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Community colleges and the outdoor economy
Trail outside Hendersonville, NC. Caroline Parker/EducationNC

Community colleges and the outdoor economy

Community Colleges

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the outdoor recreation economy accounted for around $9.9 billion of North Carolina’s GDP in 2020.  This is just from sales or receipts generated by outdoor recreational activities, such as fishing and RVing. It doesn’t include the spending on outdoor gear, the economic impact of tourism to these outdoor areas, the job opportunity in maintaining our recreational areas and so much more. 

EducationNC wants to identify what community colleges are doing to contribute to the outdoor economy’s workforce pipeline. This could be anything from trail maintenance to working for an outdoor gear company, to taking people down the river as a raft guide. This survey will take no longer than 7 minutes, and we hope to use the answers in a story on how community colleges are contributing to the outdoor economy. Thank you and thank you for lifting up our students and state!

SURVEY

Community Colleges
Caroline Parker

Caroline Parker, an award-winning journalist, worked with EducationNC from 2017-26. Our director of rural storytelling and strategy, she is known and respected across the state for her stories about rural North Carolina, especially her leadership during the pandemic, the closing of the Canton papermill, and after Hurricane Helene. Her coverage after Helene led to a partnership with the Associated Press and EdNC being honored by the N.C. Press Association for public service.

She has traveled to and through six of the seven continents, but grew up in rural Franklin, Virginia. Caroline attended the University of Georgia and graduated from the Grady School of Journalism.

She is inspired by seeing new places and calls many of them home.

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