CBT Community Initiatives and Public Engagement – Meeting Schedule April 2018
Proponents are expected to attend the public input meeting in each area that funding support is requested from and organizations need to be prepared to make a short presentation regarding their project or be prepared to respond to inquiries about their project. Public input meetings will be held throughout the RDCK during the month of April. The meeting schedule will also be made available in local newspapers towards the end of March and details regarding how each area conducts their public input meeting (adjudication process, community involvement and criteria conditions) will be made available on the RDCK website prior to the meeting dates.
The Community Initiatives and Affected Areas Programs (CIP/AAP) are intended to be flexible and incorporate community-based funding decisions. The programs support local projects that provide additional value to Basin communities, and that benefit the broad community and public good. Program funds are distributed annually to the Trust’s local government partners: the regional districts of East Kootenay, Central Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary, the City of Revelstoke, Town of Golden, Village of Valemount, and to our Indigenous partners: Ɂaq’am, Ɂakisq’nuk, Lower Kootenay (Yaqan nuɁkiy), Tobacco Plains Indian Band (Ɂakink’umŧasnuqŧiɁit) and the Shuswap Indian Band.
CIP/AAP Program Funding is for meeting community and public needs rather than private needs and the Columbia Basin Trust Act requires Trust funding NOT relieve any level of government of its normal obligations. Program funds are not to be used to fund basic infrastructure activities such as roads, sewers, water systems, fire services and core services normally provided through government taxation.
The Affected Areas Program (AAP) is designed to put funds back into the Basin for those communities most affected by dam construction under the Columbia River Treaty. The AAP funds projects that meet priorities in communities which lie within 10 kilometres of the Duncan Reservoir (portion of Area D) as well as within 10 kilometres of the Arrow Lakes, upstream of the reservoir (portion of Area J), all of Area K, and the Village of Nakusp. Affected Area communities include: portion of Area D (Argenta, Cooper Creek, Howser, Johnsons Landing, Lardeau and Meadow Creek), portion of Area J (Brooklyn, Deer Park, Renata, Shields and Syringa), and Area K (Arrow Park, Burton, Edgewood, Fauquier, Rural Nakusp/Bayview and the Village of Nakusp).
Short listed Applications for all areas can be viewed here.
Spring 2018 Small Business Training Schedule
Improve your business skills at Community Futures
Getting publicity for your business is one of the most powerful and cost effective promotional tactics you can learn. The rules are simple: conventions must be followed, but the pay-off is worth the effort. In Publicity: the New Media Advantage, learn the basics of publicity, what it is, why you should use it, and how to get it.
Life is too busy to read long product descriptions or dig deep into services. The modern customer wants to see the product in action and video content does it all. In DIY Videos for YouTube learn how to plan, shoot, and edit video for business.
Want to incorporate teaching into your business? In The Art of Instruction: How to Teach What You Know, instructor Carmen Ditzler guides you through styles of teaching, how to plan your class, what to do when you hit a rough patch, and more. Carmen Ditzler brings a careers-worth of knowledge, helping you share your expertise with your students.
Community Futures Workshop Schedule
APRIL
April 11 Conflict Resolution
April 14 Business Plan 101 (free)
April 18 Bookkeeping Lab
April 19 & 20 Building Your Website with Wordpress
April 24 Publicity: The New Media Advantage
April 26 Bookkeeping Basics
MAY
May 1 Branding: Company Identity Design
May 2 & 9 DIY Videos for YouTube
May 4 Pinterest & Instagram for Beginners
May 8 Computer Lab
May 8 Me Inc. (free)
May 10 Blog Like You Mean Business
May 14 Social Media Demystified (free)
May 15 Bookkeeping Lab
May 17 Selling Products Online 101
May 23 Bookkeeping Basics
May 25 Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn for Beginners
May 30 Search Engine Optimization
May 30 & June 6 Communicating with Clarity
JUNE
June 6 Smartphone Apps for Small Business
June 7 Wordpress.com LAB
June 8 Falling Into Business with the One You Love
June 12 Bookkeeping Lab
June 12 The Art of Instruction: How to Teach What You Know
June 13 Mac Basics for Productivity
June 14 Facebook: How to Engage Your Audience
June 15 Mailchimp 101: Small Business Email Marketing
June 19 Fusion: The Future of Digital Marketing
June 20 Mastering Productivity & Time Management
June 22 Business Plan 101 (free)
June 26 Writing Your Business Story
June 26 Me Inc. (free)
June 27 Bookkeeping Basics
To register for any of our workshops at Community Futures Central Kootenay:
Call (250) 352-1933 ext 100
Or visit our office 201-514 Vernon Street, Nelson (above Canada Post)
For a printable version of courses and descriptions, click here.
