The Town of Huntsville’s business and retention committee is asking select community members to attend a May 1 session at Huntsville High School which will be the first step in a pilot project called the Community Vitality Initiative (CVI).

Marc White, the chair of the BR+E committee – which is a subcommittee of the economic development advisory committee – said that project is one of three currently operating in Ontario. The other two communities involved are Brockville and South Glengarry township, located along the St. Lawrence River.

Huntsville had considered conducting a second round of the BR+E program, but council accepted a recommendation from its economic committee to be part of the CVI program instead.

The program is a form of community assessment that gauges the perceptions of community members on everything from the business climate to the health of the local environment.  

CVI does this through a three-stage process: assessment in a three-hour facilitated session with 30 stakeholders; a second three-hour session with the original 30 participants plus other stakeholders, who review the assessment results and select and commit to recommended actions; and then action from community members who work on three to four top priorities from the focus stage.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs staff will facilitate the May 1 session. During the meeting, participants will answer a comprehensive set of questions and spend the final hour in a focused discussion of Huntsville’s strengths, opportunities and readiness to make changes.

Officials with the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership will collect and analyze all perceptions and prepare a report of the assessment results.

White said a follow-up focus session will be held four to six weeks after the assessment meeting, and that the stakeholders will set priorities based on the assessment report.  

“Each priority will go through a ‘reality check’ to determine the community’s ability to carry it out given current resources, energy and circumstances. This is followed by the action stage, where community members take the reins to move forward on selected actions. Community commitment to the process is critical,” he said.  

The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. For more information call White at 788-7733.