To Whom it may concern;
I have been lucky to have never been without work whenever I looked for it. The last time I went to western Canada to find seasonal work at a fair wage, though, I vowed that I would make my living in Nova Scotia from now on. In part because I think it is unfortunate to reinforce the belief that Eastern Canadians have to leave their homes to make decent money, but also because I love and know this place the most because it is my home. The only difference in my job search this time was that I refused to work at something I didn’t love, that didn’t make me a better person, didn’t challenge me and did not help the greater good. I wanted to work in a way that was beneficial to the community and helped foster all those things I love about the future of the place where I am from. I wanted to work in Nova Scotia in a field which developed the skills I needed to succeed, was innovative, payed me enough to live and was aligned closely to my principals and values. I was not surprised to find that there was plenty of work in the field of Community Development, but there was very little money.
Over the past few years, I have found my passions in life. I used to feel somewhat lathargic and unmotivated about my life plans and practices, but now I find my work animates and inspires me at every turn so that I have seemingly limitless energy. After going both University & College, working in various fields while volunteering as much as was physically possible, I became quite adamant about community-based and service learning. I had found the missing piece to my own education: putting what you learn into practice. I started to develop leadership programs with the Halifax Regional School Board, Centre for Entrepreneurship Education & Development, Dalhousie and others to help enrich our education systems to be more empowering to youth, to help kids and young adults get hands on experience and create rewards systems for their work in community development. This work was amazingly satisfying, because it redressed social issues from being what seemed to make life difficult into a perfect chance to develop personal skills, cultivate meaning, take action and be proud of ones work. I developed a special interest in the role of business and entrepreneurial skills as a tool to help people manage and plan how to apply their passions while remedying some of the challenges in society. While teaching one of my sessions, on a fully volunteer basis, I realized that I was not practicing what I had set out to teach: I was teaching youth to live their dreams and address community issues with entrepreneurial know-how, and yet I was volunteering and trying to find ways to supplement my volunteer income through less meaningful work that did not suit my abilities or who I wanted to grow into. So, after some hefty community research, I set off on an entrepreneurial path.
I applied for Self Employment Benefits program through Employment Insurance, participated as a competitor in an Enterprise Atlantic contest and learned as much as I could about how the realm of business and the spirit of enterprise is beneficial to Nova Scotia and to me. I was told that my business ideas and models were amazing, innovative and well thought out. I was told my community projects were needed in our communities, but I needed to be more concerned with profit and creating capitol and that I did not quite fit into the current model of business or many support programs.
I am quite blessed to be someone who has multiple interests and aptitudes, but there is nothing I love so much as my home, its communities and people. I want to live and work here, and think that we can embody a truly innovative and sustainable model with our economy and our people. Over time, I have come to feel like we need to make more room for an economy that thrives on community development and alternative education, and I want to help create jobs outside of charitable organizations and social welfare instituions so that those who are ethical and community-centred can generate an income without depleting government funds or operating wholly separate from business. We deserve to use the wealth of human potential we have in our amazingly educated capitol, and use these in tandem with entrepreneurials skills so that we might use them most effectively.
I have been lucky to have never been without work whenever I looked for it. The last time I went to western Canada to find seasonal work at a fair wage, though, I vowed that I would make my living in Nova Scotia from now on. In part because I think it is unfortunate to reinforce the belief that Eastern Canadians have to leave their homes to make decent money, but also because I love and know this place the most because it is my home. The only difference in my job search this time was that I refused to work at something I didn’t love, that didn’t make me a better person, didn’t challenge me and did not help the greater good. I wanted to work in a way that was beneficial to the community and helped foster all those things I love about the future of the place where I am from. I wanted to work in Nova Scotia in a field which developed the skills I needed to succeed, was innovative, payed me enough to live and was aligned closely to my principals and values. I was not surprised to find that there was plenty of work in the field of Community Development, but there was very little money.
Over the past few years, I have found my passions in life. I used to feel somewhat lathargic and unmotivated about my life plans and practices, but now I find my work animates and inspires me at every turn so that I have seemingly limitless energy. After going both University & College, working in various fields while volunteering as much as was physically possible, I became quite adamant about community-based and service learning. I had found the missing piece to my own education: putting what you learn into practice. I started to develop leadership programs with the Halifax Regional School Board, Centre for Entrepreneurship Education & Development, Dalhousie and others to help enrich our education systems to be more empowering to youth, to help kids and young adults get hands on experience and create rewards systems for their work in community development. This work was amazingly satisfying, because it redressed social issues from being what seemed to make life difficult into a perfect chance to develop personal skills, cultivate meaning, take action and be proud of ones work. I developed a special interest in the role of business and entrepreneurial skills as a tool to help people manage and plan how to apply their passions while remedying some of the challenges in society. While teaching one of my sessions, on a fully volunteer basis, I realized that I was not practicing what I had set out to teach: I was teaching youth to live their dreams and address community issues with entrepreneurial know-how, and yet I was volunteering and trying to find ways to supplement my volunteer income through less meaningful work that did not suit my abilities or who I wanted to grow into. So, after some hefty community research, I set off on an entrepreneurial path.
I applied for Self Employment Benefits program through Employment Insurance, participated as a competitor in an Enterprise Atlantic contest and learned as much as I could about how the realm of business and the spirit of enterprise is beneficial to Nova Scotia and to me. I was told that my business ideas and models were amazing, innovative and well thought out. I was told my community projects were needed in our communities, but I needed to be more concerned with profit and creating capitol and that I did not quite fit into the current model of business or many support programs.
I am quite blessed to be someone who has multiple interests and aptitudes, but there is nothing I love so much as my home, its communities and people. I want to live and work here, and think that we can embody a truly innovative and sustainable model with our economy and our people. Over time, I have come to feel like we need to make more room for an economy that thrives on community development and alternative education, and I want to help create jobs outside of charitable organizations and social welfare instituions so that those who are ethical and community-centred can generate an income without depleting government funds or operating wholly separate from business. We deserve to use the wealth of human potential we have in our amazingly educated capitol, and use these in tandem with entrepreneurials skills so that we might use them most effectively.
I believe that social enterprise and education is part of the future legacy of Nova Scotian identity, and I think that generating awareness and living by example is what I should do with my life. I want to develop the skills, the research, the connections and the knowledge to be business savvy and a community resource simultaneously, and I want to help other Nova Scotians do the same. I would take every chance to embody the ethically, sustainably employed vision I have for this province and try to better myself and the greater community at every turn and I will not be giving up anytime soon.
Can you help me create my job and my Nova Scotia?
Thanks for your time,
Julia M. Feltham
Julia M. Feltham
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