Tag Archives: Community

Economic Development

Teeny Tiny Summit – Creatively Bringing Communities Together Recap

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The second virtual Teeny Tiny Summit that took place on September 23rd, 2020 discussed how communities have been able to promote engagement and activity in alternative formats throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Speakers shared insight on engagement initiatives that their teams have coordinated to provide support to the community and other organizations.

Below are key items and initiatives from each of the speakers and organizations mentioned:

Continue reading Teeny Tiny Summit – Creatively Bringing Communities Together Recap →
Economic Development

Teeny Tiny Summit – Creatively Bringing Community Together

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Join us for the next Teeny Tiny Summit taking place on Wednesday, September 23rd from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm to hear about creative ways communities have been brought together. For registration and event details, visit the Teeny Tiny Summit page.

Why should I attend Teeny Tiny Summit?

  • Become inspired – learn of relevant examples from a community like yours
  • A breath of fresh air –refresh with new perspective and insight from other small communities
  • Discover – learn about pursuing economic development goals in your community

Session Topics

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Economic Development

Teeny Tiny Summit Goes Virtual!

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The Teeny Tiny Summits began in 2016 as a forum to discuss scale-appropriate economic development techniques in Ontario’s smallest communities. Since then,1300 people have attended 11 summits. Feedback from participants tells us that they always come away inspired and engaged, with ideas that they can put into practice right away in their communities. This year, a virtual format was adopted for the first time. But just like previous offerings, participants benefited from the wisdom of their peers and were every bit as inspired as they have been in the past. Continue reading Teeny Tiny Summit Goes Virtual! →

Agricultural Development, Economic Development

Teeny Tiny Summit Goes Virtual! Big Ideas for Small Places: A celebration and Exploration of Small-Town Possibilities

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In 2020, Teeny Tiny Summits will be moving to a virtual format featuring a series of three webinars. The virtual Teeny Tiny webinars will shine a light on creative ideas and people in small communities that have made the most of the past few months. The webinar series will be sharing ideas and actions from community leaders in small communities of all kinds for informative and inspiring sessions.

Continue reading Teeny Tiny Summit Goes Virtual! Big Ideas for Small Places: A celebration and Exploration of Small-Town Possibilities →

Economic Development

Adapting your Business Retention + Expansion Practices During a Crisis

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Just as the activities of business and government are shifting to meet the demands of the current context, the BR+E process should also adapt to meet today’s economic development needs. To tackle the implications of this outbreak, communities and organizations will benefit from having access to and sharing timely, reliable, and meaningful data. This data can allow stakeholders and the business community to share critical information that can help address individual, regional and sector-based issues.

This post will review four keys ways in which your BR+E practices could pivot to address today’s economy.

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Agricultural Development, Economic Development

Stories That Demonstrate Rural Renaissance

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The Rural Ontario Institute has created a Rural Rebound sharing platform that showcases encouraging stories and positive examples drawn from across rural Ontario. This online platform offers case studies about creative solutions from community and non profit organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs. These stories share a common theme of effective leadership and collaboration. The platform is also a source of reliable up-to-date information on local and regional government efforts, funding and grant opportunities, research findings, webinar links and more.

Below are a few great case studies shared on the platform:

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Economic Development

Road to Economic Recovery Using BR+E for Rural Communities

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A strong Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) program can help communities understand and address prospects and issues facing their business community. Amidst a global COVID-19 outbreak that has significantly impacted local economies, it is crucial, now more than ever, to consider BR+E as a means to:

  • assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak to the local economy
  • identify current and potential opportunities and challenges that lie ahead

breBR+Es work by using survey questions to conduct live interviews with the business community. Once the data has been collected it is used to formulate actions to support the business community. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ (OMAFRA’s) BR+E program helps communities develop situation specific surveys which ask meaningful questions that in turn provide the data needed to plan for economic recovery and future resiliency.

This post will examine the importance of undertaking BR+E in the current context.

Why is BR+E important now?

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Downtown Revitalization, Economic Development

Reopening Physically-Distanced Downtowns

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As Ontario transitions through the Framework for Reopening Our Province, downtowns and main street areas are required to operate in different ways than they have in the past. On June 1, 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs facilitated an online Community of Practice event to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the reopening of downtowns. Speakers Stephannie Schlichter, Director of Economic and Creative Development of the City of Barrie, Noella Rinaldo, Executive Director of the Downtown Timmins Business Improvement Area, and Kay Matthews, Executive Director of the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA), provided their input on some of the methods and techniques that their municipalities have introduced to support the reopening of downtowns.

A few key ways were identified as quick, high-impact tasks that municipalities can implement in downtowns to attract residents and boost their economic recovery:

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Economic Development

Examples of Economic Recovery Teams

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In the past couple months, Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) has hosted a 2-part webinar series discussing emergency economic task forces. The series covered key economic challenges and successes from both rural and urban perspectives. Fellow EDCO members Craig Kelley – Director of Property and Development with the County of Renfrew, Rebecca Mustard – Manager of Economic Development with the City of Kawartha Lakes, and Martin Bohl – Sector Manager with the City of Brampton shared insights on their local efforts to support their community in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Structuring an emergency economic task force was discussed as a means to support local businesses and guide the community back toward a thriving economy.

Why are economic task forces beneficial?

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Agricultural Development

Feeding Your Future – Connecting Ontario’s Agri-Food Workforce: Online Community of Practice Webinar

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The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) recognizes the unique workforce challenges and opportunities agri-sector employers are faced with. Through Canadian Agricultural Partnership funding, OFA is rapidly developing a support system for agriculture and food employers from field to fork, to feed Ontario’s future. This project will help employers seek qualified candidates for planting, harvesting, processing, marketing, researching, and selling Ontario’s healthy, high-quality food, beverage and agri-products.

Enhancing agri-food workforce readiness along the value chain will help strengthen the Ontario agri-food sector during COVID-19 and beyond. This project will address agri-food labour supply and training challenges through the inclusion of:

Continue reading Feeding Your Future – Connecting Ontario’s Agri-Food Workforce: Online Community of Practice Webinar →