ARDN has led nine initiatives of value to multiple stakeholders. These include projects where ARDN partnered directly with a community group or requested proposals from its post-secondary members. If you have any questions about the following projects, please contact Operations Manager Joy Vonk.

Alberta HUB Regional Development Workshop

Economic development decision makers and the business community attended the workshop to focus on strategies to promote opportunities and build partnerships. The workshop addressed community development, marketing, promotion, collaboration, and other issues that can come up when communities are formulating development and marketing strategies.

Collaborative Partners: Alberta HUB, the North West Enterprise Region, Community Futures Lloydminster and Region, Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce, City of Lloydminster, Northern Alberta Development Council, Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, The Business Link, Economic Developers Alberta,Vermilion River Regional Alliance

Campus Alberta Needs Assessment Challenge Solution Analysis

This analysis is focused on the work of Alberta’s Comprehensive Community Institutions (CCIs) and the challenges they face in regards to rural education needs assessments. The project will determine what would be required to develop a needs assessment tool and process, strongly supported by technology, that can be used province-wide by multiple organizations to determine learning needs of individuals, business and communities, thereby providing a tool that solves some of the challenges facing the CCIs. It will be made available to the entire post-secondary system in Alberta.

ARDN Partners: Bow Valley College, NorQuest College, Lethbridge College, Red Deer College, Olds College

Community-Engaged Rural Learning Initiative (CERLI)

CERLI is a partnership between the Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN), its member post-secondary institutions, and several Alberta’s community-based organizations created with the intent to help connect post-secondary students, placement coordinators and leaders, and host rural communities with one another.

ARDN Partners: University of Alberta, University of Calgary
Collaborative Partners: Community Futures Network of Alberta, Alberta Municipal Affairs, Le Conseil de developpement economique de l’Alberta and Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry (CiRCLe M), Volunteer Alberta, Covenant Health

Facilitating Business Cluster Development Learning Event

ARDN partnered with Community Futures Network of Alberta, whose primary focus is the economic diversification of rural Alberta communities to reduce economic vulnerability and instigate long term sustainability, to produce an event called Cluster Week, April 4-8, 2011. Clusters are a successful strategy for the diversification of rural communities and it is a concept utilized in many developed and developing countries around the world. The event provided awareness and knowledge of a practical economic development strategy, empowered existing businesses to pursue growth opportunities by working together as a business cluster, and provided a forum for increased partnerships between businesses, post-secondary institutions, economic development organizations and industry associations.

Collaborative Partners: Community Futures Network of Alberta

From Policy to Research and Back Again...1st Annual Rural Research Workshop

The national workshop aimed to foster networking among rural researchers and provided a forum for rural research and policy discourse. Topics included: place-based policy; tourism support for rural community development; measuring social capital; planning for rural health; renewable energy technologies; food security in rural First Nation communities; e-governance and community decision-making; and changing paradigms in agricultural policy. ARDN’s investment helped organize the event and provided speakers the opportunity to attend and present at the conference.

ARDN Partners: Bow Valley College, University of Alberta
Collaborative Partners: Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, Canadian Community Economic Development Network, Community Futures Network of Alberta, University of the Highlands and Islands Centre for Remote and Rural Studies, University of Northern British Columbia

Snapshot of the Virtual Education Landscape in Alberta

Complementary to a larger project funded by Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, this project will contribute a snapshot of virtual education in Alberta and help further the main project’s goals: enhance regional stewardship and further develop credit and non-credit program opportunities in Alberta communities; leverage the power of videoconferencing; increase resident capacity in target communities; and create a clear pathway for learners to access post-secondary institutions.

ARDN Partners: Lethbridge College
Collaborative Partners: iCCAN (Innovative Communities Connecting and Networking), Comprehensive Community Institutions, Community Learning Network, Literacy Alberta, Volunteer Alberta

Sturgeon River Watershed Study

A result of ARDN’s Rural Needs and Priorities Assessment Workshop, this study will ask: how do citizens understand and relate to their watershed; what do citizens understand to be the principle challenges and opportunities for watershed management; and what avenues for watershed research do citizens view as most pressing and most productive? The outcomes of finding the answers to these questions include: improvements in the quality of information available to researchers, policy-makers, and others in this field; improved connections within and between communities in the watershed network (social capital); and greater engagement of local citizens and communities in watershed research.

ARDN Partners: NAIT
Collaborative Partners: North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance, Alberta Association of Colleges and Technical Institues, JR Golf Course, City of St. Albert, Sturgeon County, Lafarge, ALS Laboratory Services, Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, Alberta Environment and Department of Justice

What Makes Rural Alberta Communities Successful – Water Management

A result of ARDN’s Rural Needs and Priorities Assessment Workshop, this project seeks to identify, synthesize and categorize the multiple strategies and initiatives that have been undertaken within the province to reconcile the pressures of economic and population growth with issues of water supply and policy. Since there is concern for the effects of a changing climate and demand for more water, it is important to Alberta’s communities to increase their knowledge about the effects, costs and scope of different programs, policies, interventions and strategies that have been undertaken to manage water supply and demand.

ARDN Partners: University of Alberta, Augustana Campus
Collaborative Partners: Sustainability Resources Ltd.

Young Adult Photovoice Exhibit

During this 10 week project, young adults between 18 and 35 learned photography skills, shared photographs taken in the community and discussed the life of young adults in rural Alberta. The project culminated in a photo exhibit, attended by residents, local politicians, members of various organizations, employers and government agencies. It created awareness of issues and opportunities facing young people in rural communities and allowed the youth to establish a voice in the community’s grassroots organizations.

ARDN Partners: Alberta College of Art + Design
Collaborative Partners: St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Pipestone Community Association, Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry (CiRCLe M)
Article in Curb Magazine: Arts and Culture - A Rural Perspective