Destiny Sault Ste. Marie | Overview Thursday Mar 28, 2024

Our hopes are high.  Our faith in our resources is great.  Our courage is strong.  And our dreams for this beautiful community will never die.  (Adapted from Pierre Elliot Trudeau)


What Destiny Does

The key objective of Destiny SSM is job creation, population recovery and a varied economy capable of growth.

Destiny SSM facilitates, guides, works, monitors and promotes the generation of economic wealth in the community, through a specific set of targeted growth and diversification initiatives, in order to support an increasing population base.

Destiny SSM is a living strategy that evaluates and responds to changing community economic circumstances and identifies new initiatives.

The municipality, various community agencies and businesses use Destiny as a map for direction on potential economic opportunities.

History

Destiny SSM was created as a result of struggles at Algoma Steel Inc.  It was the solution initiated to stabilize the economy through the development of key strategic priorities that focused on diversifying – economically – through a series of community Growth Engines.

Destiny SSM is (taken from the 2002 Grant Thornton report):

 •     the “Change Agent” to champion of the process.  It takes two to five years with concentrated and continuous actions to reinforce focus.
 •    the “Management of Process” – Project Management Plan (work, tasks, accomplishments) and the organizational structure ensures commitment to the plan and accountability.
 •     “Involvement of Key Stakeholders” - engage people in the design of the process/organization.
 •     Financial and human “Resource Allocation” to maintain positive progress.

Destiny SSM is a strategic organization – a think tank that looks FORWARD.  Defining Sault Ste. Marie’s economic direction, Destiny provides a co-ordinated, meaningful approach to development that builds the Sault's "character" to attract investment, professionals and skilled labour.  Part of the Destiny process is engaging public and private-sector champions in the implementation of projects, which follows the development of the Economic Diversification Strategy.

Several collaborative community engagement efforts over the past 25 years have stimulated interest from other cities to look at Destiny as a model for their development.  More information on community economic engagement can be found in the Destiny Sault Ste. Marie Best Practices Guide, which has been shared with communities throughout Ontario.