New initiative aims to grow Canada’s economy from the ground up
(Ottawa, ON – December 3, 2025) – A new initiative launched today to address Canada’s complex economic challenges by equipping communities with proven tools and networks to steward local prosperity, drive innovation, build economic momentum and bring local innovations to a countrywide scale and impact.
Shorefast, the Canadian charity known for more than two decades of pioneering place-based economic development on Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, today announced the launch of the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies at the State of Canada’s Cities Summit in Ottawa.
The Institute will strengthen Canada’s economy by advancing place-based approaches to economic development and by building a working framework across governments, markets and communities of all sizes. As Canada looks for fresh ideas and durable solutions to build a more resilient future, the Shorefast Institute will work across sectors to build and share proven models, activate entrepreneurship and develop coordinated strategies and tools to create the conditions for communities to thrive.
“We have an opportunity to evolve our economic systems so that markets, governments and communities work more effectively together for ground-up and top-down economic development,” says Zita Cobb, Founder of the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies. “No single organization or sector can drive economic growth alone. We created the Institute so people who live in Canada’s communities can access the tools they need to be economic innovators and active contributors to nation-building.”
Shorefast was founded in 2004 by Cobb and her brothers in response to the economic and cultural crisis facing Fogo Island following the collapse of the cod fishery. Through community-led entrepreneurship, brand-building, philanthropy and partnership with government, Shorefast has established a suite of social businesses and initiatives – including the internationally recognized Fogo Island Inn – that has contributed more than $250 million to the island’s GDP over the past decade, generating lasting social and economic impact.
The creation and launch of the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies has been supported by several generous Canadian families and foundations including the Arthur and Sandra Irving Foundation, Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation, River Philip Foundation, and others. We are also grateful to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Choice Properties REIT, and The Brian and Joannah Lawson Family Foundation for supporting this work.
Watch the video:
shorefast.org/work/the-shorefast-institute/
Media contact:
Sorya Gaulin
Chief Marketing Officer, Shorefast
press@shorefast.org
About Shorefast
Shorefast is a Canadian registered charity forging new pathways at the intersection of economic development, business, art and philanthropy. Its initiatives include the Fogo Island Inn, Fogo Island Arts, the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies and programs focused on food systems, the environment, culture and heritage.
Through work on Fogo Island and beyond, Shorefast builds, learns and shares economic development practices that activate the intrinsic assets of communities, towards a vision of more prosperous economies that serve people, nature and culture in more places.
Visit shorefast.org
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Photo courtesy of Shorefast
Author Photo Courtesy of: David Howells
