The BC Economic Development Portal has been updated with new and improved services to help strengthen the economic well-being and resiliency of British Columbia communities in all regions of the province.

The portal serves as a one-stop shop to meet the needs of stakeholders and is part of the BC Jobs Plan commitment to work with communities, building their capacity to respond to, and act on, economic development opportunities. B.C. communities, including First Nations, can easily access a range of essential tools and resources to help them realize their economic development potential and build capacity at a local level, including:

• Funding and Grants Search Tool (new): Find financial support for your community by easily searching the up-to-date database.
• Performance Measurement Tool (new): Track your success and demonstrate the value of economic development.
• BC Economic Atlas: Visualize your region’s potential and make better decisions with a powerful economic data-mapping tool.
• Webinar Series: Keep up on current trends and innovative practices with live or recorded webinars.
• Economic Development Resources: Learn the basics, assess your community and use toolkits (e.g. Business Attraction Toolkit) to identify economic opportunities and secure investment opportunities.

Regardless of how far along a community is in the economic development process, communities can turn to the portal for tools, templates and integrated data to help formulate, execute and evaluate economic development initiatives most appropriate for their community.

The BC Jobs Plan, launched in September of 2011, builds on the strengths of the province’s most competitive sectors utilizing B.C.’s educated and skilled workforce to keep the economy diverse, strong and growing.

Quotes:

Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour –

“Economic development and diversification is critical to the sustainability of our communities. By having a single, centralized repository of searchable business information, government is providing communities with a tool to guide them through the process of creating and executing an economic development strategy.”

Dale Wheeldon, president and CEO, British Columbia Economic Development Association –

“British Columbia Economic Development Association (BCEDA) and its members will find it easier to navigate and find the right provincial resource to support community economic development through this portal. Streamlining the search for available funding and developing a valuable tool to assess performance and track success are two top priorities for economic development offices. We have an excellent working relationship with the ministry and are pleased they have addressed these two priorities.”

Learn More at:

BC Economic Development Portal: www.gov.bc.ca/economicdevelopment

BC Jobs Plan: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/bcjobsplan/