OLDS - Economic development efforts in Olds are getting a boost with nearly $400,000 in newly secured grants and partnerships.
The Town of Olds and its economic development department's office - Invest Olds – has secured about $388,000 in external grants, the majority of which are from the federal and provincial governments, the town’s chief administrative officer Brent Williams informed council recently.
Total federal funding will amount to $236,700 while provincial funding will amount to $124,950. Partnership funding in the amount of $26,500 is coming from Olds College, Mountain View County, Atco and Fortis.
“This will allow us to significantly expand over the next 24 months our Invest Olds portfolio, drive our economic development strategy and bring on the horsepower needed to try and do some really exciting things,” he said.
The municipality has just been awarded $75,000 through the province’s Northern and Regional Economic Development Program for a feasibility study for business retention, expansion and sector gap analysis.
The program provides up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs and applicants must be able to match the funding requested.
Mountain View County has already approved $10,000 in funding toward the project as its scope will extend outside of the town’s municipal boundaries in an effort to involve businesses located within the Olds catchment area, specifically Netook Crossing Business Park (east of Olds) and the Olds-Didsbury Airport.
Williams said he couldn’t divulge the exact sources of the rest of the $388,000 in grants yet but that they would be announced by early June, as some are "more formal in nature."
Plans for some of the money include increasing staff.
“In the coming weeks and months you will see Invest Olds bring on two-and-a-half (full-time equivalent) positions, so three people based on the new grant funding,” Williams said.
They will include a business development officer who will also be responsible for Mountain View Power, a digital services coordinator and a part-time second economic development officer.
The Town of Olds' economic development strategy, called Next Generation Economy Initiative, is underway and is being led by the Economic Development Action Committee.
