EDCO Member Updates

This year's EDCO Awards of Excellence Program is officially open!

This program is for all those undertaking municipal economic development activities within the Province of Ontario. Participants are not required to be members of EDCO and all projects produced or implemented in the last 12 months are eligible (October 2021 to October 2022).

Celebrate your team. Celebrate your community.

Learn More About the Awards Applications

Environics Analytics and EDCO have partnered again to bring a special offer to our members. Do you endeavour to make strategic decisions that are data driven but lack the budget needed to access the data?

This offer’s objective is an attempt to make data accessible to Ontario’s smaller municipalities about their populations and their expenditure and lifestyle attributes. The aim is to arm Ontario’s smaller municipalities with access to this data to:

Help inform strategic plans and Master Plans
Provide insights into local populations to help with communications, engagement and service delivery
Develop a deeper sense of understanding of local populations to help decision-makers better anticipate jurisdictional needs and provide services and programs that are more relevant and valuable

Did you miss the webinar and are interested in learning about this offer? We can send you a video of the webinar and more details, email Stephanie Crilly at edco@edco.on.ca to learn all about Spotlight and the special discount that is offered to EDCO members.

Mark your Calendar for CollaboratiON: Building Ontario Together!

EDCO’s 67th Annual Conference and Showcase

February 6-8, 2024

Nominations Open: EDCO Board of Directors Election 2024-2026

EDCO's election takes place to fill vacancies created on the Board of Directors for a two-year term. For our 2024–2026 election, we are filling four vacancies.

Please see the Nomination Package linked below for more details about our election process and to access the nomination paperwork. Interested candidates must submit the completed paperwork no later than September 15, 2023.

Download the Nomination Package

September 21, 2023

Kenora Agenda

8:00 AM Registration & Networking

8:30 AM Welcome

9:00 AM Keynote Speakers: Rob Dokuchie and Taras Manzie, Lake of the

Woods Brewing Company. 10 Years of Community Building – one

beer at a time.

10:00 AM Boom to Bust to Boom: An Ontario Mill town tale

11:00 AM Networking Break

11:15 AM How to Twin a Highway: The Four Winds Partnership

12:00 PM Lunch Break & Networking

1:00 PM Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) in the workplace: How (and why)

to take action

1:45 PM A Winnipeg Favourite at the Lake: BDI

2:30 PM Break

2:45 PM Big Picture Campaign: How the MUSE Came to Be

3:15 PM Eco-Tourism and Community Development: Mosswood Adventures

4:00 PM Question & Answer Period from the day

Learn More & Register for Kenora here

October 18, 2023

Cobourg Agenda

8:30 AM Registration & Networking

9:00 AM Welcome

9:15 AM Workforce Development - Microcredentialling Practices

10:15 AM Workforce Development - Improving the employability of

underemployed people

10:30 AM Networking Break

11:15 AM Creative Community Spaces

12:15 PM Lunch Break & Networking

1:15 PM Indigenous Economic Development - Raising Awareness and

Tourism Kingston Case Study

2:15 PM Networking Break

2:30 PM Current and Future Trends in Investment Attraction

3:30 PM Question & Answer Period from the day

Learn More & Register for Cobour Here

November 14, 2023

Windsor-Essex Agenda

8:30 AM Registration & Networking

9:00 AM Welcome

9:15 AM Supporting the Agri-business Value Chain

10:30 AM Break

10:45 AM Creating a Cluster & Tour

12:00 PM Tour & Lunch Break & Networking

1:00 PM Workforce Development: Attracting in-demand skilled workers

and creating inclusive workplace culture for newcomers and

diverse workforce

2:15 PM Break

2:30 PM Tourism Panel

3:45 PM Question & Answer Period from the day

Learn More & Register for Windsor-Essex Here

EDCO Insider allows individual communities to easily and cost-effectively create their own customized apps and build incentives for people to visit places of interest or make purchases locally.

Take advantage of this service powered by 468 Communications, and drive economic development by rewarding people for exploring your community!

Learn More

My Main Street

Orangeville's Branching Out Support Services uses My Main Street funding to kickstart CommonFare Kitchen for the neurodiverse

Kimberly Van Ryn launched Branching Out Support Services in Orangeville in late 2019 to help integrate neurodiverse people into the community by providing creative, community-based care. Her organization offers a variety of services for individuals with developmental differences and their caregivers, including day services and one-to-one respite support. With group programming as a major philosophical driver, Van Ryn wanted to provide participants not only social and recreational activities, but also the opportunity to contribute through paid work. “Of course, COVID-19 overtook us four months after we opened our doors,” laments Van Ryn.

