Grand Forks will be getting an influx of provincial cash following a Rural Dividends fund announcement Tuesday morning.
The City of Grand Forks and Community Futures Boundary will be receiving a combined $655,799 for two flood-related business and community development positions.
The grant was approved under the special circumstances provision of the Rural Dividends program, which is designed to “assist communities facing economic hardship,” said Doug Donaldson, minister of natural resources, in a press release.
The city’s portion of the funding, $359,800 will be used to hire an events and marketing coordinator who will “provide business-retention services … as well as develop marketing and event strategies, and deliver business recovery training programs,” according to the provincial press release. The funding will be administered by the Boundary Country Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Business Association. Community Futures Boundary will be receiving just shy of $300,000 to hire a business development officer who will provide an economic development strategy and work with partners to implement that strategy.
“The City of Grand Forks is pleased to have been awarded this provincial funding,” said Mayor Brian Taylor via press release. “It will directly assist local small businesses in rebuilding the momentum of the ‘Open for Business’ campaign that was slowed due to the catastrophic flooding experienced here in May.”
