Feature Article January 22, 2004
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Frontenac Community Futures Corporation seeks input
The new Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) will be holding community and business sessions in the coming days and weeks to introduce their services to the public and to get a sense of what kinds of services people in the County are seeking.
The new organization is in the midst of setting up its office on Highway 38 in Harrowsmith and will be hiring a Business Development/loans officer soon.
In the meantime, Anne Pritchard, the Executive Director of the corporation, says it is time to introduce ourselves to the community and see what kinds of service people are looking for. Two sets of meetings, one for community members, and one for business interests, are scheduled for Harrowsmith, Sharbot Lake, Ompah, and Wolfe Island (see ad on page 6 for details)
The Development Corporation, which is funded by Industry Canada, has three main functions: giving business support and advice; providing loans to viable ventures that are not eligible for other kinds of funding support; and fostering community development.
The community development public consultation meetings will focus on what Anne Pritchard calls actionable items. If a Community group would like to start a project - a youth centre or a museum, for instance - the CFDC can provide help with business plans, seeking out grants, and making contacts with other groups. The upcoming meetings will focus on what the various communities see as needs and goals in the short and long term.
The business sessions are intended to find out what the business community wants to see from the development corporation. Do they want some kind of training? Where do they think our focus should be? Should we be looking at start-ups? Are there infrastructure issues that are impeding their ability to be competitive? We need to know these things in order to serve the business community, said Anne Pritchard.
Since taking on her new job with the CFDC in October, Pritchard has been involved in a business start-up herself, and this has taken up much of her time. Still, she has been working with some clients, and already she has seen several businesses that share the common concern about how to develop markets for their products.
Look for the official opening of the Frontenac CFDC office sometime this spring.
