Featured Report Archives

Community Land Trusts, Land Leases & Shared Equity Affordable Home Ownership — a New Report

This report on Community Land Trusts, land leases & shared equity approaches to creating affordable rural housing was written by Gordon Borgstrom, Executive Director of the BC Rural Centre. The report is based on research completed by Borgstrom, as well as consultants retained by the BC Rural Centre to work on the project. This report…

Rural Innovation — Communities As Engines Of Change

by Rupert Downing, June 1, 2018 This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in Scotland, one of the most impactful examples of community partnerships for change in rural areas anywhere. It was fitting that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) chose to hold its 8th international conference on rural development, Enhancing Rural Innovation,…

ABCD Toolkit

In this toolkit by DePaul University’s ABCD Institute, Dan Duncan sets out the concept of asset-based community development, or “ABCD.” Duncan argues that, to improve individual and family well-being, communities, neighbourhoods and their residents need to be involved as co-producers of their own and their communities’ well-being. Everyone has something to contribute, Duncan asserts, and…

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…

Rural 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…

Creating 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…

Mobilizing 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…