This is a new monthly column that will be appearing the Truro Daily News, and I’d like to start off by saying it’s nice to be back after a long absence. I was a reporter for this paper back in the mid-1990’s and have either been a writer or writer-broadcaster all of my adult life. At the very least, you could call me a professional communicator, and some people have called me other things, which I won’t repeat here. Is this where I insert the annoying LOL? Times have changed, but it’s important to know how we got to where we are. Starting next month, this column will begin to chronicle the positive changes taking place in the Truro-Colchester Region. I am the Marketing and Communications Director for the Colchester Regional Development Agency, and we refer to this area as a “region” because that’s really what it is. Colchester can’t exist without Truro, and Truro can’t exist without Colchester and Stewiacke. That said, I’d like to tell you how this agency came to exist. CoRDA, as it’s known locally, began in 1992 as a municipally-funded economic development organization thanks to the foresightedness of the towns of Truro and Stewiacke, and the County of Colchester. Truro Mayor Bill Mills told me recently that CoRDA “put forth the regional point of view right from the beginning.” The mayor says it was a very innovative move which placed the Truro-Colchester region ahead of most of the province. He points out that whether it’s been economic or community development, CoRDA has been able to pull the two issues together, and unite its three main municipalities. He says that’s even more important, now that the world has become so economically competitive. The current Executive Director of CoRDA is Jo Ann Fewer. Fewer wasn’t working here in 1992, but is originally from this area, and remembers thinking that before CoRDA, it was unfair that other areas of the Atlantic Region were given access to federal funding for what were then known as “Community Futures” programs. But she says when she saw the three key municipal units in Colchester coming together to create CoRDA, she knew it was an idea that could work. It worked partly because of the attitudes of the people leading the charge, and partly because it showed the provincial government and Ottawa that at least some parts of Nova Scotia were capable of new and progressive ideas. Truro, Stewiacke and Colchester were forging ahead without any official funding from the Province or Ottawa, but the two higher levels of government were indeed paying attention. As a result, the two levels of government became convinced that all areas of Nova Scotia deserved equal treatment, and just two years later, in 1994, they decided to cost-share RDA’s province-wide. Their mandates were to provide economic and community growth for Nova Scotians, and RDA’s essentially became one-third municipal and one-third provincially-funded, with the final one-third of their funding coming from Ottawa. The federal and provincial governments set up an agreement that said “let’s fund these things provided the municipalities come on board,” says Fewer. She says that within the Atlantic Region, Nova Scotia was the only province where agencies like CoRDA were cost-shared equally. Although she point out, that has slowly begun to change in Newfoundland and New Brunswick.
The real purpose of CoRDA and this province’s 12 other RDA’s is to bring about new business ideas, business creation and therefore job creation to Nova Scotia’s regions. For CoRDA, that purpose has now branched out into immigration, business training, so-called “green” sustainable business development and a host of other services, including the recently added, “Destination Colchester”, which I’ll talk about in next month’s column. CoRDA’s mission statement is this: CoRDA will drive sustainable economic growth, creating healthy communities, prosperous business and opportunity for our citizens.” In the months ahead, I’ll bring you specific examples of how CoRDA is doing that, creating opportunities, dignity and wealth, one job at a time. Until next month, take care of yourselves. Alan Johnson is Director of Marketing and Communications for the Colchester Regional Development Agency. His column will appear in this space each month. He can be reached by using ajohnson@corda.ca
(This column appears monthly in The Truro Daily News - www.trurodaily.com) |