Prince George, B.C.- Northern Development Initiative Trust is making more money available  for  economic  development projects than it has ever offered before.

Last month,  the  NDIT Board of Directors decided to  increase the annual  grant allocation to 7% from 5%.  That means  there will be  $11.4 million dollars in grant money  available to local  governments, First Nations and non-profits throughout  the region this year.

NDIT CEO Janine North says the boost  is the result of  excellent  performance.  “We’ve had  8 strong steady years of earnings” says North “So we can move it up and still remain sustainable.”

She says  the time for increasing  funding couldn’t better as the North prepares for  boom times in resource extraction “Right now, look at the demands on northern airports,  ports,  communities,  everyone is under pressure to  start ramping up.”

Not only has the NDIT  decided to boost  annual grant funding, it is also making more dollars available to  communities this year:

• Annual funding to local governments from the Economic Development Capacity Building program has been increased to $50,000 from $35,000
• Annual funding to local governments and First Nations to support locally based grant writers has been increased to $8,000 from $7,500
• The percentage of community hall and recreation facility projects the Trust will fund, has been increased to 50% from 33% to a limit of $30,000