Growth is how we end poverty in the Maritimes
Author: Sara Napier, President & CEO United Way Maritimes
There is nothing more important than the vitality and strength of the communities we call home.
Right now, new economic and political uncertainties are testing what we know and who we are. Businesses, workers, families are all being asked to act and think in different ways to support our sustainability and growth. United Way Maritimes cares deeply about community, and we are committed to helping people through this challenging time. The lasting answer is investing in a stronger Canada and ensuring everyone benefits.
This September, the work took shape. The Government of Canada’s Investment Summit drew investors from around the world, and days later in New Brunswick, I joined leaders from across the region, including Premiers Susan Holt and Tim Houston, at the Atlantic Economic Panel. Convened by ACOA Minister Sean Fraser, and chaired by Don Mills, the Panel released Bolder Ambitions: Greater Prosperity for All. The report calls on the four Atlantic Canadian provinces to work as one region to attract major investment, and to grow the region's population by 2035. We believe these efforts are the best way for United Way Maritimes to realize our ambition to end poverty, because growth, when its benefits are shared, is how we all build better lives and hopeful futures for ourselves and our families.
The Panel says plainly why ambitious growth matters: the region’s growth potential “is constrained by pressures in housing, health care, food security, and the local services that shape whether people can build a life in Atlantic Canada.”
United Way Maritimes is meeting these pressures with both urgency and staying power. We are funding 148 community agencies people rely on for housing, food, education, safety, inclusion, and access to what is needed. And, in the years ahead we plan to expand investments to ensure networks of services are there for the long term. We are responding to homelessness and housing insecurity by building supportive and affordable housing and will build 500 homes in just a few years' time. We are sustaining the leadership capacity of urban and rural communities by training nonprofit leaders and testing different ideas that help communities thrive.
We are forging partnerships with business, non-profits, community, donors and governments designed to prevent issues and challenges before they occur. We are creative, collaborative, resourceful, and trusted to connect people to immediate help while addressing the deeper conditions driving hardship.
We will continue to make practical progress for communities and, we will collaborate on new ideas and next steps to make sure the Maritimes are stronger now and for decades into the future.
Just as growth is how we end poverty, trust is how we get to growth. At the recent Investment Summit Prime Minister Carney told investors, “Our greatest strength is the one thing you won’t find on any balance sheet: trust.”
The Atlantic Economic Panel reinforces this same truth. For the region to grow, we must trust one another to act on the report's bold recommendations, and we must nurture community trust and benefits as we go. United Way Maritimes supports the panel's call for modern community benefit frameworks to foster local trust and ensure community and quality of life needs are prioritized. We believe that work is essential and propose forming Shared Growth Tables in the Maritimes to build community benefit in a modern way, and to ensure sustainable positive impact for communities and people in the region.
The Panel’s central call is for Atlantic Canada to act and collaborate as one. In his remarks, Minister Fraser said, “history favours those that are willing to bet big on themselves.” We agree – this thinking applies to our region today.
The members of the Atlantic Economic Panel share highlights of their report and address questions from business and community leaders in attendance. From left to right: J. Scott McCain, Chief Terry Richardson, Cathy Bennett, Don Mills, Joyce Carter, Anne Whalen, and Michael F. Cassidy.
We also believe collaboration and partnership will help us secure growth for all because we have lived it. In 2024, seven United Ways across the region became United Way Maritimes. We have seen firsthand how consolidation improves outcomes, and we are helping other nonprofits do the same. We are also partnering with the United Ways who have remain independent so we can do big things together right across Atlantic Canada.
Panel chair Don Mills asked the key question, does Atlantic Canada have “the ambition, and the will, to seize the moment.” Our answer is “Yes!” Our vision is a region relentlessly united in creating a hopeful future for all, and our strategic plan matches that needed ambition.
We aim to raise over $100 million for our communities. We will scale up our home building to form complete communities where people can thrive, and we will work with communities on a shared vision of a better future, reporting on progress as we go.
Change of this scale takes all of us. I encourage everyone to read Bolder Ambitions: Greater Prosperity for All and consider how you'll get involved in their call to action. I invite our donors, community agencies and partners, volunteers, neighbours, and community leaders to join us as we plan to collaborate with project proponents and governments across the Maritimes to support growth and build a hopeful future for all, not only today, but for generations to come.
Thank you for caring so deeply about our communities.
Sara Napier
President & CEO
United Way Maritimes
