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.

Community Futures Development Corporation of North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin's mission is to assist business and promote economic development.

This year we adopted a new slogan, "Community Futures - working together to create jobs." It's simple, it’s catchy and it’s true.

With financial assistance from the Government of Canada, Community Futures can and does help create jobs. We can't do it on our own but by working together with and through small business and by assisting other community initiatives, together we can and do create jobs.

We're proud of what we do and the resources we provide for our community and we're proud of our community partners who help to make us successful.

2010 has been a year of challenge.

A year of great loss. A year of success and a year of completion.

When we lost Dennis LeFeuvre, we lost a great friend, a community champion, a valued Community Futures Director and our vice chair. Dennis will always be remembered and deeply missed.

This year, we took the opportunity to honour our business partners, the ones who are taking the real risks, enjoying the success and creating the new jobs in our communities.

We selected and honoured Cosby's Small Engine from Wollaston and Bosley Heating and Cooling from Tweed as our Businesses of the Year. We honoured George Offshack as Business Person of the Year for his tireless community service.

We started out 2010 with absolutely no investment dollars. In fact we had to borrow $250,000 from Kawartha Lakes CFDC. Through a $1,000,000 Community adjustment Fund grant, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario came to our rescue. Last year we were able to approve 32 new loans worth $2,078,868 which maintained or created 116 jobs. At the end of the year, we had a total of 182 loans worth $9,012,465.45 to area businesses.

Through the Ontario Self Employment Benefit Program, we helped 12 people create their own businesses.

We counselled 38 businesses who are not loan clients and offered support to the Enterprise Facilitator program as well.

We borrowed money from the Scotia Bank. We used that to solve accessibility issues in the Community Futures office. We added a new entrance ramp, automatic door and accessible washrooms. We reconfigured the existing building to better accommodate client access and added a new Board room that we've needed for years. .

With financial assistance from the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Community Futures has assisted 83 projects under the Eastern Ontario Development Program. Thank you community champions, without you and your energy and commitment these 83 projects may not have happened.

We worked closely with both ComfortCountry and the North Hastings Economic Development Committee to serve the greater communities. Some of the more notable projects we partnered on were North Hastings Branding, Premier Ranked Tourism, North Hastings Downtown Revitalization, Building Bancroft and Biomass Cogeneration.

We along with the other 14 Eastern Ontario CFDCs, the Warden's Caucus and our MP successfully advocated for the renewal of the Eastern Ontario Development Program which was included in the recently announced Federal budget. We're looking forward to the renewal of the program when the election is settled.

We built productive working relationships between businesses and organizations to the Moneison Business Centre at Queen's University.

We opened our building, offering office space to Hastings County's Economic Development Manager, to Volunteer Information Quinte, and to the development & implementation of the North Hastings Cultural Plan,

We delivered or helped deliver a series of workshops in each of North and Central Hastings on subjects from the Harmonized Sales Tax to Social Media, Building Websites, Marketing, Special Events, Networking, and Board Governance.

We serve our communities well "working together to create jobs" and build a stronger more sustainable self-reliant community.

I am proud to serve as chair again for this amazing organization.

Rob Price

Chair of the Board