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Community Foundation of Nova Scotia supports poverty reduction initiative in Cape Breton

“The funding coming from the VISIONS Fund is really a godsend”

New Dawn Community Development Educational Foundation will receive $40,000 per year for three years from the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia’s VISIONS Fund for its Social Development Forum, a new initiative addressing persistent poverty in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM).

The Forum brings together community organizations, service providers, and people with lived experience of poverty to build shared strategies for change in the CBRM. Through facilitated sessions and collaborative planning, the project aims to strengthen coordination across the sector, elevate first-voice participation, and develop a community-wide poverty reduction agenda rooted in local realities.

Eric Leviten-Reid, Project Coordinator, says the support allows the organization to focus on the deeper, collaborative work needed to address poverty.

“The funding coming from the VISIONS Fund is really a godsend,” says Leviten-Reid. “It puts some legs underneath a level of work that’s often missing and is essential if we’re going to address poverty in our community.”

The VISIONS Fund was established in 2024 with an $8.5 million endowment from an anonymous donor and awarded its first grants last year to support projects that help make Nova Scotia a better place to live and learn.

This year, the VISIONS Fund is supporting thirteen organizations through urban, rural, and province-wide initiatives for a total granting amount of more than $400,000. Funded projects focus on poverty reduction, food security, youth wellbeing, digital access, inclusive education, workforce development and more. 2025 recipients include GEO Nova Scotia, Autism Nova Scotia (Truro) and the Africadian Empowerment Academy.

“Each of these projects reflects the creativity, leadership, and resilience of communities across Nova Scotia,” said Daniel Holland, Community Foundation of Nova Scotia CEO. “These initiatives are meeting people where they are and creating pathways to opportunity. We are honoured to facilitate this work and oversee equitable granting practices on behalf of this donor who showed such thought and leadership in their generosity.”

Posted February 10, 2026 by Ardelle Reynolds
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New Dawn Enterprises
37 Nepean St, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6A7
newdawn@newdawn.ca
902-539-9560

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Eymu’ti’k Unama’ki

Eymu’ti’k Unama’ki, newte’jk l’uiknek te’sikl Mi’kmawe’l maqamikall mna’q iknmuetumittl. Ula maqamikew wiaqi-wikasik Wantaqo’tie’l aqq I’lamatultimkewe’l Ankukamkewe’l Mi’kmaq aqq Eleke’wuti kisa’matultisnik 1726ek.

We are in Unama’ki, one of the seven traditional and unceded ancestral territories of the people of Mi’kma’ki. This territory is covered by the Treaties of Peace and Friendship which the Mi’kmaq first signed with the British Crown in 1726.

Ketu’-keknuite’tmek aqq kepmite’tmek ula tela’matultimkip wjit maqamikew ta’n etekl mtmo’taqne’l. Ula tett, ula maqamikek, etl-lukutiek l’tunen aqq apoqntmnen apoqnmasimk aqq weliknamk Unama’ki.

We wish to recognize and honour this understanding of the lands on which we reside. It is from here, on these lands, that we work to create and support a culture of self-reliance and vibrancy.