The VF Foundation awarded a second $150,000 grant to Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE). With a total of $300,000 in grant aid awarded, the VF Foundation is CORE’s largest funder to date. These grants are intended to support CORE’s ongoing research and the growth of a national consortium of institutions aiming to offer or expand outdoor industry programming.

As Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) continues to grow, our team looks to industry partners and specialized consultants for valuable guidance and insights. One of our key collaborators is Kristen Freaney, who plays an important advisory role for CORE through her consulting business, Path to Peak. Kristen recently announced a new venture, Career School,.

Last month, Erin Gaines, Industry and Government Relations Strategist for Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE), joined Chris Perkins, Senior Director for Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), to co-host a webinar titled, “How Investments in Outdoor Recreation Build Resilient Economies, Jobs, and Communities.” Their presentation was designed to help attendees.

Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) has joined other leading recreation organizations as the newest member of Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR). As ORR’s first higher education member, OSU’s CORE will bring the bandwidth and expertise of a top-tier public university to the $788 billion outdoor recreation industry, supporting the sector’s research and.

Last year, as the United States grappled with some hard truths about racial justice and accountability following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others, business leaders were ready to acknowledge longstanding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenges and opportunities within their organizations. For Cairn, a small business based in Bend, Oregon offering monthly.

For the past year, Oregon State University has been leading a nationwide effort to create a national Outdoor Recreation Workforce Development Consortium. This Consortium would bring together academia and the outdoor industry to address the industry’s workforce needs and skills gaps and to develop stronger, more consistent, and more accessible training and education programs for outdoor industry.

The demand for both close-to-home and regional outdoor recreation opportunities has never been higher. While that’s good news for the outdoor economy, it’s also putting pressure on an industry workforce that is already struggling with chronic skill-gaps and a retirement wave. By uniting around a new vision of workforce development, the outdoor recreation industry can capture the full opportunity.

Meredith Morrice, who heads up industry engagement for the Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy, was recently a featured guest on First Monday Update, a monthly video segment hosted by Anita Azarenko, interim vice president for Oregon State Extension & Engagement. Considering that the Center was still in the initiative phase the last time it was covered on an episode of First Monday Update,.

The latest episode of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association's podcast, The Mountain, features a conversation between PNSAA president, Jordan Elliott, the our lead instructional designer, Danny Powers, about how augmented reality, user-centric design, and a healthy dose of humor are driving much-needed innovation in technical training for the outdoor recreation industry.

If you've been looking for opportunities to advance your career in the outdoor recreation economy, we have exciting news: We're now accepting applications for the next cohort in our Outdoor Industry Leadership Certificate program.