NEWS RELEASE
TOWN OF COLLINGWOOD
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The Town of Collingwood and the South Georgian Bay Small Business Enterprise Centre have received a $75,000 grant from Digital Main Street Ontario funded by FedDev Ontario. This grant will extend their Digital Service Squads (DSS) to help small businesses use digital technologies to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
The County of Simcoe and the towns of Collingwood and the Town of the Blue Mountains committed funding earlier in the year to support a continuous Digital Service Squad strategy in the South Georgian Bay and Simcoe County region. The squad can now service businesses in specific downtown areas in Collingwood, Town of the Blue Mountains, Meaford, Clearview, Wasaga Beach, Adjala-Tosorontio, Penetanguishene, Tiny, and New Tecumseth.
“We are excited to have been awarded a second round of funding to support the ongoing efforts of our Digital Service Squad, which originally launched in June 2019,” said Tim Newton, Manager of the South Georgian Bay Small Business Enterprise Centre. “This will help expand DSS services by hiring new squad specialists, offering more funding to businesses, increasing webinars, and continuing virtual café chats.”
DSS offers several key services:
| Initial Consultation | A 30 minutes free discussion with a squad specialist to assess business goals and identify what program best matches their need. |
| Webinars and Weekly Virtual Café Chats | Squad members will be offering more webinars, inviting experts to speak on a variety of digital transformation topics. Tuesday morning virtual Café chats will return, giving small business leaders a chance to network and discuss issues others in the region are facing. |
| Digital Audit | Eligible businesses receive an audit of their digital footprint including an extensive review of their online properties. This includes recommendations to enhance their website, Google My Business listing, search ranking, social media presence, and more. The service includes additional consultation support, educate, and implement those recommendations. |
| Transformation Grants | Squads will assist qualified small businesses through the application process for a $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant, which includes an online assessment, online training modules, and the development of a Digital Transformation Plan (DTP). |
Digital Service Squads are fundamental to Digital Main Street’s design and success. The trained specialists meet with small businesses, at no cost, to help them improve their online presence. In South Georgian Bay, DSS augment the extensive services already offered by the regional Business Development Centre in downtown Collingwood. The squad is led by Ben Frisch of bfresh.media, a digital expert passionate about helping businesses enhance their digital footprint, especially during a time of such great need. For all the details on the services and scheduling an initial consultation, please visit http://enterprisecentre.ca/digitalservicesquad/
Established in 2018, Digital Main Street Ontario was recently extended thanks to an investment of $42.5 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) and $7.45 million from the Ontario Ministry for Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT). The nearly $50-million investment will help small businesses across Ontario pivot their operations to include online business models, regain lost revenue, and become more resilient and competitive as the economy recovers. The Ontario BIA Association administers the DMS grant program to Ontario’s main street small businesses.
“Ontario’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and the keystone of our economic recovery. That is why we have invested in Digital Main Street to help these enterprises adapt to doing business in a digital world, and take advantage of the record number of people shopping online. Congratulations to Collingwood and South Georgian Bay on the launch of your Digital Service Squad. The work you’re doing with small businesses in your community will help keep our main streets vibrant, support good local jobs, and help our economy come back strong.” (The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)
“The COVID-19 pandemic hit Ontario’s main streets hard, so Digital Main Street is needed more than ever,” said Kay Matthews, Executive Director of OBIAA. “We know that businesses that participated in Digital Main Street last year were better able to cope when the pandemic hit and we’re excited that FedDev Ontario and Ontario are providing the funding to extend this important program to help businesses in Collingwood and in communities across South Georgian Bay.”
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