Corporate Profile

  The Halifax Regional CAP Association is an established not-for-profit organization with extensive experience managing complex projects. These projects employ professionally trained staff to deliver quality service to communities through their locally operated Community Access Program (CAP) sites.

  Since 2000 HRCAP has provided support to Community Access Programming (C@P) sites. C@P is a government of Canada initiative to provide Internet access to those who would not normally have it due to economic, social or geographic barriers. Currently 40 C@P sites in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) provide urban and rural communities affordable access to computers and the internet. Many C@P sites offer computer training including MS Office, Internet safety, Global Positioning Systems, video podcasting, and web page development. HRCAP provides over 15 full time jobs and injects over $1.7 million in the local economy, annually. HRCAP also provides employment assistance services such as Job Search Services (JSS) with sites located in Cole Harbour, Fisherman’s Cove & Sheet Harbour. Recently, the Halifax Regional C@P Association sponsored the Transition Center for former employees of Hershey/Moirs. In addition, via Industry Canada’s CAP Youth Initiative, HRCAP runs seasonal intern programs to help youth prepare for the workforce, which can provide internships for up to 25 students. C@P sites serve the general public with some sites having special services or access for specific groups, i.e. seniors, the homeless, youth at risk, and people who have low literacy and learning disabilities. HRCAP ran a highly successful adult literacy project, Bridging the Gaps – Assistive Technology, Low Literacy & Learning Disabilities, funded by HRSDC. As a long standing, well respected, non-profit organization with expertise in technology, employment services, and literacy, HRCAP is uniquely positioned to help Canadians improve literacy and essential skills in order to enter the workplace, maintain jobs, advance in the workplace and bridge the digital divide.

Job Search Services (JSS) has been a project of the HRCAP since 2001. The project offers job search support, needs assessment/case management services, workshops, and employment counselling at three Job Search Centres. Recently, JSS opened a Transition Centre for former Hershey/Moirs employees who were displaced when the plant closed. The Centre offers basic and intermediate computer classes, math and writing refreshers, and other GED prep assistance. JSS has specialized in working with clients facing multiple barriers and offers assistance to persons with limited literacy skills, and low level or no computer literacy skills. JSS has built strong relationships with many organizations and agencies in the communities served. JSS was previously a partner in HRCAP’s OLES funded adult literacy project, Bridging the Gaps.

The first CAP sites were established in HRM in 1995. Some of the very first were Sheet Harbour, Tangier, Jeddore, and Middle Musquodoboit. The first sites saw value in working together co-operatively – providing strength in numbers – and so formed the Halifax Regional CAP Association in 2000. As a result of the way the Association was formed, it has always been community driven. Each individual site determines how best to provide access to IT, in a way that best suits the needs of that particular community – making each site unique. In essence, each CAP site works because the community makes it work.

HRCA'S mission statement is: “HRC@P unifies a network of CAP sites and plays a leadership role in strengthening the capacity of its members through advocacy and collaboration.”

     The Association has a strong history in offering employment support services, as it has been sponsoring the Job Search Services project since September 2001. For nearly eight years, Job Search Services has been providing the communities of HRM Dartmouth to Moser River with employment orientation programming in participating member CAP sites. Job Search Services (JSS) has established a program that provides accessible services and programming to the community.