July 2017 marked the start of one of the worst wildfires in B.C.’s history, destroying more than 1.2 million hectares of land and leading to the declaration of a province-wide state of emergency that lasted a record-breaking 10 weeks.
The wildfires had a devastating economic impact on communities in rural British Columbia, particularly the small businesses and Indigenous communities in the corridor stretching from just north of Hope to Quesnel and west along Highway 20 to Hanceville.
The three Community Futures organizations based in the region that was hardest hit were quick to respond. They first reached out to their existing clients, assessing their immediate situations and offering financial assistance in the form of loans with relaxed terms.
Then, working in collaboration with their provincial association, they developed an ambitious plan to help small businesses and Indigenous communities recover from the impact of the wildfires – a three-pronged approach that included outreach, financial support, and training. Business outreach workers were hired and worked one-on-one with business owners to assess the impact of the wildfires on their operations, access the type of support they needed, and gain a better understanding of their longer-term needs.
In the end, Community Futures was successful in leveraging $3.2 million from Western Economic Diversification, Northern Development Initiative Trust, the Cariboo Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition, and the Canadian Red Cross, enabling them to provide assistance to more than 4,100 small and medium sized businesses over the period October 2017 to December 2019.
Established more than 30 years ago, Community Futures is a federally funded, not-for-profit, community economic development program that provides access to capital and support for small and medium-sized businesses in rural communities.
Whalebone Productions Ltd. was approached by Community Futures British Columbia to manage and provide communications services for the Community Futures organizations involved in the initiative, including the development of marketing and promotional material, press releases, success stories, and presentations as well as maintaining and updating the project’s web pages: https://www.communityfutures.ca/wildfire-business-transition-project-news/
As part of the project, we produced a series of four videos and a highlight reel documenting the support that Community Futures and Western Economic Diversification provided to small businesses and Indigenous communities that were impacted by the 2017 wildfires:
PART 1 provides an overview of how the project came together: https://youtu.be/737d2SkgO4A
PART 2 focuses on the work of the Business Ambassadors and Outreach Workers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3I-ovOey_E
PART 3 looks at some of the businesses that were assisted and the help they received from the Community Futures organizations in their region:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgIz0PBuIC4
PART 4 focuses on the work accomplished by the Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Interior First Nations (CIFN) to assist Indigenous communities that were impacted by the 2017 wildfires: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCoOucfHcTw
HIGHLIGHT REEL: https://youtu.be/FnvrRhco1g4