to
communities who want to foster growth and
development. As a means of better serving
these individuals and communities, the
Agency wants to undertake research of these
issues, in order to better address them. These
research initiatives may be undertaken in
partnership with other stakeholders such as
the Gorsebrook Research Institute at Saint
Mary’s University. ■
Working with the business sector for greater success.
9 — Halifax Regional Municipality