Lac La Biche County

Funding and Development Opportunities

Mountain View County Grants and Funding

Province of Alberta Small Business Resources/ Funding Opportunities

Government of Canada Business Grants and Financing  

The following are up-to-date opportunities available for local businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and other interested parties. If you need further information on any of the below, please contact Economic Development for assistance by email at: ecdev@mvcounty.com.

1. Alberta Community Partnership Funding Program: Deadlines Vary
    Projects supporting new or enhanced regional approaches to municipal service delivery are eligible under the Intermunicipal Collaboration component. Provincial priorities include investment attraction, job creation, efficient public service delivery, and emergency management and disaster mitigation. Regional partners may choose to explore regional development and planning, shared service delivery, economic development and growth, emergency preparedness and planning, emergency response, disaster mitigation, and other related projects.
   
   
2. Canada Public Transit Fund – Baseline: Expression of Interest Closes Sept. 16
    This funding stream focuses on capital and non-capital investments (i.e. planning projects) for public transit or active transportation infrastructure. Investments may include:
   
   
   • Public transit infrastructure – plans to expand, rehabilitate or replace parts of an existing public transit system. i.e. expanding bus fleet, retrofitting subway stations, or constructing new tram lines.
   • Active transportation infrastructure – plans to expand, rehabilitate or replace infrastructure, such as bike or walking paths and pedestrian bridges.
     
     
3. FCM Green Municipal Fund:  Grants are available for planning, studies, and pilot projects. Loans are available for capital projects, and most recipients receive an additional grant of up to 15% of their loan amount. 
   • Green Municipal Fund - Tree Planting: Closes Oct. 15
   • Capital project: Construction of new sustainable municipal and community buildings: Open
   • Study: New construction of municipal and community buildings: Open
   • Capital project - Organic Waste-to-Energy: Open
   • Study: Organic Waste-to-Energy: Open
     
     
4. UFA Agriculture Community Foundation Grant: Closes Aug. 31 
   Communities may apply for a minimum of $10,000, up to a total of $100,000 for projects supporting recreational, educational, and cultural facilities and programs.
   
   
5. Small Business Peer Support – Application deadline is Aug. 23
   Free 4-week program that offers entrepreneurs that have been in business for 1 -to 5 years with a strong support network in which to share challenges and brainstorm solutions.
   
   
6. Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC) survey - ManufacturingGPS: A Roadmap to Growth for Alberta Manufacturers.
   This project will create a resource with information and benchmarking tools for the manufacturing sector. Please share the survey link with local manufacturers and contact cmessaros@emccanada.org for additional information.
   
   
7. Learning Opportunities:
    - Regional Synergies: FREE Webinar at 10 AM on Aug. 16
   - Catalyst Incubator: FREE program for aspiring entrepreneurs & start-ups in manufacturing, AG, Tech, energy innovation & more.
   - Creating short videos for Tik Tok: FREE webinar via Business Link at 11 AM on Aug. 15
   - Shielding Your Business from Risk: FREE webinar via Business Link at Noon on Aug. 14
   - Fall 2024 online Community Development offerings: Numerous free sessions on Strategic Planning, Grant writing, Facilitation, Board Governance, and more.
   
   
8. Ec. Dev. Emergency Resources:
   
   
   • GoA Emergency preparedness, disaster response and public safety
   • EDA Community Economic Resilience (CER)
   • RestoreYourEconomy: info related to economic recovery from natural disasters and COVID-19. Produced by International Economic Development Council (IEDC).
   • Local Economic Recovery & Restart Toolkit: 
   • Business Link – Business Continuity Plan
   • ACC Building Business Resiliency: Resources to help Alberta businesses respond and adapt to disruptions affecting operations, people, assets, or reputation.
   • CFIB Emergency preparedness: the five things you need to do
     
     
9. Statistics Canada New Interactive Dashboards for Rural and Small Town Canada
    Included are 5 dashboards: (1) the number and size of communities, (2) business counts, (3) business conditions, (4) trade, & (5) employment insurance beneficiaries.
   
   
10. Upcoming Events:
     - Alberta Open Farm Days: Aug. 17-18
    - Ponoka Connects Regional Job Fair: Aug. 22
    - Women Leading Change: Hosted by the Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 17
    - Opportunities in the Chinese Market for Manufacturers: Sept. 26 at Noon - Save the date, registration link coming soon!
    - EDAC 2024 Conference: Sept. 30 - Oct 3, Edmonton
    - EDA / Invest Alberta Stakeholder Roundtable: Oct. 2, Edmonton
     - Rural Community Health Provider Attraction & Retention Conference: Oct. 8-10 Early Bird Registration until July 1!
    - Power Up North 2024 – Oct. 8-10 in Lac La Biche (see attached)
    - International Markets Events
     - Lacombe Job Fair on Sept. 12 (see attached)
    - Central Alberta Job Fair: Sept. 11