CED projects that CFTC involves itself with must be grass roots driven from communities or organizations. CED projects often relate to sector or community needs and generally require small investments of funds both in-kind or monetary. Annually, CFTC only has staff resources to involve itself with 2 - 3 initiatives. Generally, they must be identified in the CFTC Annual Work Plan and be approved by the Board of Directors.
CFTC does not have a recognized funding source for community economic development initiatives. Services provided by CFTC may only be staff services to assist in funding proposal development and/or project coordination. Projects that receive assistance, more often are longer term in nature, assist rural communities or support community and economic sustainability.
All CED projects must have some measure of in-kind community and/or organizational investment. All projects require partnership funding investment from some source other than CFTC alone. These funding investments may vary depending on the complexity or size of the project.
Some examples of CFTC's recent involvement include accessing funding from Service Canada (recently the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, Province of BC) through Job Creation Partnership(s) to assist the City of Kamloops help private homeowners remove debris at curbside that resulted from the loss of pine trees in homeowners yards due to the Mountain Pine Beetle devastation. In excess of 1,200 pine trees were removed at curbside by crews. The program provided training for crews to ensure long term employability, safety gear for the crews, small dump trucks, and chipping equipment. The City of Kamloops was an equal partner by providing resources and equipment to the funding accessed from Service Canada. CFTC completed the application for these programs and managed the delivery of the projects.
In 2009 CFTC assisted the BC Back Country Horsemen with their Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI) to access funding to upgrade trail head sites at Whitewood Lake, Mayson Lakes and Fish Trap Creek as well as a small road widening project on Westsyde Road just north of Kamloops to allow safe access off the road for vehicles especially those with horse trailers. CFTC's involvement in this initiative was to provide staff assistance with the funding application. BC Back Country Horsemen is managing the project.
If you have a project that you want to bring to our attention please contact us.
CFTC also assists Western Economic Diversification and other federal agencies when requested, with program delivery that is related to community projects where communities may need staff assistance to submit proposals or other information that these program applications require. Examples include the CEDI and REDI initiatives.
Other examples of CED Projects are contained in the Agriculture Section and Community Profiles.
In 2005 CFTC led the development of the North Thompson Economic Development plan below. This plan is used to measure initiatives in the North Thompson that CFTC may involve itself with. The plan is a detailed account covering a wide variety of community economic development initiatives involving a wide array of sectors. CFTC consults with communities on a regular basis to measure the progress of implementation as communities strive to improve community economic sustainability, increase community capacity and attain an improved quality of life.
North Thompson Economic Development Plan - 2005 The North Thompson Economic Development Strategic Plan (NTEDSP) is a project led by CFTC partnered with the Barriere Chamber of Commerce, Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, North Thompson Economic Development Society, the Province of BC, Ministry of Small Business and Revenue, Interior Savings Credit Union, and the Thompson Nicola Regional District.
The NTEDSP is intended to identify and evaluate economic opportunities by developing a regional profile, assessing opportunities, and providing an action plan of economic activities that will assist in building and diversifying the economy in the North Thompson Valley over the next 5 to 10 years.
The economic development opportunities identified, in various sectors throughout the North Thompson Valley, represent considerable growth potential for existing and new ventures and organizations in the region. Click here to view the NTEDSP.