Provide Input into Brantford’s Economic Development Strategy 

You are invited to participate in a Community Workshop – one of the first steps towards the development of the City of Brantford’s Economic Development Strategy.

June 12, 2009

Scheduled for June 24, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. at the Brantford & District Civic Centre Auditorium, this workshop is a fundamental part of preparing a long term, durable plan for economic development in our community, which is critical in planning for our City’s future success as it grows over the next 6 – 15 years. In order for Brantford’s new Economic Development Strategy to succeed, it must reflect the values and goals of the residents and business stake-holders that comprise our city, which is why your attendance at this workshop is so important.

In addition to this initial community workshop, the City will be implementing a variety of consultation techniques in the upcoming months, including one-on-one consultations, telephone consultations, focus groups, public information sessions, and online correspondence.

Building on “Shaping our Future,” the City of Brantford’s community strategic plan, the new Economic Development Strategy will provide concrete direction for the economic development and sustainability of our community for the next five years. And the push is on to get this done. With the City’s provincial designation as an Urban Growth Centre comes the projection that our community can expect continued levels of high, accelerated growth over the long term. In light of this projected growth, economic development planning at the local level is required to best prepare and position the City to handle the impacts of growth, changing policies and other external factors. Once complete, this new strategy will provide clear direction for the City’s Economic Development Department, outlining resources needed to meet the needs of the community, and acting as an overall plan as to how to proceed in the upcoming years.

To get an idea of how this process works, please read the plan overview below. For more information about this workshop or anything else regarding the new Economic Development Strategy, please email the Economic Development & Tourism Department at ourbrantford@brantford.ca.

Plan Overview:

The project is comprised of six major components:
The completion of a comprehensive Community Profile that takes into account historical, current and future trends;

  • The completion of a comprehensive five (5) year Economic Development Strategy for the City of Brantford that includes short, mid and long-term goals based on a Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats Analysis (SWOT) approach. This should include clear direction for Economic Development organization, activities and the allocation of resources. In addition, this would include a detailed implementation/action plan that clearly defines the necessary steps for comprehensive economic development programming/work plans;
  • Analysis of Industrial Land Development Strategy and recommendations for future direction;
  • Identification of positioning statements for priority sectors that will form part of the marketing messaging;
  • Validation of current delivery model or recommended changes to implement strategy; and,
  • Provision of a system for performance measures for all identified actions and strategies recommended.