Alaina Lockhart’s journey with Shorefast

As for Sussex Ale Works, it seems to be doing something right. The founders recently celebrated their seventh year of brewing small-batch beers using quality ingredients – most sourced locally in the Sussex, New Brunswick area - and bought a second building to expand operations in 2021. Popular brews aside, Sussex Ale Works has established a community hub “for happy collisions of ideas, people and good times,” shares Lockhart.

Lockhart’s local commitment was enhanced by her membership in a regional partnership. Bringing together representatives from every sector – government, business, nonprofit - New Brunswick’s Upper Fundy Coast & Foothills has been hard at work on destination development with a focus on community. 

Lockhart explains how the infrastructure of the rural Fundy region is limited in its capacity to support the growing number of annual visitors. Destination stewardship is designed to help the region overcome that challenge, with investments in things like wayfinding and authentic experience development with non-traditional tourism operators. 

The Upper Fundy Coast & Foothills Partnership work is underpinned by sustainability and environmental stewardship. “We’ve been guided by a sustainability plan,” shares Lockhart, explaining the influence of such initiatives as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and GreenStep certification.

When the Partnership was asked by Shorefast to nominate a business leaning into these values to join its Economic Nutrition initiative, Sussex Ale Works was a no-brainer. Lockhart was delighted. As a starting point, she believed the certification would offer a benchmark for their procurement practices. It was also an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the local community and craft brewing. 

As a small business with strong knowledge of, and control over, their financials, the certification process was relatively straightforward, says Lockhart. Still, with no accountant on their payroll, there was a small learning curve. “But I’m happily surprised that the numbers supported what we hoped it would,” she offers. 

With the certification complete, Lockhart was excited for the staff to see the Economic Nutrition labels as they demonstrate that over 50% of expenditures go to wages and benefits. “I hope it’s empowering for them to see that half of each sale goes back to them.”

As for its impact on everyday business practices, the experience with Economic Nutrition has already influenced how Lockhart and her team talk about procurement. When her husband was looking for a place to source additional grains, for example, they were adamant to find a provider within the region. “It’s influenced how we do business,” she says. “It’s a starting point for the conversation.”

Credit: Siân Melton

Thankfully, that conversation didn’t end with Economic Nutrition. Lockhart would soon learn that she would also be travelling to Fogo Island with colleagues Micha Fardy of Friends of Fundy and Elaine Shannon of the St Martin's Chamber of Commerce as part of the first Shorenet learning cohort.

In fact, Lockhart was also one of 20 people that took part in the Fogo Sessions on Fogo Island in November. The four-day intensive workshop, facilitated by the team at the Shorefast Institute, explores place-based economic development using the Fogo Island model as a powerful example of what’s possible.

“It was a really wonderful experience to connect with people from across the country, both rural and urban, who were all putting the lens of place-based economic development at the forefront of what they’re doing,” shares Lockhart. “I liken my experience with Shorefast with finding your people,” she adds. “The work they’ve done is putting a common vocabulary around things we knew already were important.”

Lockhart commends the Shorefast team for the great program - from the organized sessions to the firsthand experience of seeing the Fogo model in action. “We were able to see the type of things that can happen when you take a place-based economic approach.” The opportunities for networking and connecting with fellow participants, each with their own skills and experience to share, proved valuable too. “Besides,” she adds, “any opportunity to unplug and focus is a good one, and there’s no better place than Fogo Island for that.”

One of the more important takeaways for Lockhart was the value in finding balance among three pillars – market, government and community – an integral feature of the Shorefast approach. If one pillar is too strong or too weak, the theory posits the ensuing imbalance can create challenges.

As someone who lives in a rural area, Lockhart understands firsthand that what’s valued in rural communities is not always valued in urban settings. “Not having the metrics, language or statistics to back it up, it’s hard to be an equal partner at the table,” she says, explaining why this work is so important to her. “It’s powerful to have conversations with people from all pillars in the same room.”

“I don’t think you can diminish the power of bringing people together,” adds Lockhart. She hopes there will be more opportunities to talk to people from coast to coast to coast and to find commonalities, with the understanding that they’re working toward the same goal.