UPDATE: The Centre for Employment Innovation (CEI) is proud to report that as the New Opportunities for Work (NOW) Program drew to a close in February 2020, 186 Nova Scotians had been and remained in full-time employment, and more than 100 employers had received or were receiving supports and ongoing diversity and inclusion training at their workplaces. A final evaluation of the NOW Program will be launched in 2020.
In July 2017, the CEI launched the NOW Program, a large-scale demonstration pilot aimed at fostering innovations across the employment services system in Nova Scotia. The purpose of the NOW Program is to increase the labour force participation, attachment, and integration of historically under-represented groups through the development and delivery of a labour attachment program. Identified groups at the focus of this pilot include First Nations, African Nova Scotians, racially visible persons, Nova Scotians on Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA), persons with a disability, and older workers (over 55 years of age).
The NOW Program incorporates emerging and exemplary practices in long-term labour force attachment that enable jobseekers from identified groups to access training, education and support. It also enables employers to access wage incentives (pay at least $15/hour with the potential to obtain a maximum subsidy of $10.50/hour per participant over a two-year period) and supports workplace diversity training to assist in creating a more meaningful employment relationship.
The NOW program is delivered through partnerships with eleven community-based and employment service organizations. To learn more about the New Opportunities for Work Program, please click on the links below: