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Central Alberta, Canada
About CAF

One region. Shared priorities. Collective action.

Central Alberta First (CAF) is a regional partnership that unites local businesses, governments, and community organizations to build a stronger and more competitive economy across Central Alberta. It is a business-driven partnership that turns shared challenges into collective priorities and coordinates the cross-jurisdictional work no single community could deliver alone.

Visit centralalbertafirst.ca
8 Priority projects for 2026
BREWD Regional business strategy
1 region Business, communities & government

What CAF is

A partnership for action.

CAF brings business, governments and community partners together to identify shared priorities and advance initiatives that no single community or organization could deliver alone. Central Alberta First’s engagement with more than 700 local businesses identified workforce shortages and talent recruitment as key barriers to growth, reinforcing the need to attract and retain talent across the region.

CAF is

  • A business-driven coordination platform
  • A shared set of regional priorities
  • An evidence base built from local businesses

CAF is not

  • A service provider or contractor
  • A replacement for any municipality
  • A single-community initiative

How CAF works

Five moves, assessed every three years.

The Vital Cycle of High Performance. Each step feeds the next, and the region's economic foundation and engines are assessed against it every three years.

Step 1

Analyze

Diagnose the needs of the economy.

Regional diagnosis

Step 2

Mobilize

Engage stakeholders to identify issues and opportunities, and take collaborative action.

Stakeholders engaged

Step 3

Catalyze

Build collaborative strategies and take action.

Strategy in motion

Step 4

Realize

Review goals and assess achievements.

Goals reviewed

Step 5

Actualize

Impact analysis - sustainability, equity, prosperity and quality of life.

Impact assessed

BREWD

A regional strategy built on what businesses actually said.

BREWD is CAF's regional business strategy - built from a region-wide survey of Central Alberta businesses, with results published as community-level reports for participating municipalities and counties. It is the evidence base behind CAF's priority projects.

1/3

Businesses are surveyed

A region-wide survey of Central Alberta businesses, run community by community.

2/3

Reports go back local

Each participating municipality and county receives its own community-level report.

3/3

Priorities are set

The findings become the evidence base behind CAF's priority projects.

Communities with their own published report

Red Deer Red Deer County Olds Penhold Mountain View County Kneehill County
BREWD regional strategy Community reports Survey results

Who's at the table

Business, communities and government.

Business & industry

Employers and sector associations across construction, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, tourism and real estate.

Communities

Municipalities and counties across Central Alberta, working through their economic development offices.

Government

Provincial and federal program partners supporting workforce, innovation and investment.

Post-secondary

Red Deer Polytechnic, Olds College, Burman University and Campus Alberta Central - training, applied research and talent pipelines.

Settlement & workforce

Agencies supporting newcomer settlement, employment counselling and career pathways.

Full member directory

Member list, governance and current project teams.

centralalbertafirst.ca

Why a regional approach

Because no one community wins alone.

Central Alberta's strength is its regional scale. Businesses hire, invest and move goods across municipal boundaries - so the work of removing barriers has to cross those boundaries too.

On centralalbertafirst.ca

Governance, projects and the member directory.

This page explains how CAF fits alongside the job board. The working detail - the current project list, the teams delivering them and how to join - lives on CAF's own site.

Priority projects

The current regional priorities and what each one is trying to change.

Project teams

Who is delivering each priority, and how the teams are structured.

NGEI

CAF's next-generation energy and innovation stream.

Events

Forums, info sessions and regional connector events.

News & releases

Announcements and press releases from the partnership.

Sign up

Join the network or get CAF updates directly.

Two organisations, one region.

Work Central Alberta runs the job board and the talent side. CAF coordinates the regional business priorities behind it. Start wherever your question sits.

Browse jobs Visit CAF