The City of Airdrie was honoured with an important award recently in Banff for developing Airdrie's 10 Year Economic Development Strategy. 

Airdrie Economic Development received an Award of Excellence in the Community Economic Development category.  The award was given to them by the Economic Developers of Alberta.

Airdrie Economic Development Officer Sara Chamberlain says the strategy was developed following a two-year process of consultation and engagement with businesses and residents who know Airdrie best.   It was approved by council and launched during Small Business Week in 2018.

Chamberlain says the department was very excited to receive the honour, explaining that it's always good to be recognized by people in the same profession as you.

"What they're really looking for is programs and initiatives that make a long term impact in the community and those that involve the community and its residents and businesses and projects that really endeavour to be best practices across Alberta and Canada.  So that's why we were really honoured to receive this award because it's an award from our peers for our work in economic development.  It's always really rewarding to be nominated by others who are in the same profession as you."

Chamberlain says the economic strategy is a plan for looking at Airdrie's sustainability over the next ten years.

"It outlines three objectives that we are working towards to be sure that Airdrie is a place where residents and businesses and visitors continue to want to be," Chamberlain explains.  "It really provides us with a plan to move ahead.  There are very important initiatives included in the strategy like downtown revitalization, ensuring internet access to all businesses and residents and other plans an initiatives that we need in order to be an environment that businesses will continue to invest in and grow."

The strategy defines three key objectives to build on Airdrie's strength, address the city's challenges and seize opportunities.  They are: The Right Place to Be, Right for Business and A Connected Community.

Since the strategy was just launched six months ago, Chamberlain says it's still in its early phase.  However, several projects that are directly in line with the goals of the strategy are already underway including development of a new downtown plan for Airdrie.  The city is planning an open house on Tuesday, April 23rd to let people know where that plan is at.  

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