In 2019 the San Juan County Economic Development & Visitor Services (SJCEDVS) office allocated $100K into a Cafeteria Program & Co-Op Grant Program--essentially a grant and resource program--to assist communities and business groups in their tourism marketing efforts. The funding for this program is a percentage of the Transient Room Tax (TRT) dollars the county receives that state statute ear marks for the marketing of tourism. The hope of our office in opening these programs was to help applicants stretch their marketing dollar and messaging, as well as to provide collaborative reinvestment into the communities and businesses generating these funds.

The Co-Op Grant Program: The purpose of the SJC EDVS Co-Op Program is to assist in stretching out-of-county marketing dollars. This program is a grant managed by the San Juan County EDVS office, and awarded by the San Juan County Tourism Tax Advisory Board (TTAB). Cities, towns, communities, business groups, and community organizations can apply for up to $5,000 for out-of-county tourism marketing efforts.

The Cafeteria Program: The 2019 SJC EDVS Cafeteria Program has been designed to help community leaders market their comunity through creating assets that help visitors with navigating and getting to know San Juan County's communities. These assets have been hand-selected and crafted to truly showcase your communities.

For 2019 we are pleased that a variety of partners were awarded Co-Op grants amounting to $48,900 in grant funding awarded, leading to $210,781.00 total value in projects throughout the county.

Additionally, with the Cafeteria Programs we had all three incorporated cities opt in (Monticello, Blanding, and Bluff) to participate in all of the options for the program including the creation of a Community Guidebook, City Rip Map, and Social Media Influencer visit. The Community Guidebooks and Rip Maps will be available mid-January 2020.

Article posted in the San Juan Record, who is partnered with the San Juan Chamber of Commerce to create 101 Ways to Experience San Juan County. The Chamber was one of the co-op grant recipients allowing them to double the printing of their publication.