DUBOIS – Registration is now open for the 2019 PA Wilds Annual Dinner & Awards, which will take place on Nov. 7 and will celebrate both Champions of the Pennsylvania Wilds Award winners and the Pennsylvania Wilds as a Rural Development Hub.
Katharine Ferguson, associate director of the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group and director of CSG’s Regional and Rural Development Initiatives, will keynote the event and report on innovative community and economic development models in rural America.
The Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., released a research brief in early 2019 on Rural Development Hubs, via the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group. The brief presented topline findings from interviews with 40 field-leading Rural Development Hubs in the United States.
Earl Gohl, former federal co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission and keynote speaker at the 2018 PA Wilds Annual Dinner, was the first to identify the PA Wilds initiative as a Rural Development Hub, sparking a conversation between the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship Inc. (PA Wilds Center) and the Aspen Institute.
“We think Katharine’s message about rural community and economic development hubs speaks directly to the work that is being accomplished across the Pennsylvania Wilds and will resonate with the many stakeholders we partner with every day,” said Ta Enos, chief executive officer and founder of the PA Wilds Center, a non-profit that seeks to integrate conservation and economic development within the 13-county region known as the Pennsylvania Wilds.
The 2019 PA Wilds Annual Dinner & Awards will be held Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019 at the DuBois Country Club, 10 Lakeside Ave., DuBois, PA 15801.
The program will spotlight the Champion of the Pennsylvania Wild Awards – given out annually to individuals, organizations, communities and businesses that have made significant contributions to help grow and sustainably develop the outdoor recreation economy and nature tourism in the Pennsylvania Wilds.
Hosted by the PA Wilds Center in coordination with the PA Wilds Planning Team, the event is the premier networking opportunity in the Pennsylvania Wilds, where more than 250 state and regional representatives, business and community leaders and citizens gather to talk about how nature and heritage tourism efforts are positively impacting area communities.
Event registration is now open at http://www.pawildscenter.org/awards-dinner/registration.
