Create Bridges

Celebrating REtail, Accommodations, Tourism and Entertainment by

Building Rural Innovations and Developing Growth Economies

OVERVIEW

SRDC has secured funding from Walmart Giving to strengthen retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment industries which often make up a large portion of the jobs and businesses that drive rural economies. The SRDC will collaborate on this initiative with three of its Southern Region Land Grant University (LGU) partners: University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky, and Oklahoma State University.

The initiative, Create Bridges: Celebrating Retail, Accommodations, Tourism, and Entertainment by Building Rural Innovations and Developing Growth Economies, is built upon the SRDC-led Stronger Economies Together (SET) initiative, a collaborative effort across 32 states that helps rural counties work together to develop and implement an economic development plan for their multi-county region. Built in partnership with USDA Rural Development, the nation’s four Regional Rural Development Centers, and LGU partners, SET will serve as a building block for this new initiative.