People are the most important ingredient in developing a successful project, say two women who were honoured for their work in rural communities.
At a ceremony in Ottawa Nov. 22, six people from ages 18-29 were recognized at the second Young Leaders in Rural Canada Awards.
The statistics on high school dropouts, teen pregnancy and substance abuse in her small town led Mallory Statham of Powell River, B.C., to make changes.
“I was compelled to make a difference,” said the 18 year old. “There is not a lack of volunteers in town but there’s no connection to the adults.”
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So Statham became the liaison between different groups of youth and the town. As a member of the youth advisory council, she worked to help teens make safer choices and new friends through music, recreation and career camps.
She advised other young people hoping to succeed in projects that they should link up with experienced, influential people, make their vision known, be persistent and do what they know is right.
She is now attending university in Vancouver.
“My heart always resides in a small town but I don’t know where I’ll end up.”
A variety of projects brought recognition to Lana Cowling-Mason of Warren, Man. As the economic development officer for the Rural Municipality of Woodlands, Cowling-Mason started out assisting a tourism project, the Prairie Dog train, which in 1998 was losing its rail line and looking for a destination location.
“A group started as a subcommittee of the chamber of commerce. It was part of my job to bring the characters together and help them develop their plans.”
She credited the train’s successful location in the northern Interlake area and a redeveloped grain elevator in Warren as a result of perseverance and dedicated volunteers.
“What kept me going was investing in the people, not stuff,” said Cowling-Mason.
“No matter what we do, we have a stakeholder group to plan where to go and build consensus. Not all our projects worked, but now we’re looking at three – seniors housing, an arena and tourism. … It’s a challenging time for small businesses. They have their hands full. It’s up to nonprofit volunteer groups. Eventually it will be an entrepreneur who will take over and run it.”
Other winners of the rural youth awards are: Dylan Green of Tofino, B.C., for creating an environmentally friendly public bus line; Miguel LeBlanc originally of Scoudouc, N.B., for his work with bullying and aboriginal violence; Jo‘l Delisle of St-Gilles, Que., for starting a First Responder medical service; and Jason Leonard of Whitehorse, Yukon, for mentoring youth to stay in school and quit their substance abuse.
