The Town of Drayton Valley is the only municipality in Alberta to be an Agent of Change.
The Town recently secured a $15,000 grant from ICLEI Canada for the Agents of Change (AOC) program. This program is designed to encourage Drayton Valley’s volunteer groups to undertake environmental initiatives to help the Town reach its climate change goals.
Out of 20 to 30 applications that ICLEI Canada received from Alberta communities, Drayton Valley was the only one selected.
Drayton Valley town council gave the go-ahead to the Town’s AOC program at their June 29 meeting.
In Drayton Valley, the Agents of Change program will be called Eco Care Eco Share. It will run as a joint project between the Town and the Drayton Valley Municipal Library.
Under Eco Care Eco Share, groups of three community members or more launch a project to help out their neighbourhood. The Town wants the focus to be on waste reduction, climate literacy, and energy efficiency. Some examples of projects that Town administration gave are tool sharing libraries, bicycle care workshops, and soup-a-licious events, where people are taught how to make soup from their leftovers.
Once the group has their project planned out, they can apply for a grant from the Town to fund their project. Grants can range from $50 to $2000.
The Town and the Library will be launching the program on July 21 with their Eco Care Eco Share Garden Party Mixer. At this event, local experts who have already done similar projects will be discussing their projects and how they went about it. As administration explained, this will empower the community and shift the burden of coming up with ideas away from the Town.
Town council was impressed with the plan. Councillor Tom McGee pointed out that this will enhance some of the Town’s existing projects.
“It also adds to the things that we continue to do,” said McGee. “And interestingly enough, Drayton Valley is the only Alberta municipality out of the 11 selected across Canada to participate in the AOC project.”
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