Community Economic Adjustment Initiatives
The BC Community Futures Network has historically played an instrumental role in facilitating community economic adjustment initiatives across the province. Since 2000 Community Futures British Columbia has played an instrumental role in delivering over $125 million in programming designed to assist rural communities to adjust to economic changes or hardship and diversify their economies away from dependence on a single industry.
As an example, in response to the negative impact that was being felt in many BC rural communities following the imposition of the US countervailing duty on softwood lumber, the Softwood Industry Community Economic Adjustment Initiative (SICEAI) injected over $55 million in project funding into the BC economy. Designed and delivered by Community Futures British Columbia, this initiative successfully diversified local economies and delivered real downstream economic benefits to the province. Strategic investments have targeted a wide range of economic activities, capitalizing on local opportunities in the areas of: community capacity building; innovative uses for value-added wood; new opportunities in manufacturing, technology, film and sport; tourism; and local economic infrastructure developments.
