Funders & Collaborators
Thriving Workplaces is led by Mixtmode in partnership with the Canadian Career Development Foundation. It is generously funded by the Government of Canada under the Future Skills Centre (FSC) program and overseen by Blueprint as part of the Reimagining Career Services initiative. This initiative is conducted in partnership with Nova Scotia Departments of Labour, Skills and Immigration (LSI) and Economic Development (ED).
MixtMode is a project-based consulting agency that focuses on strengthening and modernizing career and workforce development services. MixtMode’s expertise evolved from operating government funded career services for 25 years in British Columbia delivering services in rural and remote settings across many different client needs and demographics. With a comprehensive understanding of all facets of the career development sector, MixtMode offers relevant and innovative solutions for practitioners, service providers, educational institutions, and governments. Their work focuses on:
- strengthening the Career Development sector’s ecosystem through practitioner training, resource development and conference participation/ expert presentations/ speaking engagements.
- designing future-oriented service models by partnering with national and international governments to leverage career development services for the health and well-being of their communities.
- improving access and quality of career services by integrating technology to create a meaningful and impactful process between practitioners and their clients.
Through these initiatives, MixtMode is committed to drive positive change and innovation in the career development sector, both nationally and internationally.
The Canadian Career Development Foundation (CCDF) is an internationally renowned organization with proven expertise in the field of career development. CCDF is a non-profit, project-based organization with a national Board of Governors, expert, staff and a global network of specialist Associates.
Incorporated in 1980, CCDF is a recognized leader in the areas of:
- Research: Creating a rigorous evidence-base for career and employment services to inform and strengthen policy and practice
- Resource Development: Creating leading edge career programs, products, and tools that respond to client, practitioner and employer realities and priorities
- Training: Developing and delivering accredited training to strengthen practitioners’ competence and promote innovation and excellence in practice
- Service Capacity Building: Working with diverse partners to integrate career, community, economic and workforce development and to promote a strong service ecosystem
- Policy Consultation: Creating sustainable policy solutions that are informed by practice and research and aligned with the realities of the emergent labour market
CCDF conducts projects that:
- Prepare youth and adults distant from the labour market to enter the workforce, manage ongoing learning and successfully navigate career transitions
- Build the capacity of workers to manage their careers skillfully
- Address the barriers that impede under-represented groups from accessing and succeeding in learning and work opportunities
- Assist employers to create quality workplaces that maximize worker satisfaction and productivity
- Reintegrate adults entering or re-entering education/training or employment
- Help older workers to transition to alternative avenues for work, learning and/or community engagement
CCDF leverages career development to enable Canadians to manage learning and work, acquire and enhance skills, seek/create employment, and access community services in an increasingly complex, interdependent and changing world. Through this work, CCDF promotes positive health, social and economic outcomes for individuals, institutions, and communities.
At Blueprint, we are relentless champions of people-centered, data-driven, evidence-informed policy and practice.
We envision a Canada where evidence and innovation are used to improve lives, build better systems and policies and drive social change.
Our mission is to help decision-makers use data and evidence to solve complex challenges and make better policies, programs and services for Canadians.
To accomplish our mission, we believe data and evidence are key to ensuring policy intent equals policy impact. To make progress we need to leverage the power of evidence and make purposeful efforts to achieve better outcomes.
The Future Skills Centre is dedicated to helping Canadians gain the skills they need to thrive in a changing labour market.
We recognize that Canada’s economy is evolving rapidly as a result of technological, demographic, environmental and geopolitical change. That change inevitably alters the nature of work—creating new opportunities and also engendering new threats.
FSC was conceived to address those opportunities and challenges by fostering a more responsive skills development ecosystem. Our approach is outlined in our Strategic Plan, which articulates our vision for a more agile and adaptable workforce in Canada.
We are constantly looking ahead, gaining and sharing insights to understand how global trends impact the labour market of today and the future. Together with our partners, we inform and support local approaches to skills development and employment training.
As a pan-Canadian initiative, we connect ideas and innovations from across Canada to generate a robust evidence-base for decision makers so that workers and employers can succeed in the labour market and ensure that local, regional, and national economies thrive.
We aim to help all workers in Canada benefit from effective skills development and training. We seek to ensure an inclusive approach to supporting underserved groups such as women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers, racialized peoples, LGBTQ2S+ peoples, persons with disabilities, veterans, and Canadians living in rural, remote, and Northern communities.
Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration
The Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration helps people prepare for job opportunities and build the skills they need. We promote safe work environments and help employers and employees know their rights and responsibilities.
The department works with partners and other levels of government to support people immigrating to Nova Scotia. We provide programs to help newcomers. We also provide career information, employment services and learning programs that support the labour market.
We’re responsible for:
- making sure people are working safely and know their rights
- helping more people find work and keep working within the province
- helping young people get training and work experience they need to get jobs within the province and helping more employers hire young people
- improving access to labour market information and providing support to determine if more education, help with literacy or work experience is needed
- working with partners and businesses to identify labour and skills gaps
- regulating technical safety for mechanical equipment and equipment in public places (like elevators, escalators, electrical wiring, boilers and propane storage)
- supporting immigration, newcomers and population growth throughout the province
Department of Economic Development
The Department of Economic Development works with Crown corporations and special operating entities to develop plans, programs and policies that encourage entrepreneurship, help attract venture capital investment and grow sectors of the economy. We also work with other government departments and levels of government, universities, NSCC and the private and social enterprise sectors to create a shared strategy for business growth.
We’re responsible for:
- working to help make Nova Scotia competitive and business-friendly
- administering the Community Economic Development Fund
- leading projects including Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) and the Halifax Convention Centre
- accountability reporting on the Nova Scotia Jobs Fund, Nova Scotia Fund, Strategic Investment Funds and Nova Scotia Film & Television Production Incentive Fund
Kelly Pasolli is a policy & research consultant who helps clients in the social sector use evidence to strengthen social policies and programs through research, evaluation, policy analysis, writing, program design and project planning services.
The Moment is an Innovation and Service Design company that helps government teams, not-for-profits, institutions, and aligned companies solve today’s complex challenges while innovating for the future.
We employ our Human-Centred Design approach and service design capabilities to help organizations develop products & services, strategies, programs, and policies that meet stakeholders’ needs. And, we immerse ourselves in your stakeholders’ context to understand, from an individual and systems perspective, how to create experiences that have a demonstrable, measurable impact.
We are excited about how emerging technologies can reshape society in nearly limitless ways and will always look to co-design experiences that serve society at large, in alignment with our Organizational Purpose, A Thriving Future for Us All.
Thriving Workplaces is currently being piloted in 5 Nova Scotia Works sites across the province of Nova Scota.