Rural Youth Research Internship Project David Thompson & Ashleigh Sauve East Algoma CFDC - CDC of SSM & Area.

Rural Youth Research Internship Project

David Thompson & Ashleigh Sauve

East Algoma CFDC - CDC of SSM & Area

Background

• FedNor provides funding to U of Guelph for Rural Youth Research Internship Project (RYRIP) to research Community Futures Program.

• RYRIP engages 7 youth as research interns with Community Futures Development Corps (CFDCs) in Ontario.

• Research on community impact of the Community Futures program / effectiveness of CFDCs

Goals of RYRIP

1. Report on the community impact of FedNor’s CFP

2. Engage rural youth to develop their capacities to conduct research

Four Lines of Inquiry

1. What is the impact of Community development programming of the CFDC?

2. What is the impact of the loans and business programming of the CFDC?

3. What are the youth perspectives on the CFDC role and performance?

4. Has the CFDC program contribution to multi-community identity been effective?

Research Methodology

• Attended training session w/ faculty from Guelph and FedNor representatives.

• 10 interviews with loan recipients,5 with key informants.

• Working together – practical / illuminating

• Focus groups - CFDC partners

Research Limitations & Challenges

• Last minute hiring of research interns / CFDC contact by FedNor & NORDIK

• Summer months and vacation period• Representative sample of loan

recipients– Summer inconvenient for most loan

recipients

• Line of Inquiry #3 not clear (Youth perspective)

CFDC Profiles

CFDC Profiles: East Algoma CFDC

CFDC Profiles: East Algoma

ThessalonElliot Lake

Mining Memorial

East Algoma CFDC

• Tools for the self-employed – advice, mentorship, and loans.

• Strategic planning for socio-economic development / economic development projects

• Support for non-profit / social economy

• Board have knowledge of being self-employed, are leaders in their communities.

The mission of the EACFDC is to work towards a stronger regional economy

while preserving the quality of life.

East Algoma CFDC

• Economic recession to a period of stabilizationo Creation of ELNOS (Elliot Lake

and North Shore Corporation for Business Development

o Cameco, Retirement Living, Cottage lots, Forestry on decline

o Change in mindset of leaders

"You have to realize that the success in a neighbouring community, spells a positive influence on them as well.  Rivalries between communities aren't productive. We're trying to keep that message out there. You're far better to support a neighbour and their efforts if it’s something that they are better equipped to deal with." ~EACFDC Board Member

What is Business Retention & Expansion?

“A community-based economic development tool that promotes job growth by helping communities and industries identify barriers to survival and growth facing local business.”

“It is based on the philosophy that existing firms are the key to community economic prosperity”

East Algoma CFDC - Emerging business environment

• Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E)o Survey and interview businesseso Identify & address short-term problemso Identify & address long-term expansion barriers.o Resulted in stronger communication

• Leaders of CFDC, municipalities, and organizations see opportunities in partnering, but individuals may not.o CFDC helps bring people to the table

I think the community as a whole, the more partners they see at the table, the more willing they are to

participate, more willing to support, because they go back to this belief

that this is really a community project; it’s not an ELNOS project, or a city project. We’re all in the

same boat. – William Elliott, General Manager of ELNOS

"Communities need to start to realize that they are not just a

nucleus of people anymore. They need to broaden their

scope of what a community is."  

East Algoma CFDC Board Member

East Algoma CFDC ... builds trust

• Barriers for communities to work together: o Ego, Territory, Complacency, Competition

o Mistrust generated through conception of Elliot Lake• Loans program - personal examples of working with

businesses• CED projects - increase of consulting to the public; stronger

partnerships; CFDC supported projects gain credibility• Board members - well connected to their communities 

• Leadership Development

"What I find East Algoma has set aside, the political arena and we’re given the opportunity to deal with things in a more a realistic fashion." ~EACFDC Board Member

"A lot of the projects that we are running, we are trying to make an effort

to consult the public, we are having public meetings, and we're having

stakeholder sessions, and something that before BR&E we weren't doing a lot

of." ~BR&E Partner

 Discretionary Fund• Supports other social and cultural

development activities, with spin-off economic opportunities.

• Max $3000 grant – tradeshows, events, recreation (bike races).

Partnership building  • Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E)

o Helps boost credibility of programs  Strategic planning • Consultant hired to carry out

community-driven plan • What was missing: more participation

from private sector, connecting opportunities with communities.

East Algoma CFDC - Community Development

East Algoma CFDC - Loans program

Not enough loan clients to fully analyze the effectiveness of the Loans Program (4 recipients)• Majority wanted to see the business being passed on to their family  • Self-Employment Benefit Program (overlooked)

You don’t have to be a farmer, you don’t have to be a logger, you don’t have to be a business man, anybody can apply for it.

East Algoma CFDC Board Member

CFDC Profiles: CDC of SSM & Area

Montreal Harbour

• Area is home to two First Nations: The Batchewana First Nation, and the Garden River First Nation.

• The approximate population is 85 950 according to Statistics Canada.

• 7.5% of residents in the area are of an aboriginal identity

• Anglophones account for 84.7% of the population

• Francophones account for 4.1% • Italian speakers account for 5.8% of the

population

Context - CDC of SSM & Area

Context - CDC of SSM & Area

Economic recession to a period of stabilizationo NAFTA signed in 1988o Steel Plant and other

manufacturing layoffs leading to 12.9% unemployment in 1996.

o Between 1990 and 2000, the area saw a drastic decline in the population of children and youth (-18.4% and -12.2% respectively).

