A core decision-making tool for Community Foundations across Canada is the Vital Signs Data Program. ETSI-BC was delighted to support the Columbia Valley Community Foundation in creating its third Vital Signs Report which uses local knowledge to inspire action and improve quality of life in the community.

The Take2: Okanagan Film Fundamentals Bootcamp provided intensive hands-on training in the film industry to help address the need for local crew members. With the film industry expanding in the Okanagan and the corresponding job opportunities, the boot camp received seed funding from ETSI-BC’s Innovating and Advancing Key Sectors program.

In the fertile Similkameen Valley, the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) is re-investing in its agricultural roots with an updated agriculture plan. Supported with funding from ETSI-BC, the new plan has helped this First Nation to access a much larger funding opportunity which will help them achieve greater food security and long-term economic benefits.

With a new Tourism Master Plan, the City of Cranbrook has taken a holistic approach to maximizing the benefits of its thriving tourism industry and guiding overall economic growth. The community’s ‘look and feel’ is already changing as it rolls out the plan, which was supported by grant funding from ETSI-BC.

Rec-Tech is taking hold in the Kootenays! With support from ETSI-BC, Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprises (KORE) hosted Canada’s first conference for outdoor gear makers and designers last fall in Kimberley. More than 100 delegates from across Western Canada came together to learn, network, collaborate and innovate. The wildly successful first event now promises to be held annually, with the second event coming up in October 2023.

Data is a vital tool to help make better decisions for economic developers, organizations, communities, and regions. It allows for evidence-based decision-making about important issues such as: where to put time and effort, how best to support current and new projects or businesses, and which projects are the most important at any given time. Good data helps measure the impact of these decisions over time too.

ETSI-BC understands the importance of data in telling the stories of our region, and is committed to supporting individuals, organizations and communities to use data to their advantage.

The economic landscape in the Kootenay region of BC is vibrant and proactive, thanks to the dedication and partnerships of a vibrant group of key stakeholders, which ETSI-BC, the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior, has been able to support and learn from.

As a regional economic trust, ETSI-BC helps communities in the Southern Interior of BC to realize their economic development aspirations, providing funding, resources and knowledge. The Board of ETSI-BC held one of its quarterly board meetings in Nelson BC in June 2023, and hosted a roundtable of local economic development practitioners from the region which produced valuable insights for rural economic development practitioners throughout Canada and beyond.

Food security has become a priority for the rural mountain town of Revelstoke in the Columbia-Shuswap region. To encourage more local food production, the Community Connections (Revelstoke) Society established a commercial kitchen incubator to help local food producers scale and move into value-added processing. ETSI-BC was pleased to provide funding support for this project, which has achieved several healthy outcomes.

With the evolution of the Kootenay Cannabis Council, the environment for producers transitioning to the legal cannabis sector is creating new economic opportunities in the Kootenays. ETSI-BC supported work of the Council, an outcome of Community Futures Central Kootenays’ Cannabis Business Transition Initiative.

The timing was right in 2022 for the Tḱemlúps te Secwépemc (TteS), to create a strategic plan for their Business and Economic Development Department. A new Chief and Council was elected in 2021 to lead the community over the next three years, a competent and motivated staff team was in place, and the appetite for reconciliation and collaboration with Indigenous people was strong.