News

By: Casey Spears

What most people saw as a vacant, unsightly property in Warrington Park, Hope Blooms Executive Director Jessie Jollymore saw as an opportunity. An opportunity to help bring change to her community in the North End of Halifax. From there, Hope Blooms was planted and success is growing within -and outside of- the gardens. Local, at-risk youth now have a safe and productive place to be in their community. They focus on growing their own food, producing and marketing their own brand of salad dressings and building relationships within the community. Jessie says, “The youth now have control of their lives and a positive environment that fosters personal empowerment and community growth.”

On university campuses across Nova Scotia, another opportunity for youth has taken off – the sandbox program. Cultiv8, the agricultural sandbox, services both Dalhousie’s Faculty of Agriculture and Acadia University and launchbox is Acadia’s own sandbox located in their Rural Innovation Centre. Funded by the Department of Labour and Advanced Education, sandboxes provide resources, mentors and connections to industry professionals for students wishing to test out the entrepreneurial waters while remaining a student.

Sandboxes are a place where ideas grow and industry solutions develop. “launchbox makes starting a business attainable. Their resources really allow you to hit the ground running. The competitions give me a great opportunity to expand my network, as well as develop a solid business plan for my venture,” says Acadia and launchbox student Griffin Cox.

Former Associate Dean of Research at the Faculty of Agriculture Richard Donald, sits on the Board of Directors for Hope Blooms and connected Hope Blooms with the Faculty of Agriculture and Cultiv8. “I’m very excited about the opportunity of connecting the youth social entrepreneurship of Hope Blooms with those in the sandboxes,” he explains. This kind of entrepreneurship takes into account the positive return its business has on society. Social entrepreneurship is different from typical entrepreneurship in the sense that it attempts to draw upon business techniques and help solve societal problems- which is exactly what Hope Blooms is doing and Cultiv8 is teaching.

The relationship between Hope Blooms and the sandboxes are valuable to both organizations. On Saturday October 3^rd, students from the Faculty of Agriculture and Acadia will be joining Hope Blooms’ youth at the Seaport Farmers’ Market in downtown Halifax for a fun, competitive sell-off event. Hope Blooms’ youth are skilled professionals when it comes to selling their merchandise to the public. The youth must be able to answer questions about their products, have outstanding sales skills and work in a fast-paced environment on a busy Saturday morning at the market. Cultiv8 and launchbox’s students will have little time to prepare and must learn as they go how to professionally sell Hope Blooms’ products.

“I hope the students will be inspired by the social mission of Hope Blooms but also learn about the frameworks and challenges of running a not-for-profit enterprise,” Jolene MacEachern, Cultiv8 sandbox coordinator, says. Entrepreneurship has the potential to not only grow the economy but also to solve problems for society. Hope Blooms does this by actively engaging the community’s youth in growing, producing, marketing and selling their own products. After the event in October, the students will see the importance and necessity of social entrepreneurship as a tool for community development. When incredible resources such as Hope Blooms, Cultiv8 and launchbox work together, magic happens.