The province has announced two new grant programs intended to help rural communities grow and adapt to change.
The Community Broadband Infrastructure Pilot Program and the Rural Community Adaptation Grant Program were launched last month with funding from Alberta’s $104-million share of the federal government’s Community Development Trust.
“Our two (programs) focus in two different areas, but both are responding to help rural communities,” said Ron Popek, spokesman for Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
The first initiative, the Community Broadband Infrastructure Pilot Program, provides $9 million in grant funding to bring high-speed Internet service to communities where it’s currently limited or does not exist.
“There are some gaps where communities, particularly in the rural and remote areas, simply cannot benefit from some of the infrastructure that’s in place, like the Alberta SuperNet,” Popek said. “They haven’t been able to attract service providers, so there is no high-speed broadband available.”
Municipalities, First Nations and Métis settlements, community groups and non-profit organizations can apply for grants ranging from $10,000 to $500,000 per project.
End-user distribution will not be eligible for grant funding, which is designated for the development of broadband infrastructure.
“We suspect that there will be different solutions, depending on what the community’s needs are,” Popek said.
“We’re leaving it up to the community itself to decide who are the best people who have the best capacity to come forward with a project.”
Similarly, the $15-million Rural Community Adaptation Program encourages communities to come up with its own answers to challenges like economic turbulence, migration, demographic changes and environmental issues like Mountain Pine Beatle infestation.
Grants can be used to support community-based programs that provide skills training, education, entrepreneurship and other initiatives that promote economic growth and diversification.
“It’s an attempt to build capacity in communities so they can help themselves,” Popek said.
The grant programs will operate for the next three years, expiring March 31, 2011.
Applications are available at www.rural.alberta.ca.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Alyssa Burnham
Quelle/Source: High River Times, 17.12.2008
