Last week, MRC Pontiac issued a call for projects under component 4 of the Regions and Rurality Fund (FRR). The funding is administered by the MRC through an agreement with the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (MAMH), and this round has around $2 million available for projects that promote "economic vitalization" in the region. The projects are graded though a point system that grades their sophistication, as well as their alignment with the program's objectives (details below).

MRC Economic Development Director Guillaume Boudreau said that the program is open to a wide variety of organizations, from non-profits and band councils to private companies and municipalities.

Boudreau explained that each project is graded on a number of factors, from the number of jobs created to the level of detail in their proposal. The application guide on the MRC's website notes that projects in communities that scored the lowest on the MAMH's economic vitality index (designated Q5), would be prioritized. The Q5 municipalities in MRC Pontiac are: Chichester, Waltham, Fort-Coulonge, Campbell’s Bay, L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Portage-du-Fort, Otter Lake, Bristol and Alleyn-et-Cawood.

The deadline to apply for this funding round is August 25 at noon.

The application guide for FRR component 4 is available here. More information as well as the application form, is available here.

The full interview with Boudreau is available below: