The Calgary Downtown Community is giving away gift cards to students at Bow Valley College

Hundreds of gift cards will be handed out to students at Bow Valley College on Monday.

A downtown Calgary community is handing out cards that cost $50 each.

Brett Bergey says that since the college is based, his goal is to increase interest in spending more time downtown.

“For people to come downtown, there are so many amenities and gathering places and downtown experiences, we're really excited that when they come here, they're going to make downtown part of their post-secondary experience,” he told CityNews. .

The move is part of an effort to help revitalize the core of many businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic and previous economic downturns.