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Directions Council of Nova Scotia: From Stipends to Wages

Project Snapshot:

Client: Directions Council of Nova Scotia 

Location: Halifax, NS

Sector: Social & Human Services 

Services: Training and employment support to people with intellectual disabilities

Timeline: 2025

Impact at a glance:

  • Clear pathways identified for viable waged employment for 24 organizations.

  • Assisted in the assessment of 81 Social Enterprises with only 6 suspended as they could not support paying wages.

  • A lasting shift toward viewing entire organizations as social enterprises using both social and business lenses.

  • Next step - help them to develop new pricing strategies based on paid wages.

  • The Challenge:

  • The member organizations of the Directions Council of Nova Scotia needed to transition social enterprise employees from stipends to wages in alignment with The Remedy.

Our Approach:

Our approach was to focus on bringing new business skills to these organizations that have built meaningful social enterprises that needed to adjust to a big change.

We Delivered:

In partnership with our colleagues at Social Enterprise Solutions and Julie Forrester Consulting:

  • Facilitated 5 regional workshops in the five regions across the province. 

  • Delivered monthly webinars.

  • Developed an online set of resources to support the work

  • Coached 24 organizations to strengthen their business skills and adapt operations for sustainable, waged employment.

Our Impact:

  • Individuals with disabilities are getting paid for the work they do in the social enterprises across the province.

  • Not one organization has had to close its doors because of the change in funding.

A Human Moment:

The moment in a coaching call when the relief of an Executive Director was evident when she said…” You’re not going to tell us to close our doors?!

Client Reflection
“Lisa and the SES consulting team provided thoughtful, responsive support that helped hundreds of Nova Scotians with diverse abilities access real wage employment.”

~ Jeff Kelly, Executive Director, Directions Council

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