Achievements

There were many accomplishments in Port Hope Simpson, including:

• trainers were brought into the community for lumber grading and saw maintenance courses, both of which are of great value to the employment partners, the individual clients, as well as the industry in the area at large.
• both companies have received approval for targeted wage subsidy for all of the participants involved in Bridging the Gap.
• All of the participants were employed.

4.5 Burgeo

Highlights

Burgeo was a challenging site from many fronts: upfront, it was the least inclusive and most confrontational of all the teams (until the original sponsor withdrew and a new sponsor came forward) and it had a struggling new business as an employment partner, with many other, sometimes conflicting, involvements with CLN team members.

In addition, Burgeo is the second most isolated community (next to Port Hope Simpson), but, as compared to Port Hope Simpson, Burgeo faces few economic development opportunities and there is a general frustration in the community at the many unsuccessful attempts at economic development and diversification from the fishery there.

The original Burgeo Bridging the Gap sponsor was the Burgeo Diversification and Development Board (BDDB). Unfortunately the BDDB did not fully buy into the teamwork concept of Bridging the Gap and sought to usurp the roles and responsibilities of the CLN. The Board was also a financial partner in the operations of the employment sponsor, Coastal Growers, which proved to be somewhat of a tripwire when the BDDB withdrew as sponsor and the Community Education Network became the sponsor.

Both project sponsors and the CLN had difficulty with the role of the provincial sponsor, Random North Development Association. They felt strongly RNDA had too great a role to play and that they, as the managing team, were not empowered to make decisions about their own project and project budget.

The west and south coast of the province, particularly around the Stephenville & Port au Port area has a long tradition of Community Economic Development (CED), and the College has been a key leader in that tradition – this is where they teach the CED program. As such, they felt strongly they did not need the leadership of RNDA, they were experienced enough in their grasp of the CED principles and processes to deliver Bridging the Gap on their own.

The employment partner, Coastal Growers, grow several varieties of hothouse tomatoes. As a company, they had grown from a project of the BDDB and there were still many financial and legal connections between the two. As any new company (and leaders new to entrepreneurship) they had many operational, financial and marketing challenges. The Bridging the Gap project was helpful to them, but they were challenged to juggle all of the balls.

There were 9 clients at the Burgeo site, the second largest group.