| What is the CDC?
The Community Development Commission (CDC) is an advisory committee to Council responsible for the economic development and promotion of the community. The CDC has been meeting earnestly and continually since May 2004. As the lead committee of community and economic development, the CDC pledges to make Marathon a more attractive place to live and do business. This will be accomplished in a consultative and dynamic fashion. How does the CDC work?
The CDC is a structured organization comprised of a group of committees that meet separately and report to the main body of the CDC which in turn reports to Council. Who is the CDC?
The CDC is composed of your friends and neighbours, Council members, and Town officials. The key coordinator is the Community Services/Economic Development Manager and the Chief Administartive Officer (CAO). The CDC Strategic plan " Forging the Future" is a management tool. It's sole purpose is to assist the community to do a better job - to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the CDC are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the community's direction in response to a changing environment. In short, this strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide our direction and goals with a focus on the future. What is Community Development?
Community development is the dynamic process that a community goes through to create a desirable future while coping with existing influences both within and outside its immediate environment. For example, the global marketplace has had a severe impact on our local economies today more than ever before, we are used to commodity cycles but the "perfect storm" is structural - as illustrated by the growing international devastation of our forest industry dependent communities. For a community to be successful in its development efforts today, it must identify its role in the global economy. In simplest terms, community development is the long-term, wide-ranging process of preparing our community as an attractive location - an attractive "product" for the global challenge. Some examples of how we are meeting these challenge is by becoming a smart community, by action through a dynamic strategic plan, actively participating in the Forestry coalition and the Community in Bloom program. This sounds ideal and idealistic, doesn't it?
In some ways, community and economic development is one of the most idealistic, optimistic things ordinary Canadians do on a day-to-day basis. They do it because it works. Community development is not a destination, but a never-ending, always-changing journey. We share the beginning of this process today. We are forging the future. Economic development is the dollars-and-cents side of community development: creating and retaining jobs - in both new and existing businesses - as well as protecting existing jobs and enabling existing companies to grow and expand, thus creating a strong and healthy economy. If we were allowed only one goal it would be to keep the people we have. We are Forging the Future
While comprehensive, this Plan must be a flexible living tool that can adapt to change given the global environment in which we live and the ever-changing events, challenges and opportunities we face. To ensure this, we feel that the one of the most important elements is the accountability/reporting/review measures that have been built into this plan. These measures will ensure that this plan does not remain idle, and that it is a "living" document which works towards shaping our future in a positive and progressive manner. We make the following Accountability Statement
Every 120-180 days, beginning from the date of adoption by Council, Council will receive a report from Administration indicating compliance and progress on achieving the goals and objectives set out in this plan. For further information contact: Economic Development Office:
Phone: (807)229-1340 extension 2228
Fax: (807)229-1999
E-mail: marathon%23ca|edo | 
