Panel to discuss success of rural projects

A panel of organization and project leaders will speak about their work in rural communities at an upcoming gathering in Truro.

e Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia is hosting a public panel discussion during their annual general meeting to showcase local projects they’ve supported throughout the last year.

“We had a grant program called the Rural Vitality Grant last year after getting some support from the Committee Foundations of Canada,” said Arthur Bull, chair of the RCF.

“ e grants we gave out went to some really extraordinary projects that were going on, so we kind of wanted to celebrate that.”

e AGM and panel will be held on ursday, May 31 from 1-3 p.m. in the Forrester Hall lecture theatre at NSCC in Truro.

e panel will include speakers from local organizations that benefited from the support of the RCF and have gone on to create successful rural projects such as Levi Cliche of the Clean Annapolis Valley River Project Society, Bob Cervelli and Andy Horsnell of e Centre for Local Prosperity, and Brennan Googoo of Ulnoowig Development Group.

“ ere is a lot of really exciting, innovative work happening at the local level in rural Nova Scotia,” said Bull.

“You always hear about the problems of migration, lack of resources and aging demographic, but who’s actually dealing with these problems are these local organization. ey’re coming up with new solutions with almost no resources.”

Before the panelists speak, a short lm created around each project or organization will showcase their e orts.

After the presentations, a question-and-answer period will be held, allowing the public to raise questions and create discussion with panelists on the topic of rural vitality and the betterment of rural Nova Scotian communities.

“One of the messages we want to get out to rural communities in Nova Scotia is the Rural Communities Foundation is their foundation,” said Bull.

“It’s really about their communities, and we are just there to follow them. We need to do a better job of getting that message out and letting people know there is a foundation to serve those communities.”