NET September 2024 Webinar: CREATE BRIDGES

The September 2024 National Extension Tourism webinar featured the CREATE BRIDGES program: Celebrating Retail, Accommodations, Tourism and Entertainment by Building Rural Innovations and Developing Growth Economies (CREATE BRIDGES).

CREATE BRIDGES is a community development program designed for multi-county regions to raise awareness of the role retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment businesses play in the local economy; determine challenges, barriers, and opportunities related to those businesses; and develop and implement strategies to strengthen the retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment sectors within a region.

During this webinar, Sara Siems (Assistant Extension Specialist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University) gave an overview of the CREATE BRIDGES program and curriculum. Sara, along with CREATE BRIDGES team members, shared development strategies implemented in program pilot states around the US.