When Sylvie Fontaine moved back to Hearst in 2012, statistics on the outmigration of youth from the area shocked her.
“With the 2011 census, we lost close to 10 per cent of our population; out of that 10 per cent, six per cent were youth aged 18 to 34, so that’s a lot of people,” said Fontaine, director general of the Hearst Economic Development Corp. (EDC). “That’s 600 youth that have left. So what we want to do is at least have some of them come back.”
Taking a cue from the hospital, which had held similar events in the past, Fontaine set up an informal evening of networking, dubbed Destination Hearst 2012, that put youth — who had returned for a Christmas visit with their families — in the same room with local employers to see if they could make some connections.
It gave youth a chance to speak with employers about the potential for getting work, while employers got to see what’s available in the workforce. Some students even had their resumes at the ready.
Not all the connections match up, but youth often make contacts, which can result in summer work and, in some cases, lead to full-time opportunities.
“There are a lot of jobs in Hearst,” Fontaine said. “A lot that are not fulfilled.”
Three years after its inception, Destination Hearst is still going, although numbers were down this year due to a scheduling conflict, Fontaine said.
Though it would be “presumptuous” to assume it’s solely because of the networking event, youth are returning, slowly, to their hometown, said Fontaine, who believes the trend can be attributed to a combination of attraction and retention activities being undertaken by the EDC.
The EDC’s focus, Fontaine said, is to provide attraction and retention tools for local businesses to use. Often businesses can find the workers, she noted, but they can’t retain them over the long term.
Last year, FedNor provided the EDC with funding to hire a consultant to help businesses with those retention efforts. FedNor pays 90 per cent of the cost, while the businesses pay 10 per cent.
“They’re getting coaching hours with that expert, two training sessions, books, the whole works,” Fontaine said.
Fifteen businesses registered and there were 42 participants at the first training session, and participants have been enthusiastic, she said.
The EDC also set up a human resources committee whose focus is to welcome new residents to the town. Last year, the committee hosted its first welcome breakfast for new employees, an event that was repeated this year. They have breakfast, meet the mayor and receive gifts made by local artisans, in addition to receiving a guidebook with contact information for local services.
In its strategic plan, completed in October 2013, Hearst identified workforce development as its highest priority. Other economic development activities include entrepreneurship, marketing and communications, and infrastructure development.
Hearst’s main economic drivers include forestry, education, mining, tourism, agriculture, and renewable energy.
