Community Futures Boundary will be able to conduct a business plan to support the development of a resiliency centre/gathering place for the region, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Province.

“Community Futures Boundary has identified the development of a resiliency centre and gathering place as a project that will help support local communities,” said Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “Funding is from the Rural Dividend’s special circumstances provision, which was specifically designed to assist communities undergoing economic hardship, such as those impacted by flooding.”

A resiliency centre/gathering place is a community centre that would host events and conferences, as well as house emergency operations in times of need, serving the City of Grand Forks and the Kootenay Boundary region.

The project will complete a business plan/feasibility study, including: architectural drawings, building logistics, costs, funding sources and operational models for the centre.

“I’m delighted to hear the news about the approval to complete a detailed plan to support a resiliency/gathering place for Grand Forks and the Boundary,” said David Turner, vice-chair, Community Futures Boundary. “This has been a project that we’ve been working on for a very long time and we are so glad we are finally able to move forward.”

As part of Budget 2018, the Government of British Columbia committed to extending the $25 million per year Rural Dividend to 2020-21. The Rural Dividend is one aspect of government’s rural development mandate, which is committed to making rural communities more resilient.

Learn More:

Community Futures Boundary: http://www.boundarycf.com/

Rural Dividend: www.gov.bc.ca/ruraldividend