Our Mission

The Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) joins the interests of city and county government, trade and civic associations and travel suppliers to increase visitor traffic to our area. The Bureau acts as a liaison between potential visitors and those that host them. The aim of our CVB is to position Yazoo County as a regionally, nationally and internationally recognized destination by developing quality marketing programs and sales outreach to attract visitors to our area. All requests for funding from any group/organization will be filtered by this Mission Statement and must help us meet our goal of increased visitor traffic.

The Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau is accepting tourism grant applications for events and projects scheduled for our next fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2024).  The deadline to return applications to the CVB is August 31, 2023.

Download an application by clicking the link below, or request to have an application sent to you by Contacting Us.

Click here to download application

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader or a similar free program to open the PDF file and to view the application.

 

Tourism Grant FAQ

What grants are available?

The Yazoo County CVB offers two types of grants. The first and probably most popular type is for Advertising & Promotion of an event, site, or attraction. The second is for Preservation/Enhancement, which includes the repair or improvement of tourism-related sites, and for placement of historical or cultural markers.

What benefits come from these grants?

Each of these grants is a reimbursement type and do not involve the transfer of funds directly to your organization. They do, however, help your organization replenish funds for services or goods that are covered under your type of grant up to the amount your event or project has been approved for. The financial benefit from each type of grant can be the determining factor in your project or event succeeding.

In addition to the grant money which can be reimbursed to your organization, approved events, sites, attractions and projects are included in the CVB’s advertising campaign. Using our expertise as the tourism bureau for Yazoo County, we advertise Yazoo County’s offerings to the world through many venues, possibly including radio, television, magazines, tour operators, web ads, e-mail newsletters, social media, etc. We are also happy to assist your organization by request with recommendations on ad placements, cooperative advertising recommendations, free and low-cost publicity outlets, press releases, festival-production guides, lists of area performers, and more.

Who can apply and what are the requirements?

For the most part, requirements for our grants are very simple, and include: Project must help the Yazoo County CVB to meet our goal of increased visitor traffic, Yazoo County CVB must be recognized as a sponsor in all of your advertising, the exact proofs of your advertisements and press releases should be submitted to the CVB for approval prior to release, a final report and requests for reimbursement must be submitted no more than 60 days after completion of your project, and your project must have an established bank account in order to receive reimbursements. In some circumstances, the requirements can be a bit more complicated, and we suggest that you take the time to read and fully understand the application before applying. We are happy to answer any questions you may have. We hope it is understood that our requirements are in no way intended to discourage or limit your organization in applying for or receiving a grant. Our first responsibility is to the taxpayers, whose contributions fund our grant program. It is imperative that we have a set of checks and balances in place to ensure grant funds are used appropriately and in a way that benefits Yazoo County’s tourism goals.

What does this mean for Yazoo?

The goal of the Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau’s grant program is to increase the tourism-related offerings in Yazoo County for our visitors and to continue to increase the number and quality of visitors to our area each and every year. The reimbursements and expertise received by grant-approved organizations from the CVB can not only mean success for an event, site, attraction or project, but it can also mean growth, which in the long run means growth for all businesses in Yazoo County. Walt Grayson put it best when he said, ”The only pollution tourism leaves is money.”

Are there any other types of assistance available from the Yazoo County CVB for local events?

The Yazoo County CVB also offers an Event Sponsorship Program. Learn more at the following link: Event Sponsorships