10/9/2026
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM Mountain

Economic Development – Establishishing the Foundation (ETF)

Your journey starts here.

This introductory course provides a solid grounding in the principles and practices of economic development. This is a core course within the Community Economic Development Certificate Program and serves as the foundation for all other EDA Institute courses. 

Participants will learn to:

• Explain what economic development is and how it differs from individual projects or oneâtime initiatives.
• Describe how economic development practice has evolved from a narrow businessâgrowth focus to today’s integrated, resilienceâcentered approach.
• Identify the key contributing factors that shape a community’s capacity to grow, including human capital, infrastructure, natural resources, financial capacity, and community alignment.
• Differentiate between governance and operations roles in economic development and explain the responsibilities of Council, administration, and practitioners.
• Interpret basic economic and community data, both quantitative and qualitative, and explain how it informs planning, investment readiness, and strategy development.
• Apply core community analysis tools, including needs assessment, asset mapping, gap analysis, and SWOT, to understand a community’s economic position.
• Explain the purpose and structure of a Strategic Economic Development Plan and distinguish between vision, mission, goals, strategies, and tactics.
• Select and justify economic development strategies that fit a community’s context, capacity, and readiness.
• Describe common economic development delivery models and assess which model is most appropriate for a given community.
• Explain how a Logic Model connects strategy to implementation and accountability.
• Identify appropriate partners, funding sources, and incentives to support economic development initiatives.
• Describe the role of performance measurement and continuous improvement in economic development, using the SOME Framework as a guide.
• Explain resilience as a lens that should be integrated across all aspects of economic development practice, framed by the six-factor resilience model introduced in Module 1 and developed further in the CER course.
• Faculty: Trevor Lewington
   

Setting: In-Person
Calgary Economic Development
237 4 Ave S.W., Suite 2600, Calgary, AB, T2P 4K3
Final location to be sent at a later dat
CANADA

Deana Haley
(phone: (403) 221-7888)

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10/9/2026

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