Local Community Transition Guide

Use this guide to help your community navigate an economic disruption or to proactively collaborate with key partners in anticipation of an economic shock. This could include events such as a small-scale layoff or other occurrences that may have economic impacts on your local economy.

This guide can be used from start to finish by following each step, or you can refer to a specific section that is most relevant to your community’s situation.

For a list of resources available to workers, businesses, and communities, visit the sections on the Three phases of community transition and Supports and resources.

In this guide

• Introduction
• What is community transition
• Community transition process
• Local community transition team
• Three phases of community transition
• Recommended approaches
• Supports and resources

Introduction

The Local Community Transition Guide supports communities, businesses and residents impacted during an economic disruption. It follows a model similar to the Provincial community transition (CT) services and is tailored for smaller-scale events.

This guide helps communities prepare, manage, monitor, and respond to economic disruption by:

• Offering helpful approaches and practical steps to take
• Identifying supports from service providers and community partners
• Listing available resources

What is community transition

Community Transition (CT) is a holistic process that supports those impacted by economic disruption – including workers, contractors, local businesses, and the broader community. Through CT, communities can access supports for displaced workers and explore opportunities to diversify and strengthen their local economy.

CT refers to all the efforts involved, from the initial event through to long-term planning and actions for continued economic development. This process involves a community-wide effort with partnerships between local service providers, key players in your community, and provincial staff.

Community transition process

Approaches to support your community through a transition:

• Connect one-on-one with service providers and confirm they are aware of and working with those impacted
  • For example, a local retail store closes down. Confirm that your local WorkBC Centre are aware and are reaching out to support those impacted
• Organize a local community transition team meeting
  • This team works closely with local service providers to create a committee to address community needs

Local community transition team

A local community transition team is made up of local government and service providers. They work closely together to create a committee to address community needs. 

When a local community transition team is needed, the first step is to choose a team lead. This could be someone in the municipality, typically the economic development manager, or it could be a community champion, such as Community Futures or the Chamber of Commerce.

Review these steps and adapt this process to suit your community's needs. The transition process can take 3-6 months, depending on the size of the disruption and other impacts.

Step 1: Gather information

• Who is impacted by the disruption?
  • How many primary workers are at risk of losing employment?
  • How many employers will experience impacts?
  • How many secondary impacts will there be (e.g. businesses and/or contractors)?
• What is the timeline for the disruption? When will the disruption occur (e.g. layoff date, announcement date)?
• What are the impacts to local First Nations? Are there Indigenous members directly impacted by the disruption? Are impacted Nations invited to the local community transition team meetings?
• What are the community-level impacts? Are there any current or upcoming economic development projects that will be delayed or could be expedited?
• Does the impacted community have an updated economic development strategy?

Step 2: Engage with key partners and invite them to the team meetings

• Who has insight on the socio-economic conditions of the community? For example, the local WorkBC Centre can share labour force data that could be useful for transitioning impacted workers
• Who in your community would be effective, efficient, and add value to the impacted workers and businesses? For example, Community Futures offers support to businesses as they look to pivot their operations
• Consider using the contact list template (XLS, 29KB) to identify the partners to invite to the team meeting

Step 3: Host the team meeting and discuss priorities

• Set a meeting date and time. Offer the meeting with in-person and virtual options
• Choose an accessible meeting facility and ensure it has audio-visual supports for those joining virtually
• Use information gathered from Step 1 and Step 2 to inform the meeting agenda
• Consider using the agenda template (DOC, 31 KB) to guide the discussion
• Consider using the meeting minutes template (DOC, 31KB) to track action items, decisions and plans

Step 4: Implement action items

• Follow up with partners on the progress of action items set during the meeting
• Coordinate team partnerships for actions items, such as linking the WorkBC contact with the impacted employer(s) to discuss the potential for information sessions
• Stay engaged with partners and available for questions

Step 5: Monitor

• Track progress and accomplishments of the team's work
• Schedule meetings as action items are completed and more information is uncovered
• Check-in with local service providers that have insights on the community's needs that aren't yet being addressed. For example, the Chamber of Commerce may have heard from impacted secondary businesses seeking assistance
• Compile all this information into a summary document for easy reference for media enquiries

Step 6: Conclude team activities and resume ongoing economic development

• Decide to conclude meetings and resume regular community work, once the concerns regarding the initial event have been addressed
• Provide a summary of the accomplishments and ongoing work to document the successes and challenges for future transitions

Three phases of community transition

When concerns arise, residents look to community leaders for direction and support. Follow these three phases of community transition to prioritize your needs.

