Annual Report Index
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ANNUAL REPORT 2019 We are a non-profit, private, volunteer-directed social enterprise dedicated to community building. We identify community needs and establish and operate ventures that speak to those needs. We are the oldest Community Development Corporation in Canada and a founding member of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network. Our Mission, to engage the community to create a culture of self-reliance, is as relevant today as it was when the organization was founded back in 1976. Our work falls into two broad categories: We respond to current needs, developing community-based solutions in the areas of housing, at-home senior care, meal delivery, and immigration settlement. We also work to change systems & structures that impede Cape Breton’s vibrancy and its prosperity. Today New Dawn is focused on immigration, governance, and capital. As a non-profit social enterprise, some of our services generate revenues. These revenues are reinvested in New Dawn, allowing us to develop new projects and take on new community issues in pursuit of a more vibrant and self-reliant Cape Breton Island. 3 Properties 13 Homecare INDEX 5 Meals on Wheels 15 The Convent 1 Board of Directors 7 Guest Home/Home Living 17 Community Engagement 1 Chair’s Message 9 Immigration 19 Staff Listing 2 President’s Message 11 A Better Bite Kitchen ADDRESS: 37 Nepean Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6A7 WEBSITE: newdawn.ca PHONE: 902-539-9560 EMAIL: [email protected] 2019 VOLUNTEER BOARD OF Chair’s Message experience. What a joy to be immersed DIRECTORS in a celebration of culture, food, dance, When I think back — and it hasn’t dress, history, and voices from around CHAIR been that long — to the day New Dawn the world. Myrtle Campbell purchased the Holy Angels Convent, I want to thank all of New Dawn’s Retired Nurse who could have imagined then the staff and many volunteers. Your impressive transformation we would contributions and energy make New VICE CHAIR witness over the next seven years? Dawn what it is today. I would also like Jerry Ryan In a community that has seen more to thank New Dawn’s volunteer Board Retired CAO, CBRM than its share of pain and challenges, of Directors. Words cannot express my it was time for a reality shift. I’ve gratitude for the time, commitment, SECRETARY/TREASURER heard people say this building will be and passion of a very special team. Dorothy Payne a catalyst for change, but we all know President, Synergy Louisbourg the true catalyst is our people. Brick and mortar are important, but they can EX OFFICIO only do so much. It is the people that Rankin MacSween inspire others, that inspire awe, that President, New Dawn Enterprises pave the way for the future. The amazing thing is, we just don’t Norma Boyd stop. We aspire to do great things and Retired COO, New Dawn Enterprises we aspire to do great things well. Here is just a small list: Eric Favaro Our incredible New Dawn Homecare Myrtle Campbell, Board Chair CEO, Artscape Consulting and New Dawn Guest Home have received the highest possible rating Dr. John Gainer from Accreditation Canada. President’s Message Dr. John Gainer and Associates Our dedicated New Dawn Properties division has worked tirelessly to What began in 2012 with a wild idea Alicia Lake provide safe, clean, comfortable places — to purchase and redevelop the 130- Community Development Consultant to live — our goal is to provide a home. year-old Holy Angels Convent — came Our fabulous New Dawn Meals on to a close in 2019 after seven years Kerrianne MacKenzie Wheels staff and volunteers continue of planning, designing, funding, and COO, ICEAP Nova Scotia Inc. to provide nutritious meals throughout rebuilding The Convent. Cape Breton during the most And while the journey was Alyce MacLean challenging of times. not without the struggle that is Special Projects Manager, Our wonderful A Better Bite Cafe inescapable in labouring on a project of Unama’ki College in The Convent, as well as our new this size, New Dawn is much richer and commercial tenant, Island Folk Cider much more for having endured. Alex Paul House in the former St. George’s This is a project — the constructing Executive Director, Mi’kmaq Economic Hall, will play a major role in the of a $17 million arts centre in a Benefits Office revitalization of the Northend of depleted community — that should Sydney. have been too big for New Dawn. Dr. Laura Whyte Finally, I was one of over 2,700 In other communities, these types Co-founder/Chair, Hope House grateful visitors who attended the of infrastructure developments are Recovery Home; Physician, Nova Scotia second annual “Hello Cape