SRDC receives Walmart funds to help strengthen rural communities

SRDC receives funding from Walmart Giving.

The Southern Rural Development Center (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. 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.