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Community Futures Addresses Economic Development Officer Position

The City of Grand Forks, Community Futures Boundary, the Boundary Country Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Business Association are thanking the Provincial Government for grant approvals. This follows two grant approvals combining at $655,799 through the Rural Dividend Fund. One recipient is Community Futures Boundary, receiving $295,999 mainly for an Economic Development Officer position. Manager of Community Economic Development Jennifer Wetmore says they applied for that position around early August.

She explains how it could effects their operations. “The economic role that we’ve been playing here at Community Futures boundary will wind down as of June of 2019 and this potion will leverage the work that’s been done to date, and then move forward for another 2 years from there to continue to try to look at the economy in the context of everything that we’ve been though this year and build on opportunities to help move forward.”

Wetmore says part of the funding is going towards a work plan. “We’re not just looking at bringing an individual or a group of individuals into get work done we’re looking at developing some very comprehensive pieces that will drive the work that they do, so things like looking at affordable housing, looking at business retention, looking at business attraction, and giving them some real specifics.”

The City of Grand Forks was the other recipient, and is planning how best to effectively spend their $359,800 grant. It focuses regionally but prioritizes downtown Grand Forks, and includes the creation of an Event Coordinator position. The Downtown Business Association and The Boundary Country Regional Chamber of Commerce are tasked with operationalizing the job, and it’s corresponding of activities.

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Wetmore explains what else the community needs. “We need support from local community for our businesses throughout the region. We continue to await answers from the work that’s being done by flood recovery, and look forward to hearing back from the province on next steps there. But we need to build back our own economy and support local business.”

Although the positions could become permanent fixtures in economic development efforts, both were initially developed as 2 year pilot projects to allow for adaptation and evaluation.

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