Breton” undertaken by municipalities, in Health Authority festival at the Joan Harriss Cruise partnerships with private developers, Pavilion hosted by our Centre for or by organizations with bigger Immigration. This was a memorable budgets and longer, deeper - 1 - ANNUAL REPORT 2019 fundraising histories. been a conversation in which both work toward reconciliation, and we But this is New Dawn’s way. To the size of the table and the number know this is a relationship that comes identify the work that stands to of voices gathered around it have with the responsibility to acknowledge transform us, and — no matter the size continued to grow. both our dark past and that, today, we of the assignment before us or who From the artists who helped shape are all still treaty people. should be doing it or what is required the spaces inside, to the Holy Angels Finally, all of this — this of us to see it through — to make it alumni who encouraged the reuse conversation, this spirit of gathering, happen in service of a more vibrant, of their beloved buildings, and the this lure of wild ideas, this tenacious self-reliant Cape Breton Island. Quite incomparable design team who effort — is far from limited to New simply, the audacity to entertain wild thought so carefully about the light Dawn’s work on The Convent. ideas, and the tenacity to see them and the energy in each space, we In 2019 alone, the Cape Breton through, are woven into the spirit of have had the privilege of hosting one Island Centre for Immigration prepared who we are. long conversation among people who to open up a vibrant new downtown As the reconstruction of The Convent care deeply about the Island and each gathering space in the Crowell’s comes to an end and we are called to other. We have, as it turns out, built a building — a place where newcomers reflect back on what we’ve learned community in the process of building a and international students can be over the last seven years, a number of building. together, connect with the broader insights stand out. And for the first time in New Dawn’s community, and put down roots. First, poor communities need history, this community has included A Better Bite and New Dawn Meals beautiful buildings. When buildings the voices of the Mi’kmaq. The Convent on Wheels prepared for the opening of are built for people who are poor, they has been, and will continue to be, A Better Bite Café — the fulfillment of are built to be functional and cost- enriched by the leadership of our a dream that was cast years prior, and effective only. They are not built to be Elders Advisory Committee — Dolena one that adds momentum, visibility, beautiful. This has long been the case Mary Poulette, Anita Basque, Pauline and life to the steady building of this in Cape Breton, where beauty was not Isadore, Ernest Johnson, and Lawrence significant community food enterprise. a luxury afforded to us in buildings Wells — who have guided us, gently, New Dawn Properties facilitated conceived of, and designed, from afar. astutely, and with much humour, on the opening of the Nova Scotia Power But the spaces we spend time in are how to create a space that feels safe Makerspace in the New Dawn Centre like mirrors. They reflect back to us to, and welcoming of, the Island’s and of the Island Folk Cider House in how we are thought of by those who Mi’kmaw artists and communities. the former St. George’s Hall; and New built them: how much we are valued The Convent has given us a place Dawn Community Engagement helped and what we are thought to be worthy from which we can begin to build sow the seeds for a Northside Hub at of. In turn, they shape the way we see bridges to communities we have long Community CARES Youth Outreach, ourselves. been separated from. We are grateful and a Cape Breton Island data portal. The Convent is a beautiful building. for the patience and generosity shown To be witness to all of this is to be It was built with great care, and with to us as we learn what it means to witness to the human spirit at its best. love and respect for those who would one day occupy its halls. And so now, as we look to the next phase of our Convent journey, our work becomes to make welcome in it precisely those who believe they are undeserving of occupying beautiful spaces. Second, while we always knew that The Convent when finished would provide the community with a space to gather, The Convent in-progress gave us this, too. The last seven years have Rankin MacSween, President/CEO Erika Shea, VP Development - 2 - Residential Tenant Satisfaction Survey We conducted a residential tenant satisfaction survey in 2019 to better understand the needs of tenants and to identify opportunities to improve the services we provide.