Read More Here

Member Requests

Sector Development or Sector Cluster Development

Invest Barrie is requesting municipalities who have undertaken an RFP/ RFQ around sector development or sector cluster development to reach out. They are looking to connect around scope of work, costs, and evaluation criteria.

Should you have any information to share, please reach out to Crystal Pollard at Crystal.Pollard@barrie.ca.

The Veteran Friendly Ontario (VFO) Challenge

This Challenge is an experiential training program designed to accelerate and enrich small-medium sized business (SME –up to 500 employees) recruitment, onboarding, and hiring of Veterans.

This free program will develop Veterans’ civilian career-ready skills and provide content and tools to help Veterans gain situational awareness of SME needs and challenges. In parallel, it will facilitate further opportunities for small- to medium-sized business owners and hiring managers to experience first-hand the value of Veteran talent, skills, and problem-solving, while increasing business owner competence in talent attraction, retention, and career management. This is all done with the goal of increasing income resiliency for both groups and, possibly, creating employment opportunities.

More Information

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A STRATEGY, SUSTAINABILITY

AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR

ONTARIO BIA ASSOCIATION (2024-2029)

Ontario BIA Association (OBIAA) is seeking a Consultant/Firm to facilitate and develop an integrated strategy and operational plan that will focus on both COVID recovery as well as building upon the pre-pandemic foundational work to help advance the organization.

The proponent will work closely with the board of Ontario BIA Association (OBIAA), OBIAA members and a strategic planning advisory committee to the boards, and will engage and gather input from OBIAA staff, members, other downtown and community stakeholders to create a strategic plan, goals and implementation plan that will advance Ontario BIA Association and guide OBIAA for the next 5 years.

Please note, in 2021, the OBIAA Board conducted a refresh. Information on the refresh can be requested.

View the RFP Here

Resident Attraction Strategy

The Town of Huntsville is working on a resident attraction strategy and is looking for any resources you may have that would assist, please contact Lauren MacDermid at lauren.macdermid@huntsville.ca

Symposium 2024 Workshop Proposal Call Out!

Re-Igniting the Spark Call for Proposals: Workshops

Reseau SPARC Network is excited to announce the 2024 Symposium!!

Taking place from May 23-26,2024 in the Town of Minto, Symposium 2024 will focus on "Re-Igniting the Spark" of rural and remote performing arts.

Learn more here.

News

Ontario Supporting More Innovation in Cybersecurity

The Ontario government is investing up to $5 million to help Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX) launch the Ontario Cybersecurity Excellence Initiative that will help Ontario companies develop and adopt cybersecurity technologies that enhance data security and protect company assets from cyber threats and other advanced technologies. Developing and adopting critical technologies like cybersecurity will increase Ontario’s competitiveness around the world and create highly skilled jobs in the province’s growing tech sector.

Read more here.

Ontario Launches 2023 Excellence in Agriculture Program

The Government of Ontario is launching the 2023 Excellence in Agriculture program to showcase the outstanding efforts, innovations, and achievements across the agriculture and food sector. The program recognizes individuals, businesses, and organizations that drive the industry forward, adopt new technologies and increase awareness across Ontario’s agri-food value chain.

Read more here.

Government of Canada boosts competitiveness of sustainable printing company

The demand for sustainable and eco-friendly products is growing. To help Ontario’s manufacturers and businesses in pursuit of innovative and eco-friendly solutions, our government is making strategic investments. This targeted support will create good job opportunities, while propelling Canada closer to a more sustainable future.

Today, Tim Louis, Member of Parliament for Kitchener–Conestoga, on behalf of the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), announced an investment of $1.3 million for Simpson Print so they can develop more products with advanced equipment, enhance their sustainable printing processes, and create 15 full-time jobs.

Read more here.

Ontario Investing $1.8 Million in New Forest Sector Technology

The Government of Ontario is investing $1.8 million to help Niagara Pallet expand its production facility and install automated pallet-making equipment. This investment will triple pallet production, increase the company’s sales by 46 per cent and create 30 new jobs.

Read more here.

Check out the EDCO Career Page