Resource Opportunities Centre

ROC Board Update Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

The ROC Board has been actively communicating throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and resumed in-person meetings in October of 2020 when NS Public Health restrictions allowed.  As the Covid-19 pandemic situation evolves the ROC Board continues to meet in-person, when public health measures allow, or virtually. 

Amid the pandemic, the ROC has shifted focus inward to strengthen our operations in order to navigate the uncertainty that Covid-19 has presented. 

Just before the pandemic began, the ROC came to the end of a 3-year strategic plan. 

The strategic plan had 9 areas of focus:

• Transportation
• Marketing
• Youth
• Board
• Operations
• Partnership/Connections
• Volunteers
• Food Security

For additional details and information please visit the Strategic Planning section of the website.

A few pre-pandemic accomplishments to note:

The ROC Board supported staff in the successful application of numerous project/program-specific grants and conducted a transit feasibility study.  The full transit study can be found on our Strategic Planning page.

With the major impact of the pandemic, the ROC Board has decided to postpone the next phase of strategic planning in order to move through the pandemic, as it evolves, and into the recovery period.

Our Board operates in an advisory capacity and we are actively recruiting volunteer board members.  If you are interested in joining us and contributing to our next strategic plan, please reach out to us at rocboard@prospectcommunities.com.

Due to the ongoing State of Emergency, we did not host our 2020 AGM as planned, however, we are currently working towards setting a future date.  Notice of our AGM will be posted to this website as well as the Prospect Communities social media channels. 

The Board would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding as we move through this challenging and unpredictable time.  We are all in the same storm, just not in the same boat!

Board update, August 19, 2019

The ROC board doesn’t usually meet over the summer, but there are still things happening!

Our board has come to the end of the strategic plan that began in 2016, and is now in the early stages of developing a new five-year strategy for the organization.  Part of that will be speaking with community, likely via an electronic survey, to hear what you think priorities should be for our community. Our board will take that feedback, along with trends in areas that align with our vision and mission, and develop goals to work on over the next three to five years.  We’ll be working with HRM Community Developer, Bronwyn Mackinnon to get this important planning activity completed, but we can’t do it without your help as well. We’ll publicize the link to the survey, and if you need assistance filling it in we can use the public computers at PRCC to help you.

The board is still waiting to hear back on the application for funding for a feasibility study around community-based transit.  We expect to hear something in the next few weeks. Feedback from the community on the options that would be supported will be a critical part of this process, so if the funding is approved,  our social media channels  will host information and staff at the PRCC will be informed so you don’t miss an opportunity to share your opinion on what would work best in the Prospect Communities.

One of the roles that the ROC holds is representing the Prospect Communities on the Chebucto West Community Health Board.  The Health Board is working on three main priorities over the next two years. The first, supporting development of a local food security policy, has been an ongoing project  in partnership with the Halifax Food Policy Alliance, and they developing an election primer for the federal election, to empower voters to engage their candidates in doorstep discussions about food security concerns in our local areas.  Look for that in your mailboxes in September.  The next priorities they’ve identified for work over the next couple of years include homelessness and mental health services. They’re in the process of developing action items and you can follow the progress on those issues via the Chebucto West Community Health Board Facebook page. 

Board Update: November 2018

Our board continues to meet monthly. We’ve changed our regular meeting night to be more closely aligned with our financial reporting deadlines, and we now meet the fourth Monday of the month at the PRCC, starting at 6:30.

The Board wishes to thank Liz Amyoony, who has been with the board since 2016. Liz has stepped down due to work commitments, but has been a valuable source of human resources expertise for the board of directors. We offer our sincere thanks, and very best wishes to her!

We do have openings for board members, and would welcome anyone who is interested to have a conversation with our Executive Director, Shirley Jollimore, about the role and responsibilities of the board. Email her at executivedirector@prospectcommunities.com if you’d like to discuss the possibility of working with us! We are specifically looking for a voice from the Goodwood area, and the local business community, but would welcome anyone with particular skill or expertise to join our team.

We’ve made some progress on our strategic plan, which you can view here (link to updated plan) and our transit subcommittee will convene early in the new year to examine the possibility of applying for funding through the province for a feasibility study on community transit. We know that the current HRM transit plan will not be reviewed until 2021, so we will look into other community-based transit options.

Board Update: April 2018

Monthly Board News: March 2018

The ROC board continues to meet each month, and we’re pleased to share that our former Vice Chair, Al Goodyer, has assumed the role of Chair. The Board wants to extend sincere gratitude to our former Chair, Nicole Slaunwhite, whose leadership has been forward thinking and inspiring. Nicole has kindly remained on the board in her capacity as Past Chair, and we appreciate her generosity.

Monthly Board News – May 5th – 2017

We are in the home stretch of our board year, and as we look forward to our Annual General Meeting on June 12 (open to everyone!), we’re pleased to have completed a review and update of our bylaws, based on the most recent template issued by the Registry of Joint Stocks.

We’re now reviewing our board policy manual, and we have a date set for our board Strategic Planning session in July, where we will review all of the feedback from the survey you completed  and some engagement with local youth at the junior high, and have an opportunity to sit with the management team of the ROC to set some priorities for the next few years.

More information will be posted on the ROC Board webpage as it becomes available.

Thanks to everyone who completed the survey, and to Craig Nelson, Vice Principal at Brookside, for his assistance in getting feedback from students