Central Kootenay Farm & Food Directory ready to go!
The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council would like to invite all Farmers- Producers- Processors in the Central Kootenay to participate free of charge in the new Farm & Food directory.
The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council's 1st annual Farm and Food Directory will be published in the late spring of 2018- in advance of the Farmers Market season openings.
So sign up soon so your farm will be listed for 2018!
If you run a farm or food processing business in the Central Kootenay, you are invited to enter your business in the first annual Directory of Farms and Food in the Central Kootenay. A Guide has been created to help navigate creating an account and entering your information. Download it here. To enter your business in the Directory, go hereand look for the Register link in the top right hand corner. If you are returning to update your entry, click on the Log Inlink.
The Central Kootenay Food Policy Council builds a just, sustainable and prosperous food system in our region by identifying challenges and opportunities and by advocating for effective policy.
The primary functions of the Food Policy Council are:
1. To serve as a forum for discussing food issues and opportunities;
2. To foster co-ordination between sectors implicated in food systems;
3. To evaluate and influence policy,
4. To discern food systems priorities and;
5. To launch or support programs and services that address local needs and
that are not in competition with existing or pending food sector or civil society initiatives.
We are a link between the work in food systems and our local governments. We seek to connect and co-ordinate initiatives across the region, reduce redundancy and enhance the impact of human and financial resources invested in food systems and communities in the RDCK. Sometimes the Food Policy Council leads but more often we are a catalyst and support for initiatives driven by others. As part of a broader community, we work to foster vibrant and just food systems across the Central Kootenay, where our focus is on ameliorating the policy environment for food production and access in the region.
A policy is the framework within which decisions are made. In a home setting, people decide to eat meat or not, for example, based on their personal food policy. In Local Government, various policies support or hinder thriving food systems and well- nourished people. The Council promotes healthy food system policies.
We are currently exploring four preliminary project concepts:
- A food systems audit for the purpose of determining our current level of self-sufficiency and contribution to the local economy so that we can then set concrete goals and promote policy to achieve those goals;
- Build community interest in and capacity for policy development: we know that the level of community engagement is low in policy review events such as Official Community Plans. By having the public engage more fully in the development and refinement of land use planning, we can ameliorate the food system of the Central Kootenay.
- Regional food guide: coordinate the sub-regional groups who have created food guides in the past and collaborate with a regional publisher to determine a business and distribution model that can be maintained and updated yearly.
- Create a “domestic navigator program”: commodity producers of food stuffs can have difficulty knowing the requirements and opportunities to direct their product to local markets as opposed to distant bulk options. The Council is exploring, with key area partners, a project that would lower barriers to accessing local markets and help augment local food economies, supply and communal food security in the Central Kootenay.
For more information or to help with the registration process call 250-352-5342
Small Town Living? Residents Say It’s Good
March 1, 2018 New Denver
submitted by the Rural Development Institute of Selkirk College
A recent survey of the New Denver area shows that the vast majority of residents are satisfied with their quality of life, plan to stay, would recommend the area to others, and see a bright future for the community. Overall, things are good.
