This year has been one of both challenges and successes for our community.  We have been faced with uncertainty around our local economy, as we faced wildfires, labour disputes that threaten our transportation networks, and province-wide issues that preclude meaningful growth for Nakusp and our region.  Responding to these challenges, the Nakusp and Area Development Board (NADB) (https://nadb.ca/) has been pursuing solutions with its committed volunteer board and professional staff, supported by our partners: the Village of Nakusp, RDCK Area K, Columbia Basin Trust, and the Province of BC, through the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior and the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program.

NADB’s Agriculture Committee has been working towards reviving our agriculture sector.  We have created the free-to-use marketing initiative and online directory for local producers, Grow Arrow Lakes (https://nadb.ca/growarrowlakes/), and we will soon release an updated version of our local food guide.  We have supported the Harvest ‘n’ Heritage Fair for its second year running, managing the Blue Ribbon Contest and sponsoring the farm animal display.  We are also excited about bringing the renowned Basin Food and Buyers Expo & Forum here to Nakusp (https://basinfood.ca/), October 24-26.  This will be an excellent opportunity to showcase our local agricultural businesses and facilitate further investment in this sector.

We continue to offer a free business advisory service to local organizations, from help with marketing to cash-flow management to strategic planning and everything in between.  We have been focusing on promoting local businesses by creating profiles for social media as well as developing training sessions to address skills-gaps identified by our business advisor.  If you would like to be featured in one of our profiles, please contact Kristina at kristina@nadb.ca.

We have been further solidifying our partnership with the Village of Nakusp by pursuing advocacy with the Provincial government on better reliability and communications connectivity for our inland ferries as well as working behind the scenes to find leveraged funding for the implementation of the Signage and Wayfinding Plan we developed late last year.  We hope to have funding commitments secured this Fall.  Maintaining a positive working relationship with the Village allows us to work towards achieving their strategic priorities that they don’t have the capacity to pursue.

Underpinning many of the challenges faced by our community is the exigent issue of the lack of available housing.  Earlier this year, we created the Upper Arrow Housing Society (https://nadb.ca/upper-arrow-housing-society/), and we have several projects underway to help to address the shortage in workforce housing for our community.  Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with ideas or opportunities at aidan@nadb.ca.  Stay tuned for exciting news in the coming months.

Despite the headwinds that our community, our residents, and our local small businesses face, through the great work being done by local organizations like NADB, we can confidently say we are doing the work of preparing for and embracing the future of our community.  Please keep up the good work and thank you for your attention and support.