Context - CDC of SSM & Area• “… it was historically… a one industry town; and when

that machine sort of stopped producing, stopped rolling forward, it impacted this community in a very significant way. When I arrived it had basically hit rock bottom… There was a big black cloud over the city. People were very depressed… they were very pessimistic, there were people who believed in a brighter future, they were the visionaries … but the average Joe had a bad attitude and was very discouraged and disillusioned. And it was very difficult to live here… I would say that I am a pretty positive person, you know, an entrepreneur is that way. I am about opportunities, I am about growing, I am about achieving something. So when you live in a community where the nature of that community is pessimistic… when there were challenges all around, it became kind of depressing.” –CDC loan client

Context - CDC of SSM & Area

Public and private sector community development organizations contributed to economic stabilization.

“I would say that FedNor … and NOHFC has contributed significantly to the

changes, to the cultural sensitivities, the issues, the emotional realities of the

people who live here, their vision of the future, because now all of a sudden we see investments in those foundational opportunities that create employment

and create opportunities” -CDC loan

Client

Context - CDC of SSM & Area

•Skills shortage•Need for increased funding for community development in order to attract and retain people.•Shortage or progressive and proactive people in the community make this a challenge. •No action on strategies to attract and retain, despite frequent discussion (Destiny’s new comer strategy.)•Lack of opportunity to grow professionally in a progressive career and in areas that are not traditional or labour oriented.

CDC Community Development

Local Initiatives Fund• Supports other social

and cultural development activities, with spin-off economic opportunities.

• Max $5000• Also accessible to youth

CDC Community Development Cont…

Partnership building 

•Searchmont Ski Resort •Destiny Sault Ste. Marie

• project of the CFDC develops strategies focused on the future

• help engage public and private sector partnerships to work together towards those strategies being realized.

“I think people are in a certain mind set, they are very protective… in our area it’s very territorial and … if you are protective of a territory then you won’t see the big picture and you won’t actually capitalize on the true opportunity that exist to expand your territory and it’s not taking something away from you it is actually growing what you were already doing.”- CDC Partner

CDC Loans Program

• Not enough loan clients to fully analyze the effectiveness of the Loans Program (3 recipients)

• Empowering Entrepreneurs to start businesses and giving them the support they require throughout the business development process through counseling, mentoring, and financial assistance

• Able to be more flexible and creative with their loan distribution to promote diversity and sustainablility.

Loans Program Cont…

• Lender of last resort, offering an opportunity to those who would otherwise have nowhere else to go due to their high risk status. “Their interest is very high. Too high. 10% -

that’s ridiculous. But when you find out that they literally are the last resort, and when you find out that you have no other option, you just deal with it.”

-CDC Loan Recipient

Loans Program

•If CFDC didn't exist, some of their clients businesses would not have started or been able to stay open.

“I don't really need the CDC now, but I appreciate that they were there

for when I needed them… It kept me from going bankrupt… “

-CDC Loan Recipient

Youth Perspective

• Dave and Ashleigh are from the areas they researched.

• Both sit on the Sault Youth Council

Youth Perspective

“There is a lack of proactive nature among the people who are working to lead the community forward, or strategic thinking, you know, the big picture for the future, it’s hard to get people in that mindset because they are just kind of concentrating on the here and now and not really looking to progress, so that has affected me personally because I am very proactive, so it’s kind of like I am always going against the grain trying to move things forward that people are not really ready to see or they can’t comprehend” –CDC Partner

Youth Perspective: Out-migration

• Local Educational institutions have not had a strong presence & need to collaborate – youth need to leave town to go to post

secondary schools – New opportunities with Algoma U’s

independence

“We’ve come into a knowledge based economy right so with the knowledge base economy…if the Sault has a strong academic presence it will have a strong economic presence.” – CDC loan client

Youth Perspective: Out Migration

• Youth often leave for education, which does not prepare them well for the jobs that are here.

• There is a mismatch between local postsecondary institution’s programming, and job opportunities.

• CFDC is in position to identify educational needs to ed. Institutions.

Youth Perspective: Out Migration

“… In the past, if they would have taken care of youth, they might not be in this situation cause youth would naturally want to return to an area that they felt part of that community, if they felt heard, that they they were provided for. Right? Cause you usually remember a place… if there was nothing for you here, why would you want to come back?”

– Skatepark

•We do not foster an environment for youth that would encourage them to stay.

•Economic limitations restrict spending on youth development programming, but this needs to change.

Youth Perspective: Out Migration

“Everybody in this community was saying how much they didn’t want young people to leave, yet no one was willing to take the chance to hire them. So I had to create my own opportunity to stay here. I had to make work to be here.”

– CDC loan client

“Without young people, this place will die. It’s inevitable.” – CDC Loan Client

Youth Perspective: CFDC Programming

• Youth Business Camp• LIF grants appeal to youth for events and

community initiatives.• The SEB program is accessible to youth who

have recently been on Employment Insurance. • Youth may not be accessing the CFDC loans

because:– Lack of awareness about the corporation.– Unable to secure their loan.– Typically, entrepreneurs do not start businesses

until they are in their late 20’s or older.

Youth Perspective: CFDC Inclusion

• There are currently no youth staff or board members at the CDC or EACFDC.

• May have joined when they were under thirty, but are not anymore.

• Internship program

Regional Collaboration• Focus group with three CFDC managers• Collaboration is improving these attitudes -

particularly through BR&E & strat. plan • Youth Entrepreneurship Camp• Northern Ont pool allows for loans of up to

$500,000• Lack of resources and time restrict the

amount of attention that can go to community development.

• Too busy being reactive to be proactive.

Leadership Development

• Board serves to link CFDCs with other organizations. (Help with loan apps, contribute knowledge, and help staff).

• Board are active in municipal councils – some are active as mayors.

• Youth camp has been building leadership among young people.