Community Jump Start-Business Vitality Index (BVI) helps communities to assess their capacity to work with and support entrepreneurs, and to foster small business growth. The test measures the perceptions of community leaders, business people and citizens about the current business environment in their community and compares the results from that to an average of other B.C. communities (see Appendix I) to determine possible short, medium, or long-terms actions the community can undertake to improve its business friendliness.

Castlegar Chamber of Commerce, the community partner organization, was asked to select and invite the community participants.  These participants were to be 50% business people, 25% local leaders and 25% citizens, representing a diversity of interests, ages and perspectives in the community.  On March 12, 2003, 17 citizens of Castlegar participated in Phase 1 of the BVI.

This report summarizes the first phase of the BVI.  Phase 1 included the assessment of the community’s apparent small bus iness resources and potential through a survey and a focus group session.  Phase 2 will be open to the entire community with the purpose of setting priorities for improvement, and jump starting the community to action.  Phase 2 will be held on May 14, 2002 at the CBT building from 6:30 to 9:30pm.