Grant helps society boost web presence
PRESQUE ISLE — The Presque Isle Historical Society will have a little help making its website more accessible on mobile devices, thanks to a recent grant.
The historical society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the living history of the city through educational programs, was awarded funding by the Maine Woods Tourism Training Initiative, and will use it to update its website in order to make it easily readable on cell phones and to include an online ticketing system.
The society is among 26 companies and organizations across the Maine Woods who have taken advantage of a matching grant program from the initiative to help improve their business, with grants and technical assistance totaling $16,000 so far.
The grants range from $500 to $1,000, and help tourism businesses hire consultants on topics such as social media marketing, customer service, customer relations management, business management and more. Businesses in rural Maine Woods communities have used the grants awarded to date to take on projects for which they needed outside help.
According to Jessica O’Hare of the MWTTI, the initiative saw the value in supporting cultural heritage tourism in Presque Isle. Offering cultural enrichment to visitors helps support sustainable tourism development that agrees with community values.
The historical society’s website has not yet been completed.
Other awardees in this latest round of funding included several from southern Maine. O’Hare said funding is still available to help other tourism businesses improve their business operations.
Projects are evaluated on a case-by-base and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until Nov. 1, 2016. Grants will match the businesses’ investment by as much as one-to-one toward the cost of the consultant, and be distributed on a reimbursement basis.
For information, contact Aroostook County representative Alain Ouellette at the Northern Maine Development Commission, aouellette@nmdc.org, or 498-8736.
