Featured Report
Rural Schools — Successes & Challenges
Rural schools — it’s difficult to imagine a thriving rural community without one. Yet across the rural landscape, declining populations led by an outflow of young people to the cities threaten the existence of many small schools, and with them the towns and villages they are based in. Is this steady loss of rural schools…
Read MoreRural Schools, Why They Close & How They Can Be Saved
In this BC Rural Centre report, we look at why rural schools close, and highlight experiences drawn from rural BC communities as well as elsewhere in Canada where rural schools have been saved. See also our Rural Schools — Successes & Challenges, Rural Schools Matter, How Wells-Barkerville Saved Its School, Rural Schools Are Vital…
Read MoreCreating Community: Providing Affordable Housing on the San Juan Islands
CEDIFs an Investment Model for Rural BC?
The BC Rural Centre believes that a vehicle like Nova Scotia’s Community Economic Development Investment Fund (CEDIF) would be an ideal way to repatriate a portion of the investment funds currently leaving British Columbia, stimulate small business development and expansion, and provide a very effective rural development tool. FarmWorks Investment Co-operative Limited is a CEDIF cooperative…
Read MoreMobilizing Rural Investment Capital
The Need for Rural Investment Capital in BC Access to investment capital is crucial to business and economic development anywhere – but is especially important in rural areas. However, research completed by SIBAC and others has noted that it is often difficult to access business financing – and specifically patient equity investment financing – in…
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