Partnerships and economic diversification are key areas of focus for the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP), said its new executive director.
Kimberley Worthington has held the position for five months and has been travelling across the region to meet with member municipalities. She was in Innisfail on Jan. 11 and spoke with council members about the non-profit organization.
“I wanted to understand what's working in the communities, what's not working so well and how we could work better together,” said Worthington.
The economic partnership is one of eleven regional economic development alliances across the province known as REDAs said Worthington, pointing out several member municipalities in CAEP, including Innisfail, Red Deer, Red Deer County, Penhold, Mountain View County, Carstairs, Olds, Sylvan Lake and Rocky Mountain House to name a few.
“In 2014 the government of Alberta went through a REDA renewal process,” said Worthington, adding that funding for CAEP is in place for the next five years. “We're funded in part by the government of Alberta and we're funded in part by our member municipalities.”
Worthington noted a couple of projects that the non-profit organization is currently working on.
“We're doing a tourism investment opportunity assessment, which is an opportunity to identify tourism products that might be ready to go to the market in one to three years,” explained Worthington. “To build up regions' capacity to host tourists and to build that industry.”
Another project is called ‘Invest Central Alberta', and although it is in the early development stages, it will be used to attract more investment to the region.
“It's a commercial and industrial real estate mapping software application,” she said. “It helps realtors do their jobs better and enables them to put their product on a third party website, which comes with a number of reports,” she added, noting that it makes it easier for investors to see Central Alberta. “It puts Central Alberta on the global map.”
In her short time as executive director of CAEP, Worthington said she has been welcomed by members and has received positive feedback about the projects that CAEP is working on and the direction the organization is moving in.
“Member municipalities are very happy I'm taking an interest in what they have and what they do,” she said, noting a long-term strategic planning session with the CAEP board of directors planned for early February.
In addition, Worthington said CAEP is looking to improve in areas and various components of the organization to find efficiencies and improve their overall effectiveness.
“The other key thing we'll be looking at (at the strategic session in early February) will be how do we be relevant, viable and sustainable into the future,” she said, noting that economic diversification and creating resilient communities are also focuses for CAEP.
“So that (communities are) more resilient to the swing of our primary economic driver of oil and gas, and creating more partnerships so that we can grow stronger together,” she concluded.
