Dal alum embodies the change he wants to see in his community

Walking with Rodney Small (BMgmt’15) around the North End of Halifax is like being with the valedictorian or class president of a high school. Every person he passes gets a wave and a smile, and for many, he stops to have a quick chat about sports, family, or just to talk about what’s happening around them.  

Small serves as executive director of One North End, a grassroots community engagement initiative that runs programs addressing systemic racism and multi-generational poverty experienced by the Black community from Upper Hammonds Plains to the Prestons and everywhere in between. The organization has a satellite office in the YMCA on Gottingen, where they partner with the YMCA to run the North End EDGE program and another one in downtown Halifax.

At times, four or five programs can run simultaneously, each one reaching out to help people overcome the injustice inflicted on them because of the colour of their skin.

“I grew up in a small community in the North End of Halifax called Uniacke Square,” says Small. 

He’s passionate about basketball and learned some big life lessons from his coaches. And even though he no longer lives in the neighbourhood, he says it's central to everything he does.  

The data tells us that Black and African Nova Scotians have the highest unemployment rates between the ages of 18 and 35.

Small has spoken publicly about his early years when he was selling drugs and making bad choices. Yet he's always known he's good at math and was a natural-born entrepreneur.

I couldn’t just put myself first”

Small’s own journey at Dal began almost 15 years before his graduation when he received a scholarship to study commerce. The money ran out a year and a half into that degree, though, and Small says he needed to rethink his plan. He already had kids and was a couple of years older than most of the students in his cohort. 

“I had some decisions to make. I couldn’t just put myself first,” he explains. 

He chose to take a full-time job with the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). After seven years, he felt stagnant and unable to advance in his career, so he decided to return to university.

Consulting with a Dal advisor, he learned about the Bachelor of Management (BMgmt) program, which wasn’t available when he was doing his commerce degree. Yet Small, who opted for the program's optional internship stream, had trouble securing a position that was right for him.  

Just as he was about to give up, he found a position at the Black Business Initiative, helping Black youth explore entrepreneurship. That’s when it all came together. 

“I really wanted to figure out a way to work in community," he says. "I realized, this is perfect.”

"I'm a happy Monday guy"

Small sees direct correlations between his coursework and the work he does now.  He says some of his professors left a deep impression. 

“They actually cared about you. I was not just a number.”

Small says when he returned to school, he knew it was the right choice for him and his children. 

They actually cared about you. I was not just a number.

“My mom wasn’t encouraged to go to university. She left school very early and went to work," he says. "But I wanted to encourage [my own kids] and motivate them to want more,” he says. 

That meant he had to show them how.

Almost all of his children are in the process of attaining their degrees, and Small himself is considering a master’s degree. But he’s not willing to quit work to do it. 

“I really enjoy and love what I do,” he says, adding, “I always say I’m a happy Monday guy, not so much a happy Friday guy."

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