Keeping Local Dollars Local
The Wilds Are Working: Recreation and Technology in Rural PA campaign invests in Pennsylvania-Wilds based businesses through a regional gift card program. Each remote worker to visit the region through the program is provided a stipend in the form of a Shop the PA Wilds gift card. This card is then redeemable only at participating small businesses throughout the region.
The Shop the PA Wilds digital community gift card allows people to give the perfect gift – funds to shop at area restaurants, artisans, boutiques, wineries, breweries, outfitters and other service providers, all while knowing that the money will strengthen the PA Wilds economy.
All businesses available on the Shop the PA Wilds digital gift card are members of the Wilds Cooperative of Pennsylvania, a growing network of more than 450 small businesses based in the 13-county PA Wilds region.
Press Coverage:
For media inquiries, please email:
Britt Madera, Communications Manager at the PA Wilds Center — bmadera@pawildscenter.org
John Sider, Vice President of Business Development, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA — johnsider@cnp.benfranklin.org
Ellen Matis, Wilds Are Working Project Manager; Founder + CEO, Hello Social Co. — ellen@hellosocialco.com
Tina Johns Solak, Cameron County Chamber — cameronchamber@gmail.com
Savannah L. Casey, Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry — szimmerman@wccbi.org
About the PA Wilds
The Pennsylvania Wilds is a 13-county region that includes the counties of Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Warren, and northern Centre. The PA Wilds is home to the greatest concentration of public lands in the Commonwealth. The PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc., is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to integrate conservation and economic development in a way that inspires the communities of the Pennsylvania Wilds. Based in the region, the Center is the lead nonprofit for the PA Wilds Conservation Landscape effort, a 15+year collaborative effort by local, state and federal partners to establish the region as a premier outdoor recreation destination as a way to diversify local economies, attract investment, inspire stewardship, improve quality of life and attract and retain the region’s working-age population. PA Wilds Center works closely with PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, PA Department of Community and Economic Development, the region’s county governments, and other investors in the regional strategy.
Among its many programs, the PA Wilds Center operates the regional visitor site pawilds.com and related marketing; manages The Wilds Cooperative of PA, a robust network of makers and other rural entrepreneurs and partner organizations that are helping to grow the region as a destination; houses the PA Wilds Design Guide for Community Character Stewardship, a free planning resource for communities; manages the PA Wilds trademark for the public good; is scaling a commerce platform (brick and mortar PA Wilds Conservation Shops and the online marketplace ShopThePAWilds.com) that fills gaps in visitor services while expanding market access for rural entrepreneurs and raising funds for conservation. The Center is also the fiscal and administrative home of the PA Wilds Planning Team, a regional stakeholder group formed in 2006 through a ground-breaking Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement.
For more information on the PA Wilds Center, visit www.PAWildsCenter.org. To learn more about the WCO, visit www.WildsCoPA.org. Explore the PA Wilds at www.pawilds.com. Find products made in the region at www.shopthepawilds.com.
Always more to explore
