CERTIFICATION WILL BE ACCORDED:

  • to a municipality that has already received an Award of Excellence and pursues a sustainability strategy while respecting the certification criteria.
  • to a municipality that, at the end of the first three-year stage of collaboration efforts with the Rues principales Foundation, pursues a sustainability strategy that meets the certification criteria.

HOW TO OBTAIN 4-ACES CERTIFICATION

PRESENTATION OF AN APPLICATION

Each year, applications for recognition as a 4-Aces certified municipality are reviewed by a jury composed of the President of the Rues principales Foundation's Board of Directors, the Director General and the Assistant Director, one or more of the coordinators at the Foundation responsible for a town submitting an application, and resource persons competent in revitalization.

Once an application has been examined on the basis of the certification criteria and the criteria are met, certification is granted. It is valid for three years and renewable upon presentation of a new application.

The procedure for submitting an application follows:

  1. Submission of an application for certification, using the form provided by the Rues principales Foundation and returned to it once completed. A municipality may submit its certification application form at the end of May of each year. A city wanting to submit its application for a number of sectors, neighbourhoods or boroughs is to complete a form for each one.
  2. Upon reception of the form and the accompanying supporting documents, the Foundation will acknowledge receipt and will notify the municipality whether its application is complete or requires additional elements so that it may be analyzed by the Jury.
  3. Once a year, in June, the Jury will analyze the applications received and will verify the pertinence and quality of each file, according to the certification criteria.
  4. If the application is approved, the Jury will issue a certificate of excellence, which the Rues principales Foundation will send to the newly "4-Aces" certified municipality. If the application is not approved, the Jury will indicate to the Rues principales Foundation the reasons why and will provide advice with respect to the elements requiring attention in order to obtain certification.

The Jury evaluates each application on the basis of the 12 certification criteria explained below.

PARTNERSHIP/JOINT ACTION

  1. Legal status: An autonomous legal structure still in force, having a recurring investment and operating budget, managed by the partners.
  2. Representativeness: The major public and private economic, social, cultural and community actors are equally represented and take part in the coordination/joint action structure.
  3. Duration of the partnership: Established and maintained for at least three years.

PLANNING: VISION AND STRATEGY

  1. Preparation of planning documents: Existence of written documents that specify the vision and joint action strategies, updated and current.
  2. Maintenance of socio-economic reference data: The actors have put together, have access to or maintain a set of socio-economic data that makes it possible to follow the market evolution and identify local development potential.
  3. Staff: A resource person is hired and dedicated to the socio-economic revitalization process; he/she coordinates work, keeps the joint-action mechanisms active, and ensures that the objectives and actions needed to ensure lasting results are attained and accomplished.

IMPLEMENTATION

  1. Existence of action plans: Action plans, arising from the vision established and the socio-economic revitalization and sustainable development objectives, propose and plan actions taking into account all the components (organization, economic development, animation-promotion, physical improvements) that fall within short, medium and long-term timeframes (2 to 10 years).
  2. Coordination: The vision, strategies and action plans are all coordinated with the planning of each major partner.
  3. Taking charge: The action plans take into consideration and integrate the participation of each partner and each interest group by promoting involvement, commitment and taking charge at a local level.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

  1. Adequacy: The actions accomplished and the outcomes are tied to the vision and the strategies.
  2. Constant monitoring: The implementation and accomplishment of actions are monitored and periodically evaluated to ensure adherence to the objectives and attainment of results so as to be able to generate the feedback required and take the appropriate initiatives.
  3. Circulation of information: Efforts are made to ensure constant communication in order to ensure that information is circulated, that the partners are kept well informed and that the progress made is known. Dissemination and communication tools inform the citizens of the strategies and their components, announce annually the favoured actions and provide information on the outcomes.
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