This project examines an emerging cross-sector collaboration formed in response to a major economic shock in a single-industry community, following the announcement of approximately 1,000 layoffs at the region’s largest employer. The initiative brings together post-secondary institutions, small business and entrepreneurship centres, municipal agencies, non-profit development organizations, and labour-affiliated retraining partners to reduce silos within the entrepreneurial and workforce development ecosystem. The presentation explores early lessons from coordinating across historically fragmented funding and service landscapes, with a focus on limiting duplication, strengthening complementary roles, and responding collectively to a moment of profound community transition.
Rather than competing for limited resources or duplicating services, this collaborative represents an effort to navigate change together by intentionally breaking down silos within the local entrepreneurial and workforce development ecosystem. Partners include a university and college, small business and entrepreneurship centres, municipal government agencies, community futures, and other non-profit development organizations, and labour-linked retraining initiatives. Each brings distinct mandates, funding constraints, and institutional cultures, requiring ongoing negotiation, trust-building, and clarity of purpose.
The presentation focuses on how cross-sector collaboration becomes both more difficult and more necessary during periods of economic disruption. It explores the conditions that enabled cooperation, the tensions that emerged, and the opportunities created by focusing on what is unique about each partner rather than attempting to do everything at once. Recognizing that this work is still unfolding, the session will intentionally invite feedback and shared learning from conference participants who have navigated similar transitions, positioning the presentation as a collective learning space rather than a finished case study.
