Bringing the right kind of businesses and investments to the Village of Cumberland
The Village of Cumberland (VoC) put out an RFP looking for a company that fit their social procurement model to build a site that would highlight the economic development opportunities in the area. They wanted the site to attract businesses and investments that shared and appreciated the community’s values and would be a good fit for the area. The site also needed to showcase the support that the VoC offers for local businesses.
Considerations
It was important that the site communicated the values of the Village and could speak to the right investors – ones interested in supporting the circular economy and making a positive impact. These businesses would need to support the vision of “a thriving, resilient and diversified economy based on industries and businesses that are compatible with community values and provide jobs to residents”.
Another thing that we had to consider was the effect of COVID on an economic development site; it didn’t make sense to be promoting the small, vulnerable area to outside businesses and investors in the midst of a pandemic but we also had to keep the post-pandemic future in sight.
What we did
We built a site that weaves the community values and vision throughout while still maintaining a business-centric feel.
We organized the content into a new and intuitive structure that includes a realistic view of what it is like to work and live in Cumberland. We also created a custom News section to highlight local businesses and share new projects in the area.
Tools and techniques:
- New custom WordPress site
- Custom news/blog template
- Clear and robust linking structure between the Ec Dev site and the Village site
The results
The resulting site was celebrated in the local newspaper and quoted Councillor Gwyn Sproule as saying she was ‘almost speechless’ and describing the site as ‘really capturing what the community is about’.