Category: Economic Development
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Ontario Craft Brewery Ramps Up Production with Growing Forward 2 funding
Time is always in short supply when you run a business. It is something Brent Davies always seems to run out of. He is vice president and co-owner of Wellington Brewery, so finding the time to look into funding opportunities just never seems to rise to the top of his priority pile. “When you are…
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How Infographics Support Business Retention + Expansion Projects
One of the challenges with Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) projects is effectively communicating the vast amount of information that is collected. As part of the BR+E program, it is important to develop a final report and action plan. This plan will act as a full and complete record of the project. Its also recommend…
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First Impressions Community Exchange – Three reasons why this program works!
The First Impressions Community Exchange program (FICE) facilitates an exchange between two communities who are looking for an unbiased “first impression” of a specific area of their community such as a downtown, tourism related infrastructure or an evaluation of their entire community. Three reasons why FICE works:
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Food Entrepreneurship Success in Central Ontario Expands to Provincial Conference
The week of October 25, 2015 was declared Food Entrepreneurship Week in Simcoe County to celebrate those gastronomic entrepreneurs who make a business out of growing, processing, and selling food-related products across the region. To celebrate the declaration (Oct. 26 and 28) Georgian College and community partners welcomed over 200 food entrepreneurs to the Orillia and…
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Local Food Conference Ignite Session (2 of 2)
The second day of the Eastern Ontario Local Foods Conference on November 5th turned out to be just as exciting as the first. An “Ignite” session featured 10 local food presentations on a range of informative topics that included: Bruce Enloe, Two Rivers Food Hub spoke about community collaboration Kim Leadbeater, Northumberland Food Policy Committee described…
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A look back at the Eastern Ontario Local Food Conference Part 1 of 2
The Cities of Belleville and Quinte West hosted the 5th annual Eastern Ontario Local Food Conference, November 4th and 5th in the City of Belleville. The theme for the conference set the tone for an exceptional offering of information, inspiration and local food experiences (Creativity + Collaboration = Action). More than 200 delegates, speakers and mentors…
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Local Food ‘Destination Quinte Region’ Tour a Hit
The recently held 5th annual Eastern Ontario Local Food Conference ‘Destination Quinte Region’ tour was hit with delegates. There were six delicious stops on the tour, highlighting some of the region’s local food diversity and success stories, and providing a closer view of their operations. The first stop included a tour and delicious sampling of…
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10 takeaways from EDAC 2015 in Whitehorse
Economic Development happens in a complex and highly competitive environment. When you’re competing for investment, labour, and other resources with literally every other municipality across the globe it can be hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Especially, if you’re a small rural community. The 2015 Economic Development Association of Canada (EDAC) annual conference…
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Population changes in Rural Ontario
According to a recent factsheet prepared by the Rural Ontario Institute entitled “Change in non-metro population 2014” less than half of the rural counties in Ontario had population increases over the last three years. Over the same period, however, all urban counties experienced population increases. Ray Bollman the author of the factsheet highlights the long…
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New $6M Investment in Local Food
The Ontario government is providing $6 million over three years to increase sales of local food by making it more widely available and building awareness of the variety of food grown and produced in Ontario. This funding is not restricted to the Greenbelt, and is available to organizations across Ontario. The funds will be administered…