Phase 1: Worker support

Impacted workers are the priority in phase one. Understanding the estimated job loss numbers and the anticipated impact date will give you a timeline for getting information for these workers. Work with the employer(s) and community partners (such as WorkBC Centres and Service Canada) to understand the workers’ needs, concerns, and any complexities that may affect their access to supports. Usually the employer is able to provide this information and can communicate to workers through their internal channels.

Potential actions in Phase 1:

• Meet with the service providers and partners to discuss workers' needs
• Gather information from the employer on layoff dates and number of impacted workers and create a timeline for supports
• Share information, supports and resources available to workers
• Determine the need and plan worker-focused events, such as information sessions and job fairs
• Assess the need for other local support, such as food banks, financial services, and mental health supports

Phase 2: Business and contractor support

In phase two, the focus is on the rippling effects the business community may feel. For example, a layoff event can lead to people spending less money at local stores, disruptions in the supply chain, or employees' decisions to move away from the community. These outcomes negatively impact the local workforce, small businesses and the municipal tax base. It’s important for communities and businesses to build resilience to reduce the impacts of disruptions.

Potential actions in Phase 2:

• Identify impacted contractors (if impacted employers frequently hire contractors) and share information on programs and supports available to them and their employees
• Work with local community partners, such as Community Futures and the Chamber of Commerce
• Check in with local businesses and address their concerns

Phase 3: Community and economic development support

The focus of phase three is supporting the medium- to long-term economic development priorities for the community. This phase builds on your community’s existing economic development work, assets and partnerships.

Potential actions in Phase 3:

• Review, develop and implement an economic development strategy and/or an economic diversification plan
• Determine the community’s eligibility for funding, such as the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP) or financial supports through your regional economic trust
• Work with your regional manager to apply for funding, grants or other financial supports
• Create connections and supports amongst community partners
• Assess the need for community-wide events, such as a job fair or a wellness fair

Recommended approaches

Community transition partners

Depending on your situation, here are some partners you may need to include in your local community transition team:

• Local government (usually the team lead)
• First Nations
• Provincial staff (regional manager)
• WorkBC Centre
• Service BC
• Service Canada
• Impacted employer(s)
• Community organizations (Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures)
• Social service organizations (local health authority, mental health service provider)

Communication methods

Sharing information with those who are impacted is essential. Here are some events and activities used previously by community transition teams:

• Information sessions bring together service providers and impacted workers. They are a valuable and efficient way to distribute information and offer workers an opportunity to ask questions. These events can be hosted at a community centre, or if there are many people impacted by one employer, consider hosting it at the employer’s work site for accessibility reasons.
• Job fairs help displaced individuals talk with potential new employers. To maximize attendance and effectiveness of the event, hold a job fair near the end or after the curtailment/closure date, and information sessions are finished.
• Wellness fairs showcase available community support service groups, community groups, financial planning, and health authority supports. The stresses of losing a job affect the impacted worker and their families. Having a wellness fair soon after the layoff event can help support mental health.
• Municipal web page hosts information on services and programs available to those impacted. An active and up-to-date web page is a valuable resource for the community.

​Supports and resources

Community development and diversification

Communities that have an economic development plan:

• Review and update your current plan to reflect the latest developments in your community. Your economic plan provides a great foundation for creating opportunities within your community.
• Connect with your community’s regional manager. They can help you with your economic development goals, including helping find potential funding opportunities for your economic priorities. 
• Discuss with your local government council if there are elements of the plan that should be updated given the current layoff context. This may be shifts to priority timelines, any perceived roadblocks that have prevented plan implementation since it was first developed, and if there are quick-win opportunities to move forward in the short term.

Communities that do not have an economic development plan:

• Work with your regional manager to determine the need for an economic development plan and the best method for creating one. Your regional manager can work with you one-on-one.
• Engage with key partners and work together on a new economic development plan as a community.
• Explore other approaches.
• Discover available resources, toolkits and/or funding opportunities, that can help with the creation of a community plan:
  • Learn the Basics, Plan and Measure Your Economic Development Efforts
  • Strategic Planning Toolkit for Local Economic Development
  • Performance Measurement Toolkit for Local Economic Development
  • BC Assembly of First Nations Black Book Series – Economic Development Toolkit

Supports for workers, communities, First Nations and businesses

View the following list of supports that are applicable to all sectors (though the website is specifically titled for the forestry sector). These supports are for workers and contractors, businesses and employers, and communities and First Nations.

Community transition contacts

For more information about the community transition process and the services offered, community transition staff are available to help.