JEDI Celebrates Economic Development Week

Joint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI) commemorates the week of May 9 to May 13, 2022, as Economic Development Week. During this week, communities across North America will celebrate and recognize the contributions made by professional economic development organizations to create more economically vibrant and livable communities. Most importantly, JEDI salutes the businesses that have endured many challenges over the past few years and commend you for your resilience and contributions to your communities and the JEDI region.

JEDI is proud that both of it’s Municipal Members, the County of Wetaskiwin and the Town of Millet amplified the economic development efforts in the Region by taking part in the 2022 Community Challenge and their Councils officially proclaiming May 9th to 13th as Economic Development Week.

With COVID economic recovery as a top priority in the JEDI Region, it is important to encourage residents and businesses, large and small, to recognize May 9-13, 2022, as “Economic Development Week” in the JEDI Region. Watch JEDI’s Social Media pages as we celebrate the JEDI Region, we are all proud to call home!

In the past year, the Region has welcomed new industrial businesses including SATO Canada to the Millet Industrial Park & Familia Brewing to the Village at Pigeon Lake.

SATO specializes in training vacuum truck, water truck and track hoe operators. Their mission is to develop a new group of operators that are better trained and equipped to embrace a long-term career in the oil and gas industry. In addition, SATO offers a unique course providing Basic Rig Site Orientation as well as the required courses to be certified onsite such as H2S and First Aid.

Familia Brewing is a craft brewery inspired by the seasons by the lake. They craft a variety of beer from easy drinking favourites to small batch seasonal experiments. If you are in the Pigeon Lake area, be sure to stop at their taproom for a unique craft beer experience!

Find out what it takes to successfully launch your business by participating in StartUp Leduc Wetaskiwin Regions, made possible by JEDI, the Leduc & Wetaskiwin Regions Chamber, The Light House Cowork and neighboring municipalities.

The program launched in February 2022, is designed to empower, connect, and provide businesses with the resources they need to succeed. For more information on the program and how it can help you StartUp your business contact Amber Cook, Director at info@startupleduc.ca.

JEDI, in cooperation with Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP) recently made an application for the JEDI Region to participate in the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program.

JEDI is pleased to announce that it’s Municipal Members, the County of Wetaskiwin and the Town of Millet are among Alberta’s first communities being named as rural communities participating in the Rural Entrepreneur Stream and believes that this program will make a significant difference to foster economic development in our Region.

The Rural Entrepreneur Stream allows Alberta to nominate qualified and capable entrepreneurs who want to start a new or buy an existing business in a rural Alberta community. Candidates interested in the JEDI Region will connect directly with JEDI to discuss their business proposal and schedule an exploratory visit.

JEDI is grateful for CAEP’s assistance in navigating this opportunity and will continue to work with CAEP and our Municipal Partners to determine the best exploratory visit process for our Region. Entrepreneurs play a key role in Alberta’s economy & JEDI is excited about the potential of attracting skilled entrepreneurs to our Region.
More information regarding the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program’s Rural Entrepreneur Stream can be found online.

We encourage you to support the local businesses that sponsor various events and non-profit organizations as well as provide employment, goods, and services to our community.

For more information regarding the above or the various services that JEDI provides, contact JEDI’s Director of Economic Development, Joan Miller at 780-335-5334 or jmiller@jedialberta.com.

Please follow @JEDIAlberta on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for updates on events, funding, and business resources.