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Communities to help youth businesses

The City of Salmon Arm and the District of Sicamous are supporting two initiatives to help youth get started in business.

The City of Salmon Arm and the District of Sicamous are supporting two initiatives to help youth get started in business.

Both municipal councils responded positively to a letter form Community Futures executive director Joanne Mason, asking they consider waiving the business licence fee for those enrolled in Community Futures’ Summer Student Youth Entrepreneur lending program, for school, college and university students, as well as their Biz Kids Program, for youth ages 10 to 16. Both programs are aimed at helping participants establish their own business in the summer months.

Salmon Arm council was told the city cannot waive fees, but that council initiatives could be used to cover the cost of the 10 to 12 applications that may come forward in 2014. Alternatively, Community Futures could apply on behalf of participants. Being a non-profit organization, they would be exempt from paying fees. Staff will be looking to see what might work best and report back to council.

In Sicamous, Coun. Suzanne Carpenter said the district needs to do whatever it can to support youth in the community. Asked if there might be any budget implications, district administrator Heidi Frank commented, “Not really, because the flipside of this is, if this program wasn’t in place we probably wouldn’t get the businesses anyways.”

 



Lachlan Labere

About the Author: Lachlan Labere

Editor of the Salmon Arm Observer, Shuswap Market, and Eagle Valley News. I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to keep our readers informed and engaged.
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