The City of Grande Prairie has won the 2008 Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) award for Organizational Commitment to Creating a Positive Learning Culture for All Employees.  

This award honours municipalities that have shown leadership by promoting workplace lifelong learning.

“This award is a feather in our cap as an employer and the culture that exists here for our staff assists us in both retaining and recruiting staff,” says Acting City Manager Ken Anderson.

“We are proud of the continuous and lifelong learning opportunities that we have created and many employees have gained from this over the years. This is, in turn, a benefit to the City of Grande Prairie.”

Some of the initiatives the City has introduced include a learning and development fund, a Leadership Institute for employees, and a package of learning and development opportunities, ranging from in-house training, corporate and leadership network training sessions, certificate programs in leadership, human resources, and local government, apprenticeships, workshops, seminars, secondments, and acting roles.

City Council has also announced bursaries recently – one for a child or grandchild of a City employee, the other for a community member.

“This is exciting news and our administration, staff and employee groups are to be congratulated for collaborating on workplace learning,” says Mayor Dwight Logan. “It is particularly noteworthy that employees from all levels participate in the Workplace Learning Committee.”

“Evaluators were very impressed with the numerous innovative approaches the City is taking to achieve a strong culture of continuous and lifelong learning,” says CAMA president Barry Carroll.