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
Thessalon
Elliot Lake Mining
Memorial
East Algoma CFDC
The mission of the EACFDC is to work towards a
stronger regional economy while preserving the
quality of life.
• 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.
East Algoma CFDC
• Economic recession to a period of
stabilization
o 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 businesses
o Identify & address short-term problems
o 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, "A lot of the projects that we are running, we
are trying to make an effort to consult the
the political arena and we’re given the
public, we are having public meetings, and
opportunity to deal with things in a more
we're having stakeholder sessions, and
a realistic fashion." ~EACFDC Board
something that before BR&E we weren't
Member
doing a lot of." ~BR&E Partner
East Algoma CFDC - Community Development
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 communitydriven plan
• What was missing: more participation from
private sector, connecting opportunities with
communities.
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
Context - CDC of SSM & Area
• 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
Economic recession to a
period of stabilization
o NAFTA signed in 1988
o 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
•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.
“… 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
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.