BC Rural Centre Archives

Farmers Have a Future — Lindsey Shute

Farmers have a future. At least according to Lindsey Lusher Shute, Executive Director and co-founder of the National Young Farmers’ Coalition, (NYFC) a membership-based organization dedicated to the success of the next generation of sustainable farmers in the United States. NYFC’s supporter network includes thousands of farmers and consumers from all fifty states, who…

BC’s FoodLands Cooperative Launches

FarmFolk CityFolk’s Foodlands Trust Project has been approved by the BC government. We are officially the Foodlands Cooperative of BC. Its founding members — FarmFolk CityFolk Society, Vancity Community Foundation, Fraser Common Farm Cooperative, and the BC Farmer’s Market Association — will be joined by other advisory members to form the first board of…

Rosebud, AB Shows the Arts Can Transform a Small Town

Rosebud, AB is tiny (fewer than 100 citizens) but mighty — at least when it comes to using the arts as an effective means of economic transformation. Every year upwards of 40,000 patrons flock to Rosebud, to eat a fabulous meal and enjoy fully professional theatre, in the middle of “prairie nowhere”! The Rosebud story…

Community Investment Sessions Coming to Southern Interior Communities

Community investment is the process of connecting local investors to local investment opportunities. While the demand for investing locally is increasing, traditional options available to investors limit where they can invest. The result is that most local investment capital leaves our community and is invested into far off stock markets and corporations. An unintended consequence…

BC Rural Centre’s Recommendations for Rural Development

What kind of provincial policies and tools would help us with rural development in BC? This is an issue the BC Rural Centre/SIBAC has spent a lot of time and effort researching. We have developed a brief document (see below) that provides a summary discussion of the top five recommendations the BC Rural Centre would…

Community Impact Investing – Putting Your Money Where Your Life Is!

Community impact investing? In today’s interconnected world, it’s easy to see how your hard-earned money can end up going toward projects and businesses all around the world. In 2013, British Columbians contributed $4.5 billion of new monies into their RRSPs, much of that disbursed outside the province and Canada. That’s money that ends up supporting the creation of…

Local Manufacturing Big in Rural America

Local manufacturing matters in rural America, employing more than 3.5 million workers. As rural America’s second largest sector, manufacturing employs 14% of rural civilian employees and produces 15% of total rural US earnings – that exceeds the retail sector, and is more than double agriculture’s presence in the US rural economy. After an era of…

Rural Schools Matter — a Brief Summary

Rural schools matter — a small town without a school is often a community without hope. This brief BC Rural Centre summary will be of interest to anyone who cares about the future of rural towns and villages whose schools are threatened with closure. For a more in-depth look at the issue of…

Arts and Rural Renewal

Sarah Calhoun of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and John Davis of Lanesboro, Minnesota discussed their respective experiences in helping bring positive change to small, remote communities. Sarah Calhoun Sarah has been called a “revolutionary figure in rural business today,” and a “powerhouse of inspiration for women in business.” Her dynamic style and inspiring…

New Denver/Silverton Report Summary Released

New Denver/Silverton were recently the unsuspecting hosts for a contingent of “secret visitors” from Kaslo, who spent an October day checking out everything from the highway entrances to the two villages, to their take on the local economy. The project, called First Impressions, was carried out under the auspices of the BC Rural Centre with…