The Granville County Tourism Development Authority, in partnership with Uplift North Carolina, invites the public to attend a kickoff meeting on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Granville County Convention and Expo Center (4185 US Highway 15  South, Oxford) to begin Project Uplift.

“We are excited to work with Uplift North Carolina to boost tourism and support local businesses in Granville County,” said TDA Director Angela Allen. “We know that visitors to are not concerned with exactly where county lines fall, and we know we can work with Person and Caswell counties as a team to boost all local tourism in this region and across rural North Carolina. We believe Granville is ‘Uniquely Carolina’ and we know anyone who comes to visit us will agree.”

Project Uplift is a collaborative effort between Appalachian State University, NC State University, and NatureScapes. Its goal is to boost tourism in rural North Carolina by working across county borders to support local tourism leaders and practitioners to realize their unique vision for tourism in their communities. Project Uplift will work to boost tourism connections in Granville, Person and Caswell counties, as well as four other county cohorts spread throughout the state.

Uplift North Carolina’s goals for each region are to provide more than 200 businesses with strengthened skills, products or operational models that ultimately will reach more than 3 million people about tourism in rural North Carolina.

The Jan. 26 session will begin with refreshments at 5:30 p.m. followed by a presentation from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP by Friday, Jan. 20 to angela.allen@granvillecounty.org or 919.693.6125.

To learn more about Project Uplift, visit www.uplifttourism.com.