RCFNS, in partnership with the Centre for Local Prosperity, is co-hosting regional working groups under the “Thriving Local Communities” gatherings. These sessions provide space for leadership, collaboration, and creativity—diverse voices identifying priority areas for investment and strategy. Like interconnected streams within a watershed, each community’s contribution helps shape the whole.

Instead of pushing harder, I’m taking a gentler approach – I'm taking a moment to respect the shedding we were called to do with the Wood Snake in 2025. This weekend, I’ll be stepping back - resting, reflecting, and remembering that tending to myself is part of the work, not apart from it. Consider this a collective exhale, a small pause as we prepare for what’s next.

As Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” For rural Nova Scotians facing erratic weather, food insecurity, creaking infrastructure, and cuts to essential programs, each gift to the Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund is one such small act. On a grey March morning, with rain running off frozen soil, choosing to give is a way of saying that our communities—and our future—are worth that love.

Uncertainty about how to proceed, or what the “right” next step is, often means we are letting go and unlearning. If you find yourself in a deeply uncomfortable part of your journey, know that you are not alone—we are there too, moving toward Justice and Equity alongside you. These challenges are even harder to address because they are the water we swim in—we often don’t see our own privilege. Having that privilege pointed out can feel like being labeled a bad person.

Staring out over the wing, somewhere between Nova Scotia and BC, I was hit with a quiet, insistent thought: I should not be here. Not because I was afraid; it was something heavier. It was the realization of how casually I had stepped onto a machine powered by fossil fuels, treating a cross‑country flight as a scheduling and budget puzzle rather than an ethical choice.

So I return to the hyperlocal as a practice of refusal and re‑imagining. Building food security, climate resilience, and more equitable land stewardship in our own communities is the closest thing I can see to “opting out” of systems that keep us in competition instead of relationship. With Nova Scotia’s recently announced grant cuts, many organizations will be asked to do more with far less.

If you have built wealth by living and working in this place, I invite you to invest directly in the neighbourhoods, organizations, and people who have made that possible.

Ubuntu teaches that “I am because we are.” It reminds us that our lives are bound together, that none of us is fully well when some of us are unsafe. As African Heritage Month comes to a close, and we head into International Women’s Month, this blog is a love letter and a warning: a love letter to the brilliance and resilience of Black women-identifying people in rural Nova Scotian communities, and a warning that the status quo is killing them.

Ending gender-based violence, is not a quick fix and cannot be left only to those living it. Ubuntu calls us to go far, together. That means: learning the signs of IPV and GBV, seeking bystander training, challenging harmful jokes and “mind your business” mindsets, resourcing Black-led and survivor-centred services, and holding institutions accountable for truly equitable, culturally safe responses. Most of all, it means refusing to accept a status quo that costs women their lives. I am because we are—and because we are, we must all act.

These past couple of weeks have felt like a perfect storm—stress swirling, health challenges, exhaustion clinging like a second skin, and that old temptation to crawl under the blankets and wait for spring. I’m tired in a way that coffee can’t touch, in a way that feels soul-deep.

Adding to this heaviness is the passing of Rev. Jesse Jackson—a giant whose voice carried generations toward justice. His death feels symbolic somehow, a reminder of how much work remains. Even after decades of his unrelenting effort, so many of the movements he championed are under threat again. It’s hard not to feel grief—the kind that mingles sadness and fatigue, that gnaws quietly at hope.

For 400 years, African Nova Scotian communities have nurtured food traditions rooted in land, sea, and shared tables—often while living on stolen land, facing broken promises, and enduring ongoing discrimination.

In a province where African Nova Scotian communities have had to resist displacement, environmental racism, and food deserts, these efforts are powerful declarations: we will feed ourselves, care for each other, and design food systems that reflect our histories and futures. Food security, in Black hands, becomes food sovereignty—rooted in culture, community, and collective leadership.

Across rural Nova Scotia, African Nova Scotian communities are reclaiming land and water as an act of memory, resistance, and future-building. A new 2-million-dollar investment from the McConnell Foundation is supporting four Black-led Community Land Trusts (CLTs) in Truro, North End Halifax, Upper Hammonds Plains, and Weymouth Falls, strengthening long-term community control over land, housing, and culture. 

These CLTs are more than legal entities; they are vessels for legacy.

If you value African Nova Scotian rural legacies and want to see Black communities continue to lead in land and water stewardship, support these CLTs directly. Donate if you can, and just as importantly, volunteer your expertise, labour, or storytelling in service of African Nova Scotian Community Land Trusts across the province.

Real change happens with communities, not to them. This is where we begin: with hope. 

 Overlapping crises test that resilience. Climate disasters, economic shocks, rising violence, and polarization tear at rural families and neighbourhoods. These interconnected challenges are felt most acutely by those with the fewest resources. 

Keeping the lights on and the house warm is non-negotiable in a Nova Scotia winter.

In rural places, the math is stacked against us. Energy infrastructure is more expensive when homes are far apart and main streets are short. Meaning there is no "business case” for wholesale upgrades, even when everyone agrees the old systems are failing. But the temperature still drops, and families still need heat.   

Crispy, brown landscapes, failing crops, wildfires, and backcountry access bans: the summer of 2026 was a rude wake up call.  

The Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia addresses these overlapping crises through three intersecting themes: Food Self-Determination, Climate Resilience, and Equitable Land Management. We reject the bucket-bailing approach, instead helping communities "patch the hull, retrofit vessels for tomorrow's storms, and chart new trade routes to local resilience". 

Nova Scotia is facing converging economic, environmental, and social shocks that demand bold rural action.

In 2026, RCFNS will use this blog series to spotlight communities already doing this work—and to invite others into the conversation. The stakes are high, but so is the potential. Rural Nova Scotia is ready to move from momentum to deep, durable systems change. 

2026 will demand flexibility, humility, and willingness to learn from communities. It requires listening to young leaders, honouring Elders' wisdom, and building bridges across isolated sectors.

The work ahead is bold. Rural Nova Scotia is ready. Here's to 2026: a year of deepening impact and tangible systems change. to ensure the rising tide truly lifts all boats.

Rural Nova Scotia's strength lies in our capacity to imagine and build together. Thank you for being part of this journey to ensure the rising tide truly lifts all boats.

In the past, it was often understood that children and grandchildren would one day run the family boat, farm, or community hall. Today, economic pressures, housing challenges, and limited services make it harder for young people to stay or return.

Rural communities across Nova Scotia are facing converging pressures: shifting climate patterns, volatile global markets, and long-standing inequities that leave too many people and places behind. When donors come together with cash gifts, land, and securities, they help build the financial backbone needed to respond creatively and quickly to these challenges.

In rural Nova Scotia, small organizations do big work with limited resources. Every gift, from monthly donations to legacy commitments, helps ensure community strength today and for years to come.

Breaking cycles of violence means transforming the values that enable it. In rural Nova Scotia, that means challenging rigid gender norms, supporting women's economic independence, and believing survivors when they speak up. Every one of us—in families, workplaces, churches, and community groups—can help create cultures where all women are safe, valued, and free.

Nova Scotia is ready for change. When foresters, builders, farmers, educators, and non-profits work as one team, they can tackle big challenges like wildfires, housing, and hunger. The magic happens when we stop working in separate silos and start working together. That is how we build a stronger, fairer Nova Scotia for everyone.