By Kendall Worth!
I'm writing this current post as 2024 comes to a close, and we
get ready to bring in 2025. On occassion, I have reported on how
New Year's Eve can be a time of mixed emotions for Income assistance
recipients in Nova Scotia. This time of year falls a week after
Christmas, and mental health issues cause these mixed emotions, along with the financial problems that being on Income assistance causes. New Years falling so close to Christmas is also the reason why (compared to Thanksgiving, and Easter) the mental health impacts are felt the most by people living in poverty, especially Income Assistance Recipients in Nova Scotia.
Christmas 2025 has now come and gone. Then, as always, comes New Years. If you look Here I have the
past few years reporting on New Year's since my BLOG started. This is also something I have reported on further back in my Journalism in the Nova Scotia Advocate. For a
summary on how and why bringing in the new year can be difficult on the mental
health of someone living in poverty see Here, where I report on how people living in poverty like to pretend New Years eve is not even happening. Bringing in the new year can be just as expensive as Christmas and other holidays. To see a different perceptive on what bringing in the New Year can be like
see here.
However,
New Year's Eve can also be a time to reflect back on great memories and the learning experiences of
the previous year. New Years can potentially come with lots of great memories to remember from the previous year weather you are rich or poor.
This year, as we end 2024, (And as the type of
Journalist I am) I always to use New Years to reflect on the year and to
think about accomplishments achieved throughout the year. Also, these accomplishments we reflect on can sometimes be learning experiences we
have had throughout the year. Reflecting back on 2024 I could call the
creation of the short-lived project All Together Link
All together Link Also first known as the Mitigating Social Isloation Project. This project changed it name as time went on. It was a sad day when All Together had to come to an end As reported here
because it's funding ran out.
One unforgettable experience coming
from 2024 is my attendance at the Social Precribing Conference in Toronto
and i was asked to attend this conference because of my work
with All Together Link, plus on behalf of my Advocating for a
Social Precription / Social Prescribing
Organization here in Halifax. If you look through the posts in the links I just provided, you will find there are lots of posts that educate on why this is needed here in Halifax.
More importantly, for the community of Income Assistance Recipients here in Halifax, the year of 2024
came with 2 major increases to the Income Assistance rates in Nova
Scotia. I reported on these increases Here where I reported on how 60% of Income Assistance Recipients received a $300.00 increase started in April 2024, and Here where I reported that as of July 2024 the Income Assistance Rates increased to Inflation.
So there is lots to remember throughout 2024. Now lets bring in the New Year. Lets hope that 2025 brings better policy change and creates brand new opportunities for Nova Scotia.
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