Island Economic Coastal Trust celebrating 10 years of giving away $50 million
Thus far, it has used $48.6 million in seed money to leverage an additional $224.5 million in public and private investment to enable 134 projects in 52 local communities north of the Malahat.
The trust marked its 10th anniversary June 16 with a celebration at the Deep Bay Marine Field Station near Courtenay with a feeling of satisfaction that it has helped communities grow, learn and succeed.
“The credit goes to all the communities and people who brought great ideas,” ICET chairman Phil Kent said. If they made a good case, ICET would then pledge funds tied to the amount of money proponents could gather from other sources.
A good recent example would be the new suspension bridge at Elk Falls Provincial Park near Campbell River.
The local Rotary Club decided it would be a great idea to build a bridge hanging 60 metres above the canyon and attract new visitors to what BC Parks considered an under-utilized asset.
Working with ICET to help make it happen, Rotary added the resources of BC Hydro, BC Parks, and the West Coast Community Adjustment program to its own building and fundraising acumen to give birth to a new $2.7 million Vancouver Island attraction.
The park traditionally attracted about 70,000 visitors annually. The process helped the applicants develop and build capacity.
“Typically with the government it’s like entering a lottery and you never get any feedback,” Kent said.
By setting a goal that each project would move forward with at least 25 per cent non-government money, it also taught how important it is to collaborate and build ties within and between communities.
Part of the fund’s mandate was to focus on projects that would benefit the entire region.
Some of those projects focused on tangible amenities: the Nanaimo Airport expansion, the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet, the Deep Bay harbour expansion and the restoration of Shawinigan Lake’s historic Kinsol Trestle are examples.
Other projects were more about adding to the knowledge base: these include the Vancouver Island Economic Summit, a variety of community economic development reports, a regional marketing plan for boating tourism, an agricultural show, a youth retention study.
And communities are reaping the benefits. Tourism has also been the biggest beneficiary over its existence, at 43 per cent, with transportation second at 36 per cent, followed by aquaculture (7), economic development (5), forestry (3) and small business (3).
But it has also recently put a fair amount of emphasis on projects aimed at creating economic readiness plans in smaller, more remote communities that typically don’t have resources to develop those on their own.
“It has been very challenging for small communities to access economic development funding from senior levels of government. Funding programs target larger projects or sectors which may not exist in smaller communities or do not align with their priorities,” the trust’s annual report for 2015 reads.
“The result is that small communities have been increasingly shut out of public economic development funding opportunities and are challenged to develop the economic initiatives and amenities required to attract new residents and investment.”
The amount of funding ICET has been able to leverage has dropped off significantly during the past five years, only surpassing $3 per $1 invested once in that span, while averaging $4.6 over its entire existence.