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CREATE BRIDGES Project issues final report

CREATE BRIDGES assisted the Southern Five counties of Illinois in developing and implementing new strategies and actions to strengthen the region’s retail, accommodations, tourism and entertainment sector businesses and their workforce. 

In 2023, the Illinois Extension CREATE BRIDGES Program Team collaborated with regional partner organizations to support small CREATE BRIDGES funded projects in five core strategy areas: Regional Marketing and Promotion; Buy Local Education and Marketing; Creative Placemaking; Small Business and Workforce Development; and Community Capacity Building.

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ABOUT CREATE BRIDGES

CREATE BRIDGES serves a vital role for communities.

While manufacturing and professional services are often the focus of economic development efforts, businesses in the retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment sectors are important to the viability of communities and regions. These industries provide needed goods, services and amenities to residents and visitors and enhance quality of life. They are often a major source of jobs and tax revenue for communities.

The CREATE BRIDGES initiative was launched to develop and test a process to promote and strengthen retail, accommodations, tourism and entertainment sectors, particularly in rural, economically distressed areas.

The goal

1. Raise awareness of the role these important businesses play in the region’s economy
2. Determine challenges and barriers negatively impacting those businesses
3. Develop and implement strategies to strengthen the retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment sectors within a region.

The process

During the pilot period, state-wide program teams assisted rural, economically distressed regions as they:

• formed a regional steering committee
• conducted an inventory of CREATE businesses and existing training programs
• hosted a CREATE BRIDGES forum
• implemented a business retention and expansion program
• convened a CREATE academy
• developed and implemented new strategies and actions to strengthen the CREATE businesses in the region

Program Partners

The CREATE BRIDGES initiative is a partnership among the Southern Rural Development Center, University of Kentucky’s Community & Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK), University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service’s Community, Professional and Economic Development (UACES-CED), and Oklahoma State University Extension.   

Illinois Extension, North Carolina State Extension, and New Mexico State Cooperative Extension Service joined the program in Phase 2. 

CREATE BRIDGES is built upon the Southern Rural Development Center led Stronger Economies Together (SET) initiative, a collaborative effort across 32 states that helped rural counties work together to develop and implement an economic development plan for their multi-county region.

Illinois Extension CREATE BRIDGES Program Team

Susan Odum, Illinois Extension Specialist, Community Economic Development led this exciting new initiative for Illinois. Other members of the state-wide program team included: Zach Kennedy, Illinois Extension State Specialist, Community Economic Development; Quin Colson, Researcher, Community Economic Development; and Destenie Sullivan, Research Assistant, Community Economic Development. 

Read the September 2020 announcement for the Illinois pilot program.  

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