Message from the Chair

Community Futures Development Corporation of North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin was formed as a not for profit corporation August 30 1995.

Community Futures serves an area of 5,442 sq. km. encompassing 12 incorporated municipalities. 2006 census figures listed the population at 29,000 seasonally adjusted to approximately 42,000.

With financial assistance from the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Community Futures offers a variety of products and services to promote small business growth and community economic development

I feel honoured to be the chair of the Community Futures Development Corporation and work with all of you. I joined the Board in 2002 and like most of you, I can't help myself, I admit it, I enjoy volunteering and particularly when volunteering leads to success. Each of us, as volunteers like to feel that our contribution of time and energy and commitment counts.

As you know, Community Futures Development Corporation of North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin's mission is to assist business and promote economic development. We are very successful at what we do.

We are proud and have every right to be proud.

What makes it work and makes us successful is the Community Futures Team that we have built. The Team - Directors, Politicians, Community Partners and Staff all working for the betterment of our community is a very powerful and productive combination.

I am proud to extend thanks to our dedicated Board of Directors for their tireless efforts and community championship. Special thanks to their very understanding spouses.

Our grateful appreciation is extended to our MP Daryl Kramp for his help and for championing the Eastern Ontario Development Program.

And thank you to our unfailing Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario representative Nathan Martin for his support providing advice and keeping us on the path to greater and grander reporting.

Perhaps the largest credit that we can offer tonight goes to our community partners and our clients. Any jobs we create, any serious community impact and the economic development we help to create are created by working with and through small business and our community partners. They are the risk takers, the community champions.

2009 was our best year ever and at the same time our most challenging year. We started the year with a little money in the bank and expecting an average year for business investment. By the end of December we had loaned 244% more than the previous year. $3,664,318 in new loans or $4,844,472 including rewrites and facade improvement loans to a total of 62 businesses creating or maintaining 233 jobs. That is an incredible amount of business to conduct in any one year.

Even though the program was stopped in October of 2009, 18 Self Employment Benefit clients were introduced to self employment.

The major challenge last year arose from Community Futures trying to keep abreast of local community development opportunities while contending with greatly delayed Eastern Ontario Development Program funding. With the cooperation of our community partners and some creative financing we were able to meet the challenge and minimize the negative impact to most of our local projects.

Several CED projects have been extremely successful: Commercial Revitalization, Build Bancroft, numerous business seminars, skills development, Board Governance training, and our partnership with Queen's Moneison Business Centre in the Knowledge Impact in Society project to name a few.

We've had some success in turning some of our initiatives over to community partners - the Scenic Routes, Bancroft Concert Series and NorthHastings.com.

We are the Community Futures Development Corporation of North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin. As we embark on a new year, let us continue to work together to assist business and promote economic development.

Thank you all for the part you have played and the support you have offered.

Rob Price

Chairman