Working for the Community
Brian Segal's standard line is that he showed up in Antigonish, Nova Scotia 34 years ago to visit a friend and forgot to go home. He’ll also tell you that he was welcomed with open arms into the community. "I moved here in 1973 and by 1982 was on the Board of Bergengren Credit Union. Five years later, I was the Chairman of the Board. I wasn't related to anybody, I didn't attend their church, I was just a person with an interest in advancing the community," says Segal. "To me, that's symbolic of one of the great strengths of this area."
Segal is the president of the Antigonish Area Partnership (AAP). His experience of the province belies that old myth about small, insular communities repelling outsiders. "Nova Scotians have a tremendous respect for education and achievement and for people who want to dig in and help out."
Digging in and helping out is exactly what Segal has done. As a concerned and involved small business owner eight years ago, he and 24 other community leaders initiated "Profile Antigonish." The group was originally formed to actively deal with the effects of a proposed new highway bypassing the town. It quickly grew into a larger entity, chockfull of people committed to growing their local economy and looking to do it outside the usual four-year government mandate.
Profile Antigonish, in partnership with the Antigonish Chamber of Commerce, hosted the Antigonish Economic Summit in May 2003. The 165 delegates unanimously recommended establishing a private-public partnership for economic growth for the Antigonish Area. The result was the AAP, launched in late 2003.
A national search for a president ensued and Segal was approached by several different people in the business community who encouraged him to apply for the job. He was already employed full time running his communications and design company, Redgull Incorporated, but after consulting with his wife Julia Redgrave, who is also his business partner, they decided he should throw his hat in the ring. Segal was interviewed and was subsequently chosen for the position from a strong field of candidates.
One of the first things the new partnership did was to organize a road trip; a three-month tour of the area with the intent to hear from various organizations, businesses, and sectors. "That gave us an opportunity to develop a needs list and get a sense of what the top-of-mind issues were," says Segal.
"What we found out was that people had an urgent need for access to reliable information in order to make decisions about their businesses," says Segal. Demographics, consumer attitudes, and market intelligence, were the missing pieces of the puzzle for individuals trying to decide whether to launch or expand certain types of businesses, particularly at the local and regional levels, "They needed to understand their marketplace."
This information propelled the AAP into action. Early projects included detailed analytical reports into such vital issues such as the potential regional economic impact of losing the Stora Enso Mill and the causes and magnitude of outshopping in the Antigonish area. This kind of targeted information was in line with the needs identified by local interests. Says Segal, "It was a real test of our ability to obtain relevant, accurate information and develop a convincing analysis that people could accept and employ to their advantage. And they did."
Today, the AAP is a not-for-profit business focused on economic growth and prosperity. It has developed to the point where it offers a comprehensive online information bank. This "infoweb" contains validated statistical information, analysis, and reports to help organizations make intelligent business and policy decisions. "In a nutshell, we offer peer-reviewed research about specific issues that have practical effects on the community," says Segal. "And then we apply the research for economic problem solving."
Fifty-one organizations and private businesses are the AAP investors, providing working capital for the Partnership. Over the four years they've been in business, their retention rate has ranged from 95-100 per cent each year. The group, whose motto is "We Grow Prosperity Here," has minimum and maximum investment amounts but the investment levels aren't tiered. In addition, they only accept in-kind investments that support core requirements and project needs. For example, a product or service may be given, in lieu of the cash that would ordinarily be needed to obtain them.
"The beauty of this model is that the accountability is very direct. If we don't do what our investors feel we should be doing, they're going to leave," says Segal. "We have to produce."
And produce they do. Traffic flow research and local area population breakdowns are just some of the statistics that Segal has at his finger tips. And some of those statistics are compelling. "Our natural catchment area is a 30-50 minute drive from the centre of town," he says. "When you draw a 100 km circle around Antigonish, the Nova Scotian population in the circle is equivalent to the population of all of Prince Edward Island." And the amount of annual traffic that passes through on the Trans Canada Highway equals the population of the city of Calgary. "Our challenge isn't getting people here, it's capturing them and convincing them to want to come back," says Segal.
Segal and his colleagues are on a mission to let everyone else in Nova Scotia know what a special place Antigonish is. "The region has some incredible assets," says Segal. "We're fortunate to have St. Francis Xavier, a world-class university, we're close to two community colleges, and we're in the middle of an industrial heartland." Add to that, successful agricultural and fishing sectors. "So between primary industries, education, health care, and servicing all of that through retail and other services, it's a pretty robust economy," he says.
Robust it may be, but the thorny issue of population growth keeps rearing its head. "Our demographic is aging and shrinking. It's not growing and it's not even holding steady," says Segal. "That's another compelling reason for us to continue to do what we do."
What they do is provide the assistance businesses need to help grow the economy of Antigonish. It's that simple. "Our operational model from the very beginning was to have a small footprint and not build a big bureaucracy," he says. "We're interested in sustainability."
Over the past two years the AAP has been the project manager of a community visioning project called Antigonish 2020 Foresight. “This project has brought a diverse group of community leaders together to identify priorities looking forward to the year 2020. The challenge is to imagine the best features of the Antigonish area in 2020 and figure out how to get there," Segal explains. The project has been very successful to date and will continue. "It’s a true community partnership in the best sense of the word."
Segal adds that change happens when a group of committed, passionate people come together. "We’ve learned that it's possible for a group of people from different organizations and interests to work together towards a common goal and not really care who gets the credit."
Still, it’s a credit to the community that proved so welcoming to Segal all those years ago that today he feels compelled to work for its advancement.
