Feature Article July 24, 2003
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Frontenac CFDC Gets a Home
The next step in the development of a Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) for Frontenac County has been taken with the naming of a site for the not-for-profit, federally funded corporation.
A press conference attended by MPs Larry McCormick and Peter Milliken, and Andy Mitchell, the Secretary of Sate for Rural Development, was held on Tuesday July 22, at the future site of the CFDC office next to Papa Petes restaurant on Road 38 in Harrowsmith. Andy Mitchell said We are very excited to expand the Community Futures Program to Frontenac County.
The announcement comes a year after a steering committee began meeting and planning to make Frontenac County the 58th in Ontario to have such a corporation in place.
Ryan Seeds, newly-named chair of the Frontenac CFDCs interim board, said we look forward to contributing to the future prosperity of this community and being a key player in the development of the local economy.
Typically, Community Futures Development Corporations receive $250,000 annually from Industry Canada to run an office, which includes an Executive Director, a Business Development Officer, and administrative staff. As well, the corporations receive a large one-time grant which is used to set up a loan pool. This money is available for investing in local business that are unable to receive funding through traditional sources for ventures which have a high likelihood of success. As loans are repaid, the pool will hopefully grow and can then be reinvested in the community.
The Business Development Officer will provide advice, helping small and medium-sized business with business plans and identification of markets for their products.
The Executive Director usually oversees the corporation, and is in place to help secure grants from federal and provincial sources for ventures which the CFDC might undertake with community partners.
Frontenac is very late in getting their CFDC up and running. The corporations are only set up in rural locations, and Frontenac County, with a population under 24,000, is one of the last such counties in Ontario to get one.
While the Frontenac CFDC has not yet received the final go-ahead, the federal government has provided $75,000 for community consultations and development work to establish the corporation.
Sheila Sims, a consultant hired by the steering committee, told the News they are hoping to see the final approval from Industry Canada in time to renovate the Harrowsmith office in September and open the Frontenac CFDC this October.
