Ontario's Rural Economic Development (RED) program helps rural communities remove barriers to community economic development. The RED program provides cost-share funding to rural communities, Indigenous communities and organizations, and not-for-profit organizations.

The objective of the RED program is to support:

• Evidence-based planning projects
• Implementation of projects that contribute to economic competitiveness

Apply now to the Rural Economic Development program

Applications will be accepted during the following timeframes:

• From January 30, 2017 (12:00 p.m.) to March 31, 2017 (5:00 p.m. Eastern)
• From July 31, 2017 (9:00 a.m.) to September 29, 2017 (5:00 p.m. Eastern)

Communities can use this support to remove barriers to local economic growth through initiatives such as developing a downtown revitalization plan or implementing a tourism-related marketing and promotion strategy to attract businesses, investors and visitors to their city.

Since 2013, the Rural Economic Development program has committed more than $8 million towards almost 160 community economic development projects, generating over $25 million in new economic activity and creating and supporting more than 600 jobs.

In 2016, the government approved 38 RED community projects representing a total investment of up to $1.7 million.

Click here to find out if your community or region meets the definition of rural Ontario as outlined above.