Information shared by Community Partners included:

Brockville Economic Development - Dave Paul

• Community Improvement Program (Industrial Park + Canarm, Abbott & Trillium Health Care)
• Employment Survey
• Template re: all funding program (See Brockville Consortium webpage)
• Possible new packaging plant for Brockville
• Capital Corridor - Economic Summitt in Watertown
• Food Producers Biosphere - to promote selling of food from local producers
• Official Plan Update
• Immigration Launch
• Invista Training Centre
• National Geographic Tourism Charter Society
• Current Developments showing some solid signs of improvement in economy.
• dpaul@brockville.com

Employment & Education Centre

• Not-for-profit (25 yrs) that works directly with job seekers and employers.
• Help with career development, resumes, access funding, retraining & job seeking
• Also help with outplacement and all stages of the layoff process
• Help with HR functions - recruiting & selecting.
• See Brockville Member webpage for link to information re: Employer training Incentive Programs and infomration re: Service Canada's Work Share Programs - these include Summer Job Service, Job Connect & Targeted Wage Subsidy
• Laura Good - laura@eecentre.com

Ministry of Small Business & Consumer Services

• Chris Puddicombe attended to give members help and suggestions re: being successful in applying for funding aimed at manufacturers.
• chris.puddicombe@ontario.ca

SMART Program - http://www.cme-smart.ca/

Eastern Ontario development Fund - http://www.ontariocanada.com/ontcan/en/eodf_main_en.jsp

Export Market Access Program - http://exportaccess.ca/index/shtml

Yves Landry Foundation - Achieving Innovation & Manufacturing Excellence - http://www.yveslandryfoundation.com

Member Discussion continued regarding the following programs being used:

• SR&ED (Note Ross Cooper, EMC added his perspective to the discussion)
• SMART Program to expand & develop a new product; focus on productivity gains
• EODFund
• Yves Landry application (skills development)
• Export Market Access - now will accept $ for US trade shows as long as it is a NEW market for the company.

Major challenge for members is trying to find time to put the application together.