The province has announced three Terrace organizations will receive grants this year through its rural development mandate.
My Mountain Co-op, the City of Terrace and the Terrace Downtown Improvement Area Society are each receiving $10,000 from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD) to help boost their operations.
Of just 11 recipients in the North, Terrace outpaced all other communities with three of the grant awards.
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“It takes a lot of hard work to develop ideas that can stimulate local prosperity and create jobs for small communities,” said FLNRORD Minister Doug Donaldson in a press release.
“Rural citizens are resourceful, and the calibre of these project development applications reflects their ingenuity and commitment to community development.”
Throughout B.C., $673,124 in project development grants have been provided to 68 local governments, First Nations and not-for-profit organizations with the intention to reinvigorate and diversify their local economies.
Ken Newman, city planner, says that the City of Terrace will use its grant for heritage conservation plan.
It would include establishing a heritage-advisory commission, creating an inventory of heritage sources, identifying heritage themes and creating an overall long-term management plan commemorating Terrace’s history.
“Heritage is important because it tells us where we come from, our history is part of our identity,” says Newman. “We have a number of heritage buildings here (to preserve) that tell our story.”
He says the plan may also indirectly create more tourism jobs in the area as the city starts to promote its historical roots.
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This is the fifth intake of the BC Rural Dividend program, where grants of up to $10,000 are provided to help eligible applicants with the preliminary work that sets the foundation for larger community projects in the future.
In order to qualify, a community must have a population of 25,000 or less and be located outside the geographic boundaries of Metro Vancouver and the Capital Regional District.
Projects are assessed and approved based on economic impact and innovation in development, attracting and retaining youth, improving community resiliency, partnership building, enhancing shared prosperity, feasibility and sustainability.
The proposed projects must be completed within two years from the submitted start date.
In Budget 2018, the Government of British Columbia committed to extend the Rural Dividend up to $25 million per year to 2020-21. Project applications for single applicants will be up to $100,000, and partnerships up to $500,000.
Final decisions for those grants will be announced this February.
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