The Mid-Term Economic Development Pulse Check invites residents, businesses, and community partners to share their perspectives on how well our current economic development programs are meeting community needs, and which priorities should lead our work over the next few years.

The Town of Cobourg Development Services Division invites the community to participate in the short survey below designed to gather feedback on the five key economic development themes identified in the Realizing Our Potential: 2023 – 2028 An Economic Development and Venture13 Strategy and Action Plan.

This mid-term Pulse Check will help ensure the Economic Development team is addressing the most relevant business and community needs through its programs.

Your feedback will help:

• Confirm whether our current programs and priorities align with community and business needs;
• Identify gaps or new opportunities; and
• Inform future updates to the Economic Development Strategy, including the next major review planned for early 2028.

Cobourg Municipal Council adopted the 5-year Economic Development and Venture13 Strategy and Action Plan on July 3, 2023.

The Economic Development and Venture13 Strategy is the first of its kind in Cobourg since 2018. In the fall of 2022, the economic development and Venture13 team initiated the project, set to provide a new strategic direction for the Town. The first phase of the project included gathering background research offering insight into the Town’s demographics, economy and business characteristics. Surveys sought feedback from local entrepreneurs on the strategies they felt would strengthen our local business community and information was gathered to compare economic development service delivery roles among similar sized communities.

An extensive stakeholder consultation process occurred in early 2023 and included one-on-one interviews, two focus groups and an online survey. This consultation component of the project was led by an economic development consultancy firm, McSweeney and Associates. The findings from this consultation helped to shape new economic development vision and mission statements, key strategy themes and corresponding goal statements.

A further consultation component occurred in early May 2023 to prioritize these strategic theme areas and goal statements and help inform staff before implementation. The results from the community engagement indicated that the highest priority was the retention and attraction of workforce, young families and adults. The economic development and Venture13 team report annually on progress made on the strategy and action plan.

The five goal statements identified in the Economic Development and Venture13 Strategy and Action plan are:

1. Downtown
To have a downtown that supports not only the local businesses but celebrates our history and culture.

2. Existing Businesses
To build a more resilient economy ensuring that the future of Cobourg will be able to withstand any economic downturn.

3. Workforce
To have a strong skilled workforce to support local businesses will enable them to succeed and will improve youth and workforce engagement.

4. Investment Readiness
To be the first point of contact for non-residential development projects and business requirements from the Town will ensure a timely and efficient response.

5. Entrepreneurs and Innovators
To build the presence of the innovation service offering at Venture13 and tell the story as an integral part of the community will establish it as the centre for innovation and economic development.

Through this project, we are asking participants to:

• Rank these five themes in order of importance today;
• Tell us how well current programs and initiatives are meeting their needs; and
• Share ideas on where the Town should focus its efforts next.

Please take a few minutes to submit your feedback on priorities in the survey below. Your response is anonymous and will help guide our Economic Development team. Thank you for taking part in shaping Cobourg’s economic future. The survey is open until Monday, January 21, 2025.

For questions regarding the survey or to receive a print copy, please contact communications@cobourg.ca. For any Economic Development questions, please contact econdev@cobourg.ca or call our Customer Service team at 905-372-4301.