The Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC) celebrated Jim Blake’s retirement as a consultant for 25 years by holding a ‘Jim Blake Day’ July 9.
Blake said it all started with the community economic development committee, which had an arts committee subcommittee.
“They started doing a lot of projects, so they started contracting me to help coordinate that. And then, over time, I got involved in the whole operation of HCDC,” he said.
It was hard for him to pick out highlights. He talked about the creation of the Arts Council Haliburton Highlands, and the trails and tours organization, which begat Hike Haliburton. He also assisted in landing the youth hub.
Blake also spoke of the community economic development funding and how a team had “helped, or given start-up money, to around 65 different initiatives or actual organizations, and most of those are still in existence, or a lot of them are still in existence.”
He added, “the accomplishments really are the accomplishments of the community futures development corporation (CFDC).”
Blake said he had a hand in influencing HCDC to focus on the importance of community economic development. “To have a vibrant, sustainable and vital community you need a whole range of things going on, so it’s not just about business. It’s all about the fabric of the community and that covers a broad range, from cultural, to environmental, to social and economic.”
He was part of developing the business incubator, which has now turned into The Link, and is home to the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce, and Arts Council, all of whom he worked with.
He said his biggest takeaway is “all the incredible things that go on in this community and being able to support people to realize those dreams.
“What a fantastic organization, the Haliburton County Development Corporation, with visionary leadership from the board of directors, who are all volunteers, and Andy Campbell for so long and then Patti Tallman. The fact they had the brilliance to set up this whole community economic development function of the corporation to really work on the vibrancy and sustainability of the community.
“When I go to different conferences and those sorts of things, people are just astounded as we’re a fairly small, rural community but our CFDC has done an enormous number of things. It’s not just about the amount of loans to the community, or the size of our investment fund. It’s really people look at what we do in terms of being a catalyst for community economic development and ask us ‘how can we do that’? And part of it is … one of the philosophies is, as opposed to saying this is the way things should happen, it’s really what do the people of the community want to see happen, and then us supporting them in making those things happen. So, it’s not a topdown thing, it’s really a grassroots thing where people are coming to us and saying ‘can you help us do this’ and the answer is almost always yes, we can help you. It may not be with money but it may be with time or advice or linkages or those kinds of things.”
Tallman, HCDC’s executive director, spoke to Blake’s contribution, saying, “his knowledge has been instrumental, but we know where to find him.” She also commented on all of the projects Blake had assisted them in doing, which has literally poured millions of dollars into the community. “He works late into the night all the time … he just never stops. How appropriate is this to have a Jim Blake day?”
