Social Innovation – Saint John’s Hidden Strength

By Chris Baker and Gary Stairs

Sometimes you do not know what you are looking for until you find it.

In our case, we were conducting a research project in November 2009 on the resilience of the greater Saint John area following the announcements that several major projects for the area would not be moving forward. To obtain the information for this project, we convened three sessions with community leaders representing the private and non-profit sectors across Saint John. In addition to testing the overall mood, we were keen to understand how these leaders saw their community and its prospect for the future.

Across all these sessions, participants wanted a new emphasis on the future of Saint John rather than dwelling on the past. While there might be some fond nostalgia associated with being the home of the foghorn, the screw propeller or SCUBA gear, none of these past accomplishments had the resonance and power of more recent actions.

When the discussion turned to these recent achievements, it was interesting to note that most participants did not identify a new business, a new product line, or a scientific or academic achievement. Instead, they talked about the way that Saint John residents were collaborating to achieve economic and social progress.

It was the collaborative process, and the organizations that support this process, that was seen as the most promising achievement associated with the Saint John area. They pointed out the extensive consultation process that arrived at the Benefits Blueprint, the community plan to assist the region in coping with rapid economic growth. They talked about the True Growth Initiative, which integrated social and cultural elements with regional economic development. Other collaborative networks, such as PropelICT, or the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI), were identified as strengths within the community.

It was interesting to note that many of these collaborative organizations cut across sectoral, economic or social lines. Further, these organizations were disposed to working together rather than competing with each other. As the discussion progressed, it became clear that social innovation – new ways of doing things to achieve societal goals – was an area where the Saint John community excels.

Innovation is about ideas, and new ways of doing and approaching problems and challenges. Innovation connotes change, creativity, putting ideas into action and implies a novel twist or new way of doing things.

Although it does not have the same profile as a new wireless device or emerging economic sector, social innovation can deliver similar concrete results. The main differences are that social innovation tends to emerge from a collaborative process and that both the process and the results are widely shared.

If Saint John is a hub for social innovation, and that this unique capacity for social innovation is a hidden strength of the region, it would be good to understand its origins.  

According to the participants, Saint John’s capacity for social innovation had its genesis in the early 1980s. At that time, there was strong concern about the ongoing deterioration of the downtown core. The decline of the heritage buildings in the area was a visible sign of the neglect and despair associated with this part of the region.  

Rather than accepting the deterioration of the urban core as part of a broader trend, the community mobilized to make positive change. In addition to actions taken by the City to strengthen planning and by-law enforcement, other community partners stepped forward to improve both the physical infrastructure and living conditions in this area.

Ultimately, Saint John gained national attention for the preservation of the built heritage in the Trinity Royal neighbourhood. The refurbishment and vitality of the City Market is a source of pride to many residents, as well as being a favoured destination for tourists and locals alike. The popularity of Saint John as a cruise ship destination is due, in large part, to the ongoing revitalization of this neighbourhood.  

Just as the community mobilized to preserve the unique architecture of the downtown core, there was also the need to mobilize around social goals, namely poverty reduction. And this collaborative effort would not be confined to one neighbourhood or to one part of the poverty dilemma.

We were told how a general consensus emerged that comprehensive, community-based action was needed to reduce the portion of Saint John residents who were living in poverty. Just as thought often precedes action, defining the goal of poverty reduction gave a focus and an impetus to members of the business community, the non-profit sector and decision-makers in the municipal and provincial governments.

The ability of the Saint John community to rally behind the poverty reduction goal, and to achieve a significant net reduction in poverty levels, is an excellent example of social innovation in action. There was no magic bullet or miracle program. Instead, there was committed and persistent community-based activity to revitalize neighbourhoods, to address the needs of single parents, youth and children living in poverty, and to strengthen opportunities for training and employment readiness. By working with people with first-hand experience of living in poverty, we were able to help them find their voice.

Although the Saint John region still has a poverty rate higher than the national average, the ability of the region to make progress against this intractable and difficult problem has created confidence that further progress can be made.

Innovation is a pragmatic activity that includes problem‐solving by people, individually and collectively. An individual may be led by their passion to develop an idea or concept but it only truly comes to life when it is embraced by a larger group or community. The ability of the Saint John region to innovate in the social sphere is an unrecognized strength of our community.

With a Social Innovation Forum taking place at the UNBSJ Grand Hall on January 20^th, this may a good opportunity to learn more about how Saint John is leading the country on finding innovative solutions to achieve significant and sustainable poverty reduction.

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Originally published in the Telegraph Journal, January 19, 2012