“We had a high response rate,” said Nadine Raynolds of the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute (RDI) – the research institute that partnered with the Village of New Denver to conduct the study, “which means the results provide a reasonable representation of the community as a whole”. The Village of New Denver applied and was selected to participate in the research project which was to explore well-being and community development in the region.
“We were interested in knowing what our residents think about quality of life here, what contributes to it, what services they want, how we can improve, and their ideas for the future”, said New Denver Mayor, Ann Bunka.
Some of the most important factors that contribute to residents’ quality of life include the clean environment, natural beauty, and safety of the community, as well as important assets and services, such as the local health centre and public school, and businesses, like the grocery stores, all within walking distance. Another theme was the strong sense of community. “There is a sense of community amongst most residents here that help make this place even more special than it already is with all the natural beauty”, said one survey respondent.
While there are decent amenities for its size, residents want to ensure these assets and services are maintained, and expanded on, particularly with respect to more opportunities for youth, child care, seniors’ support, and more evening eating establishments.
Most residents support modest population growth, and suggest that more resources be spent on economic development initiatives. Increasing employment opportunities and sprucing up the downtown are important, however a focus on tourism does not appear to be generally supported. Concerns relate to housing availability and affordability, with a potential increase in vacation properties. There is a fear of losing the small town rural character and sense of community that has attracted and retained many of the current residents.
“While residents did not rate economic well-being as high, there is a very positive view on community well-being”, added Raynolds. “The area has a lot of strengths, as residents noted, and building on these is an appropriate community development approach”. Asset-Based Rural Development is an approach centred around the idea that communities should design development based on their strengths, instead of their weaknesses. Too many development initiatives start from the assumption that rural communities are essentially in need, and tend to focus on problems. Focusing on strengths and assets, creates a foundation for positive community and economic development.
As some residents noted in their survey comments, it is important to engage the diversity of the community, so that everyone can be part of the discussion and contribute to the decisions that will shape their community’s future.
The full details of the survey results are in a report which can be viewed on the Village of New Denver website.
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Media Contacts:
Nadine Raynolds, Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute, Selkirk College, nraynolds@selkirk.ca, 250-365-1282
Ann Bunka, Mayor, Village of New Denver, mayor@newdenver.ca, 250-358-2316
Graphite is soaring in the Slocan
Although many of the mines in the area have been put on hold for various reasons, one is still going strong and plans to expand – perhaps by a factor of 10.
Eagle Graphite owns a quarry and production plant in the south Slocan Valley, one of only two natural flake graphite production facilities in North America. The Black Crystal quarry is on Hoder Creek Forest Service Road. The plant is at the junction of Little Slocan River and Koch Creek.
CEO Jamie Deith says five people are working at the moment.
“It’s the off season and the graphite markets have just recently recovered from a severe slump. A full complement when we are in operation is closer to 25 full-time people, plus numerous contractors providing services of various kinds.”
The graphite market has not only recovered, it is growing rapidly, thanks to the trend towards electric vehicles and the growth of battery production.
Deith says if Eagle Graphite is going to fill the contracts it already has, it will have to expand
production substantially.
“That’s before counting any additional graphite that might be required for batteries and electric vehicles, and if things go the way we anticipate over the coming years, then we might need to expand capacity more than 10-fold.
Deith is proud that Black Crystal quarry has an unusually light environmental footprint. Graphite is easily liberated from the sandy host material through a low-energy, water-based flotation process that generates only environmentally benign, marketable by-products. Water is recycled to minimize net consumption and eliminate discharge requirements. The primary sand and gravel by-products are sold to local buyers.
The finished graphite is non-toxic and non-reactive.
Deith invites anyone who is interested in following the company’s activities or seeing its announcements to go to the website, www.eaglegraphite.com and sign up for its email subscription list. He also welcomes emails sent directly to him at ir@eaglegraphite.com.
For the full story, see Valley Voice Jan. 25/18 article by Katrine Campbell.