Huron-Kinloss Awarded Rural Excellence Award at EDCO

The Huron-Kinloss Economic Development Team was awarded EDCO's Rural Excellence Award as part of the Economic Developer's Council of Ontario conference on February 9th, 2023. The award is presented to a rural community that is doing extraordinary work in economic development with outstanding results.

The small but mighty team in Huron-Kinloss sourced over $1 million in grant and fundraising dollars in 2022 to implement the following economic development projects:

Workforce Development:

Women in Carpentry 2.0 was implemented to train 20 women in carpentry, math and communications and provide them with an 8 week paid work placement. Women in Carpentry 1.0 wrapped up in June 2022 with 16 women finding full-time employment after the program. This program is a partnership between Fanshawe College, the UBC Local 2222 Carpenter's Union and VPI.

Tourism:

Asset development for Secrets of the Back 40 including:

• brand development;
• gravel cycling routes;
• itineraries; 
• website;
• installing signage, bike racks and water bottle refill stations.

Point Clark Museum Revitalization launched a $200,000 fundraising campaign. The project includes a complete re-model of the lighthouse museum with new exhibits and room design. Both of these projects will be launching to the public in the Summer of 2023.

Resident Attraction:

Launched new resident attraction brand “Live Simply, Simply Live” and marketing video. The campaign
reached 34,872 people with 1,415 link clicks to our website. Attraction brochures were also given to
local Realtors to give out to prospective residents.

Business recruitment:

We re-opened the doors to The Hub, our co-working space and business incubator. The Hub offered 85 training sessions for businesses with 790 participants, and supported 75 business with one-on-one support. We received over $160,000 from Digital Main Street to hire 4 Digital Service Squad members to support all Bruce County businesses with their digital transformation. We launched two new recruitment programs – The Homestead and Sprout. The Homestead provided one business with a brick and mortar space for 3 months. Sprout is a new youth entrepreneurship program that will provide youth with 8 weeks of training and the opportunity to operate a retail store beginning in the Spring of 2023.

Investment:

An 18 acre industrial park in Ripley was serviced with municipal roads, water and sewer. In 2022, the Industrial Park was accepted into the Ontario Certified Site Program.

Huron-Kinloss Business and Economic Officer, Amy Irwin and 
Manager of Strategic Initiatives, Michelle Goetz, accepting the Rural Excellence Award.