Rankin MacSween has devoted much of his life to understanding the rebuilding of communities in decline. In the process he has grown New Dawn Enterprises from a small volunteer-run organization into a well-known, independent community development corporation that employs 150 people in the fields of homecare, residential care, immigration, arts, food security, investments and housing. He and his wife, Marie, live on land in Ironville, Cape Breton, that has been in his family for five generations.