RADF Legacy Report
In 2006, Albertans took a big risk. Our government set aside $100 million in non-renewable resource revenue to create something that might last forever: a culture of imagination in rural Alberta. Our challenge to Albertans was to show us how ideas can become tangible projects that can change a village, a town, a province. And they responded as Albertans usually do, with imagination and entrepreneurial spirit.
New organizations, new businesses and new industries have formed since the late summer of 2006, when the new Rural Alberta Development Fund (RADF) Board of Directors gathered in Olds to revolutionize rural development in Alberta. RADF inspired a generation of new leaders in Alberta and a catalogue of great successes.
We didn’t do it the usual way: with new buildings. Without a community to fill them, buildings are useless. Instead, we started with people and their ideas. Challenging, new ideas — true to their people and their places — that might change the way we live our lives in rural Alberta.
It has been exciting to watch so many community change agents bring their visions to life and take charge of their community’s future.
We are confident the work we started is only the beginning. Together we have created a legacy of imagination, community and economic impact in rural Alberta, and we encourage you to read more about that legacy in our Legacy Report.