2015 Local Business Grant Recipients

A total of 58 submissions were received for the Local Business Grant, and CUA’s Selection Committee consisted of representatives from I Love Local HFX, Local Connections Magazine, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education & Development (CEED) Nova Scotia.

Nova Fashion Incubator

Nova Fashion Incubator is an organization dedicated to providing support to independent fashion brands in a professional and creative environment, and helps designers of all stages to develop and grow their business through accessible and affordable space, workshops, selling opportunities, events and manufacturing services.  The business plans to use their grant funding to offer a “Sponsor a Designer” Program which will offer designers the opportunity to access their incubator and purchase supplies despite financial constraints. 

“Starting a business is financially hard enough. Starting a business in an industry not recognized by most funding agencies is even tougher. The Nova Fashion Incubator is committed to building the fashion and garment industry on the East Coast. The grant we received from CUA will help us provide much needed resources to the growing number of fashion designers that want to grow their business here at home. The grant will help us help them and we couldn't be more grateful." – Amanda Kincaid, Business Owner

Food Noise

Food Noise is a food shop located in Dartmouth that works within the community to bring awareness to the importance of food and nutrition. The business focuses on using food as medicine, by selecting high quality ingredients that have been harvested with nutritional integrity, and they are currently in the early stages of building an underground greenhouse that they plan to use as an educational platform for community members who want to learn how to grow, harvest and prepare their own healthy food. 

"Food Noise is a micro cafe located in Dartmouth with a strong focus on shopping local and using fresh, seasonal ingredients to create healthy whole foods for our clients. We are committed to building year round greenhouses allowing us to have fresh greens and produce throughout the long winter. Our excess produce goes to the local soup kitchen and food bank to supplement the nonperishable item donations. This grant will allow us to purchase equipment and inventory required to start the growing process." – Tanessa Holt, Business Owner.

2015 Youth Grant Recipients

A total of 27 submissions were received for the Youth Grant which invited applications for or by youth aged 17-30, and CUA’s Selection Committee consisted of representatives from Fusion Halifax, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education & Development (CEED), and CUA’s own Youth Advisory Council. Young and Old Enterprises and Speak Up have been awarded the 2015 Community Investment Youth Grants.

Project: Speak Up

Speak Up is a program dedicated to helping international students practice and gain confidence in speaking English and establishing important social connections. Over the course of the school year, Speak Up hosts a number of workshops varying from sharing cultures to social media.

"We are currently a group of about 30 volunteers, contributing hours upon hours to create workshops for the international students in Halifax to improve English conversation skills, share cultures, and make new friends. Being recognized by CUA as a project worth investing in really breathes a sense of community into Halifax. Having local businesses give back to small projects in the community like ours really inspires us to grow and help others in the same way." – Samantha Burns, Project Owner

Project: Young and Old Enterprises

Through the Young and Old Enterprises project, North End youth would provide affordable services to seniors who live independently. Youth staff would gain valuable work experience, a sense of belonging and a source of income, and the seniors would get the practical help they need. The idea came from conversations at the North End Community Circle’s (NECC) monthly roundtable when a combination of an ongoing search for opportunities for youth and the challenges of seniors were presented.

"Youth and seniors can meet some of each other's needs and Young and Old Enterprises would connect them. Think about this past winter: many home care providers couldn't even get to their clients' homes once buses stopped running. But youth can walk to the homes of seniors in their neighbourhood. I can imagine countless spin-off benefits: income, experience with entrepreneurship, a sense of community belonging. I'm really excited to see this happen." – Lisa Roberts, Project Owner