Economic/tourism accomplishments from 2022 from the committees that spearhead Whitecourt’s interests

On a semi-annual basis, the Economic Development Committee provides a report to Whitecourt Town Council to keep them in the loop on the group’s priorities, initiatives and completed activities. The Town’s Economic Development Officer, Rhonda Woods, shared the report at a recent Council meeting.

One of the main objectives of the Economic Development Committee is to develop strategies to help support local businesses, investors, developers, organizations, and stakeholders. The committee focuses on business retention and attraction, growing and maintaining relationships, actively participating in events and initiatives with community organizations, supporting tourism development locally with deeply rooted collaboration efforts, and helping show why Whitecourt is a great place to be.

Looking back at 2022, the committee checked off boxes for numerous action items, including updating the Business Directory and marketing the benefits of being part of it and launching “The Collective” co-working space pilot project, a partnership with Community Futures Yellowhead East. “The collective co-working space has been quite successful. There have been 12 new entrepreneurs or businesses using the space, so that’s exciting. We are expecting it to pick up for this year,” said Woods. She noted that repeat clients have booked in February and again this month.

Business visitations are another big part of their retention efforts. Visitations are done in collaboration with the Whitecourt & District Chamber of Commerce and the Alberta Government or by the Economic Development team alone. “Throughout 2022, we had close to 20 joint visits and 127 independent visits. Those visits are site visits where we are going out to businesses but also when businesses are coming to see us,” explained Woods.

Website updates to www.whitecourt.ca include extensive support for businesses. Woods said they compiled business feedback to create it. “Any new businesses that are coming in, it’s a quick, step-by-step platform for them to use to be able to develop those networks and resources that they need.” The “Starting a Business” page on the Town’s website provides a drop-down list of 14 steps for entrepreneurs. It starts with creating a business plan and ends with hiring employees. By keeping the resources together in one neat, tidy package, those with dreams of starting a business are given what they need to get the ball rolling.

Creating and maintaining a database of available commercial land/buildings in Whitecourt is another “check off” item on the list, as was meeting with local commercial realtors to ensure that developments met zoning and bylaw requirements and making sure that pertinent information was shared. The committee also looked into business licensing and what that could look like in Whitecourt if initiated, along with any benefits.

Items on the list that are still ongoing include exploring opportunities with industry and post-secondary institutions. Woods explained that they created a working group which included members from industry, training support organizations, and post-secondary institutions to help identify synergies between a growing labour force and the skilled workforce it requires. She said they are actively looking for post-secondary institutions that might be interested in moving to Whitecourt or finding opportunities to have training/trades offered locally, helping to create a homegrown workforce.

Another topic touched on in the report was the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program. Whitecourt is recognized as a designated community under the Rural Renewal Stream and Entrepreneur Steam. Both offer support for employers seeking to meet labour demands and attract entrepreneurs to bring their skills to Whitecourt. “If there’s a business abroad looking at coming into the community, they can reach out to us. We provide virtual tours and sell the community and set them up with locations and walk them through the process. We had five community tours and five support letters that were provided,” explained Woods. She said she is excited to see what comes of it.

A strong relationship with the Chamber of Commerce is another key to economic development in the municipality. Last year, Whitecourt was a platinum member and supported the Economic Forum, Shop Local Campaigns and the Whitecourt Bucks Program. “People loved to see the Whitecourt Bucks and be able to spend that back in the community. So, that was another highlight for our retention.” Woods said that retention is an essential focus for the committee.

Promoting Whitecourt and showcasing what the community offers grew on social media last year. New community videos launched and on the Town of Whitecourt’s YouTube page. “We took an Economic Development spin on four videos and did tourism on the other three. For the tourism ones, we worked with regional partners across Alberta everywhere, from Grande Prairie to Edmonton and Jasper. We applied for some grants for Travel Alberta and were successful in three of those,” explained Woods. Councillor Derek Schlosser commended the group on a job well done. He said the videos were professional and encouraged people to check them out.

“We worked with a number of micro-influencers like our Ski North Campaign and ZenSeekers. If you’ve seen them online, they have a ton of followers. We had over two million hits and a hundred thousand shares between all our campaigns, and that’s huge for a small community,” said Woods. Council will receive another update in the summer/fall to see what the committee accomplished in the first half of 2023.