Posts Tagged ‘rural revitalization’
One Maine Town Tees Up New Economic Development
Biddeford, Maine, saw a dramatic economic turnaround after the Orton Foundation’s Community Heart & Soul program helped shape the town’s Master Plan. Biddeford’s Economic Development Director, Daniel Stevenson, talks about how having a solid road map opened the door for $78 million in new projects downtown, including a hotel, new businesses, apartments, and shops. …
Read MoreColumbia Lake Tech Centre — the Podcast
As many rural communities struggle to reinvent their economies in the wake of wrenching change, the small BC town of Canal Flats has embraced new & emerging technologies as a means of establishing a new economic base for the town and surrounding East Kootenay region. In this BC Rural Centre podcast, Brian Fry, the co-founder…
Read MoreABCDE, a la Peter Kenyon!
“Shift the development mindset from needs and deficiencies to assets and capacities — from consumer, customer, and client, to co-producer, co-owner, and citizen.” Peter Kenyon If your rural or remote community can use a boost, here are some primers, courtesy one of the world’s leading asset-based community development advocates, Australia’s Peter Kenyon. …
Read MoreSmall Towns Refuse to Die
Some small towns offer $1 lots, tax breaks and guaranteed loans to win over newcomers for a chance to prove they are islands of growth that matter to Canada’s future, says Joe O’Connor in this Financial Post article. Jay Patel decided about four years ago he wanted to buy a motel. He was living in…
Read MoreRural Innovation & Youth Attraction
If rural communities are to survive — let alone prosper — in the 21st century, they need to innovate. And through that innovation, attract a new wave of creative, entrepreneurial Millennials to our small towns and rural regions. This audio version of a BC Rural Centre webinar features two inspiring advocates of rural innovation —…
Read MoreWhat’s Killing Rural Canada?
In this sobering Maclean’s article, Aaron Hutchins examines the challenges facing many rural Canadian towns. Crime, opioid abuse, boarded-up businesses and fleeing populations are destroying the country’s heartland. Can small-town life be saved? By Aaron Hutchins Kathy Jones is pretty confident there are 100 people living in Jansen, Sask., today. Maybe it’s 101.Either way,…
Read MoreCanal Flats Is Electric!
Canal Flats fell on hard times. When our communities’ circumstances change, we need to find new ways to prosper. Canal Flats was a lumber town; it’s primary employer was a sawmill. When that mill closed in November of 2015 it threw 75 people out of work and decimated the town’s economy. Many people, grown children,…
Read MoreHere to Stay
In this CBC podcast, host Manusha Janakiram looks at how Canada’s smallest, often remote communities are not just striving to survive — but to thrive!
Read MoreSeniors’ Housing
Slocan seniors’ housing hosts grand opening Sept. 27 Years of hard work, stamina and emotion have gone into the creation and construction of Slocan City Suites, the new seniors’ housing that celebrates its grand opening on Thursday, Sept. 27 in the Village of Slocan. “We’ll call it a ‘soft’ grand opening,” says Slocan Valley Seniors’…
Read MoreEscape the City Winners Announced!
It’s like a law of physics — you know, for every action an equal reaction. As our major centres grow ever larger and more congested, attracting young people from rural areas with the promise of jobs and, well, glitter and glamour, an increasing number of youngish city folk are starting to look longingly at BC’s…
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