Commissioners updated on 'Marketing Hometown America' program
What keeps families in Cheyenne County? What are people looking for who move here, and can Cheyenne County improve its assets that attract people Those questions and others will be addressed in the Marketing Hometown America program.
By News Channel NebraskaSIDNEY -- Extension Educator Jamie Bright updated the Cheyenne County Commissioners on the Marketing Hometown America program.
"You are probably already aware The Chamber, the City and E3 partnered to apply for funds from the Department of Economic Development last year, and they received almost $30,000 in sponsorship funding for a few different projects. One of these projects is the Marketing Hometown America program that Extension does," Bright said.
She said they are starting the process now and wanted the commissioners to know what is happening.
"Right now we're really just recruiting conversation hosts. Part of the program is small group discussions. So, we need people to lead those discussions. Those will take place in October and November. We'll have groups of hopefully about 10 people, and we're looking for about 10 groups across the county; a couple in the smaller communities and then some in Sidney as well," she said.
Bright said they are looking for people who can meet at different times of the day so the program can reach as many people as possible. She said they are looking for neutral individuals who can guide the discussion without adding many of their own opinions.
There will be a kick-off event October 15 at the Elks Lodge, and an action forum planned for November 18.
"Just to put this all together what Jamie is talking about, the DED funding is a three-phased type of initiative. There's three different initiatives for this project. So this is just one component, but they all work very closely together. So the information that is going to be gathered from this is going to be used in those other components," E3 Navigator Alisha Juelfs said.
The project is designed to keep residents and attract people from outside of the area.
For more information or to lead a group, contact Joe McCarn at the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce.
To learn more about the Marketing Hometown America program, see https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/marketing-hometown-america/