Prince George, B.C. – Northern Development Initiatives Trust has announced an expansion of its programs and funding to support the recovery of the community of Burns Lake.

 

The initiatives include  an expansion of the business programs so that retail and service sector businesses in Burns Lake are eligible for consulting assistance and loan guarantees over the next three years while industry makes decisions in the wake of the tragic explosion and fire which killed two people and destroyed the Hampton Affiliates sawmill   in January.

 

Northern Development Initiatives Trust CEO Janine North  says  the idea is to maintain the jobs within the retail and service sectors, although it is not readily known how many jobs are involved “We are going to work with the banks so businesses can readjust in a stable, structured way and wherever possible maintain those retail businesses in Burns Lake.”

 

The loan guarantees will be up to 25% of a loan to a maximum of $50 thousand dollars. “We have a loan guarantee program, we have never had a loss before” says Janine North “ We felt it was important in Burns Lake to extend it (the loan guarantee program) partially because the retail sector doesn’t have the mobility. Contractors in Burns Lake are able to move equipment to work for other mills in other communities. The retail sector is cement and bricks and positioned where they are.”

 

While there have been other communities throughout the north which have experienced serious economic downturns ( Mackenzie, Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert)   North says the Burns Lake situation is different “It is a very sudden and un-anticipated change in that economy. Burns Lake had been doing fairly well, businesses had fairly high inventories and this is a period of adjustment that may last two to three years until   industry makes some decisions and rebuilds the job base in that community.”

 

NDI Trust will also provide grant writer training and a maximum $75 thousand dollars for hiring   a maximum of 10 grant writers for the Burns Lake area. This will allow the area to develop applications for “shovel ready” projects which can be funded by government and other funding organizations. North says last year alone,  73 grant writers throughout the north applied for $62.6 million dollars in grants through 957 applications. It cost $1 million dollars to hire the grant writers but,  $19.3 million dollars in projects were approved and there are several others still pending. “It’s a way of giving the communities the capacity to help themselves” says North “In most of the small communities you only have a few staff and they just don’t have the time to search around and research the grant opportunities and if you have a dedicated grant writer, we will train them, we will help them research the money that’s out there with the provincial government, the federal  government , corporate foundations, community foundations and then they can be much more successful in having money flow into their community.”