Nova Scotia families who receive income assistance will automatically receive an increase to their Aug. 29 payment, meant to help with the cost of school supplies for their children. As the Department of Community Services announced on Aug. 6, the increase will extend to families with kids starting in Pre-Primary this fall.
According to the province’s release, children who will turn four by the end of December and are eligible to start Pre-Primary this fall will now receive a $100 payment at the end of August; for children aged five to 12, that August payment will increase from $80 to $100; and for children aged 13 to 18, the August payment will increase from $160 to $200.
No application is required, as these increases will automatically be applied to families’ income assistance payments. According to the release, 8,500 children are eligible for this one-time payment increase, per income assistance filings. The payment is based on the number of school-aged children in the household, so families with more than one child receive the increased benefit for each child.
The department has broken this population of 8,500 Nova Scotian children down as such: 800 kids who will turn four by the end of the year and will be enrolled in Pre-Primary this fall; 4,700 children aged 5-12; and 3,000 kids aged 13-18. The release says this increased payment will cost $410,000 total [TK waiting on response from Dept on full spending breakdown; they said it’ll be slightly after] and that families on income assistance with children ages 19 and 20 who are in high school and living at home “may also be eligible for a school supplies payment.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Community Services said in a statement to The Coast that they built contingency into their budget “to extend the benefit for 18- to 20-year-olds who are attending high school full time.” However, payments to this group aren’t automatic. Instead, families with children between 18 and 20 who are in high school should reach out to their caseworker to be included.
Halifax and Nova Scotia charities have been helping families cover the costs of returning to school for years.
The Islamic Relief charity recently partnered with the Salvation Army to donate backpacks filled with school supplies to 300 children at the Nova Scotia Islamic Community Centre in Halifax. According to the CBC’s reporting on that partnership, the Salvation Army has already given out 800 backpacks to families in need before this school year.
This is also the 19th year that Staples Canada has partnered with the United Way (and the Kiwanis Club in Ontario) for their annual School Supply Drive, which supports local community organizations that work directly with families in need, such as the Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank, The North Grove, The Fairview Resource Centre and Veith House. Until Sep. 22, anyone who shops in-store at Staples can add a donation of any amount to their purchase, with 100% of those donations turned into Staples gift cards that the United Way shares through the partnering community organizations.
Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank has run a yearly Back-To-School Program for over a decade. Parker Street’s director of donor relations, Romaine Rhoden, says the program has grown from helping 300 families to helping 1,000 families over the past several years, including this year. Although applications are now closed for families applying for this program, Rhoden says Parker Street is still very much accepting donations that they hope will help the 300 families on the program’s waitlist and families year-round.
“Believe me when I say a lot of families are in need,” says Rhoden in an interview with The Coast, “and this donation goes right back to those persons or individuals within the community that absolutely need the help.”
Rhoden says that throughout the year, families come to Parker Street in need of school supplies and donations, and that schools sometimes reach out on behalf of students needing assistance after the year begins. Therefore, it’s never too late to donate.
For individuals, groups, or organizations looking to do so, Rhoden says the best thing to do is reach out to Parker Street donor services by calling 902-425-2125 or emailing [email protected].
In the Aug. 6 press release, the minister of Department of Community Services, Brendan Maguire, said “Affordability is an issue for many Nova Scotia families, and additional costs like school supplies, shoes and clothes create even more financial pressure – not to mention stress.”
According to a July 2024 survey conducted on behalf of NerdWallet Canada, of the 92% of families who plan to shop for back-to-school supplies for their children aged five to college-aged, 47% said they expect to spend $500 or more, which is up from 34% in 2023.
A spokesperson with Community Services said in a statement to The Coast that “other recent changes to income assistance, including the increased payments to clients with disabilities and the indexing of rates to inflation, will also support families with increased costs,” and that “the recently announced school lunch program will also support school-aged children and their families.”
School supplies are top of mind now that the return to school is looming, but for families in need food is always a concern. According to Corinna Parent, the communications director at Feed Nova Scotia, roughly 15,000 households, or 36,000 individuals, accessed their services from April 1 to June 30. Of those, one in three households had children, and one in three individuals accessing food support through Feed NS were under 18.