Clarenville - We're Growing Thanks to the "Great Unrooted"

The official 2011 Census population for Clarenville was 6,035.    This represented an increase of 14.4% since 2006 (6,035 in 2011, up from 5,275).  That's one of the highest rates of community growth in the Province (We are the highest growth area outside of greater St. John's).

That's good right?

Well, aside for the issue of how we can better manage that growth, it certainly means that our town is becoming a place people come to live. But how can we do a better job at making it a place to call home?.  

Where is this growth coming from? 

We really need to look at the numbers a little more closely and consider where the growth is coming from and how it can be sustained.  The Province keeps a great website called Community Accounts (www.communityaccounts.ca).  This site, among other things, presents the population data for all NL towns.

If we look at the numbers for Clarenville we can see that only about 1.5% of our population growth came from "inside" Clarenville. The "Natural" population growth between 2006-2011 (The difference between births and deaths) was a relatively small 80 people - which accounts for 1.5% of the increase.   The other 13% of the growth came from people immigrating to Clarenville.  The good news: We are a magnet for people and younger families!

Clarenville
	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	TOTAL
Births	55	55	70	55	65	45	345
Deaths	40	35	50	40	45	55	265
Population increase	15	20	20	15	20	-10	80

Looking at the numbers even more closely we see that that 13% increase by immigration was made up in large part by  younger families.  In fact, in 2011 Clarenville's median age is 40.7 years - a full 3 years younger than the provincial median ( see:  HERE   )

Into the Future - Rooting the Great Unrooted

As we move into the future, these immigrants will be the people who make you Clarenville's workers, parents, and volunteers.  They will also make up the tax base to pay for the things that we collectively want in this town.  

The challenge for us here is to KEEP these new people.  Clarenville must be more than a place to live - it must become a HOME.   Considering that such a high proportion of residents are "unrooted" the task will be to help make Clarenville their home - they need to become "rooted". This also applies to our kids.  As they move off to school and work, we must work hard to make the opportunity here so, if they choose, they can once again make Clarenville their home.

 Our community's future success truly depends on this happening. 

Building a Rooted Community

Clarenville has a strong and committed base of seniors.  Like the newcomers of of today a great majority of them were the immigrants of the 70's.  They built the services and fellowship of community that made Clarenville home to them.  The Ski Resort, Trails, local Businesses, Service Clubs, the Co-op are all products of their vision to build a rooted community. Clarenville is the regional hub that it is today because of  their vision and their efforts.

This new generation's job is to replicate that success by exercising a similar vision. This generation of unrooted newcomers value (and are willing to pay for) things like curbside recycling, the Events Centre, Recreational opportunities like Running groups, Snowshoe groups, Ski groups, Book Clubs, Fitness Clubs,  Swimming pools, Progressive design and development, municipal transparency through excellent communications, family friendly play areas, splash pads, skate parks, high speed internet, and great schools - they all help "root" people. 

We can imitate the success of the past generation for our future generation by doing and having more of these things and making Clarenville a community to call home for more people.