Mentoring Plus receives $1-million boost
Mentoring Plus, an initiative out of Dalhousie connecting soon-to-be high school grads with retirees from different career backgrounds, has just received a boost from the federal government. “Engaged seniors are healthy seniors, and connected communities are healthy communities,” said Diane Tyres, Dean of Dalhousie University College of Continuing Care and Education, at Glasgow Square Theatre on Feb. 10 where municipal partners and federal representatives met to announce a $3.4 million investment over the next four years. “I can’t wait to see the impact it has on this community,” Central Nova MP Sean Fraser told the room. Joining him was Deb Shulte, federal minister of seniors, which has made the $3.4 million investment through the New Horizons for Seniors Program. The investment comes as good news for the people who for the last two years have been implementing Mentoring Plus as a way of addressing the needs of people on different ends of the generational divide: combating social isolation among Nova Scotia’s fastest growing demographic on one end, and helping young people and people entering the workforce by meeting people with years of experience on the other. “It’s actually going to allow for a knowledge transfer, so that young people are going to be benefitting from that transfer of knowledge from people who have a lifetime of experience that we don’t want to lose,” said Fraser. “What you’re going to see is people in rooms talking with one another, sharing their experiences to make better decisions about their own lives and hopefully feel that they’re proving some value in giving back to the next generation of workers locally.” Schools in the participating municipalities have been the places where those conversations have been happening. This investment is going to help ensure these intergenerational conversations will continue by hiring co-ordinators in New Glasgow, Truro and Kentville, as well as two designated community engagement facilitators that will work specifically with First Nations and African Nova Scotian communities.