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 is that while our investments create significant jobs and wealth elsewhere, the places we live, work and play are overlooked.

Eden Yesh, Invermere Branch Manager for Kootenay Employment Services, consultant to the Creston & District Community Investment Co-op, and Chair of the BC Community Impact Investment Coalition, and Gordon Borgstrom, Executive Director, BC Rural Centre, will host a series of community investment sessions in towns throughout the Southern Interior region. These sessions will highlight examples of how local investment vehicles have successfully met community needs across Canada, including affordable housing, renewable energy, sustainableagriculture and food production, locally-owned small business, technology, and economic development projects.

The purpose of these sessions is to discuss the local investment movement in BC and the opportunity to establish two new Community Investment Co-ops in the Southern Interior in 2018. This year-long initiative will be facilitated by Yesh, and funded in part by the Province, Kootenay Employment Services, and the BC Rural Centre.

Sessions are open to the public — light snacks & refreshments provided — free admission.

Initial sessions, led by Eden Yesh, will be held in communities across the Kootenays:

Kootenay Community Investment Sessions

For further information, please contact:

Gordon Borgstrom:   Gordon.Borgstrom@telus.net

Eden Yesh:   ey@kes.bc.ca

For more on community investing, visit our Mobilizing Local Capital page.