Invest Nova Scotia Fund Hands Out $2 Million To Food, Diversity And Aerospace Initiatives
HALIFAX—Invest Nova Scotia has pledged close to $2 million to help increase access to local food, support diversity in the province’s workforce, and improve competitiveness for a local aerospace business.
The provincial investment fund’s latest round of funding pumps money into business across the province representing several distinct sectors.
The Black Business Initiative will receive $856,000 to develop its Diversity Employment Network. The network is a four-part program aiming to increase diversity in Nova Scotia’s workforce.
The Cape Breton Food Hub, meanwhile, will get $500,000 to buy and renovate a building, which it will turn into a processing facility, retail outlet, commercial kitchen, and rental space.
“This facility will be a gamechanger in our whole industry,” Cape Breton Food Hub manager Alicia Lake said of the project. “Farmers and food businesses will be able to expand and more people will get to eat Cape Breton grown food year-round.”
Finally, another $500,000 will go to the Atlantic Canada Aerospace and Defence Association. With it, the collaborative will be able to increase productivity and competitiveness for small enterprises in the aerospace sector with the development of a supplier training program called the MACH Atlantic Initiative.
Invest Nova was created in 2014 as an “independent decision-making board for granting economic incentives” in the province.
Its mandate is to support community-based projects that “spark innovation and collaboration and build stronger, more competitive sectors and regions.”
Since 2015, the fund has invested $16.5-million in 15 projects in agriculture, education, social enterprise and the arts and culture sectors.
“The Invest Nova Scotia Fund plays a vital role in supporting initiatives that advance sectors and regions in Nova Scotia through innovation and collaborative partnerships,” said Graham Eisenhaur, the incoming board chair of Invest Nova Scotia. “These projects are a positive example of the strong and sustainable initiatives that Nova Scotians are leading. I look forward to the fund’s continued impact.”