Chamber News

The City of Belleville’s Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) project, Prosper Belleville, has resulted in the development of 26 action items to help support the manufacturing sector. Members of the project’s task force, as well as community and industry participants gathered at Accelerate in downtown Belleville to kick off the next stage of the project.

Prosper Belleville was initiated in July of 2023 with funding support through the Rural Economic Development Fund. The goal of the project was to identify immediate and long-term opportunities to support manufacturing growth and retention in Belleville, foster future investment and attraction activities and inform future strategic planning in the Northeast Industrial Park.

Economic development staff and a volunteer task force worked together with community stakeholders to conduct extensive data collection through a number of interviews, surveys and industry visits. In total, 38 industry interviews and site visits were conducted, amounting to over 746 volunteer hours. This resulted in an industry participation rate of 86%. The data collected was then compiled, analyzed and used to establish 26 action items in response to industry needs. These action items focused around four strategic themes: newcomer supports, labour attraction and retention, business supports, and City services and processes.

“Today is really a celebration of community and the extraordinary engagement of our community stakeholders,” said Business Development and Retention Specialist Victoria Watts. “Thank you to our volunteer task force for their assistance in guiding this process and to the multitude of community volunteers and industry partners who participated in this important initiative.  The action items achieved through this project are relevant and specific to industry needs and will support this sector's growth and prosperity in our community now and into the future.”

A full list of the action items and background on the project including 'What is a BR & E" can be found in the final report on the Business Retention and Expansion webpage.