Thunder Bay – BUSINESS – Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund is celebrating an enormous milestone this month as they reach 50 Million in loans disbursed as of February 2, 2021.
“It’s just so gratifying,” says Executive Director Brian Davey, “But what’s more important is to think of the number of people we served. You look at this wealth creation that’s going on in the communities, not only in the First Nations, but many of our businesses they’ve set up in towns and cities like Thunder Bay and Timmins and so forth. We’ve contributed considerably to the overall generation of wealth in Northern Ontario.”
Since launching in 1984, NADF has assisted 932 businesses to start or expand their operations, and has created 1608 jobs, and maintained 5892 jobs in Northern Ontario.
“The current Territory NADF serves is approximately three fourths of Ontario’s Land Mass,” says Arlene Meekis, Chair of the NADF Board. “That’s a lot of people. Without that economic development, none of the other changes that we want to see in our society or communities can happen because before you can have that societal change and shift you have to have the hope. That I think is the biggest piece of what I see as NADF’s role in our communities. We’re there to help people develop their futures as opposed to putting out fires.”
In order to celebrate this milestone safely during the current public health restrictions, NADF is inviting the media and any interested members of the public to a virtual press conference to discuss their history, this accomplishment, and to share their vision of the future of NADF in Northwestern Ontario.
The event will be held via zoom on Thursday, March 18th, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (EST). Registration is available at nadf.news/50m-milestone.
