Who can apply

You can only apply if you’re a community-based economic development organization (EDO) that applies on behalf of a community, like:

• a Community Futures organization
• an independent or not-for-profit economic development organization
• a community organization with an independent board of directors made up of different community stakeholders
• a Chamber of Commerce
• a regional economic development organization with local presence in the community

Some EDOs represent a cluster of communities. You can apply for a cluster, but you can’t:

• be in Quebec
• apply for separate communities spread over a large geographic area (like a province or territory)

What kind of communities can apply

To participate in either pilot, your community must

Communities in Quebec can’t apply to either pilot.

How we score community applications

If you meet the geographic criteria, we’ll score your application based on how well you meet the economic, settlement and administrative criteria.

Economy

Your community’s economy must have:

• a shortage in identified sectors and occupations
• jobs that can’t be filled by Canadians or permanent residents of Canada
• an overall growing economy

Settlement

Your community needs to be able to welcome and settle newcomers with:

• health care, housing and educational facilities
• settlement organizations and services

Administrative experience and capacity

You need to show your community has:

•  funding from external sources to participate
  • We won’t give your community money to participate in these pilots.
• experience with other multi-year initiatives
• experience with initiatives aimed at attracting, settling or retaining newcomers

Additional requirements for the Francophone pilot

If you apply for the Francophone pilot, you must meet all the requirements above and demonstrate that your community:

• is a Francophone minority community
  What’s a Francophone minority community?

  This is a community that has:
  at least one school where the primary language of instruction is French
  a Francophone population (of any size)
  community organizations and services (like education and healthcare) in French

• has settlement services and organizations available in French
• can administer the pilot in French