DARLINGTON — In a time when many organizations are scaling back and dealing with the effects of the economic recession, Darlington County Progress Inc. is bucking the trend.
The private, nonprofit corporation works with the Darlington County Economic Development Partnership to foster and support economic development efforts in Darlington County.
The partnership has been in operation for less than a year, but officials say they are already making big progress when it comes to economic development efforts in Darlington County.
“There really is no precedent for what we’ve done here locally, but it’s not that dissimilar to what’s been done in Florence County next door,” Robert Long, executive director of the Darlington County Economic Development Partnership, said. “They have two separate organizations ... the economic development corporation and Florence County Progress, and they have similar goals and objectives that we have.”
Long announced Monday that Darlington County Progress has surpassed its private sector fundraising goal and is committed to funding half of the proposed $280,000 operating budget of the Darlington County Economic Development Partnership for 2009.
“In essence, we’re able to reduce the county’s financial commitment to economic development, while at the same time increasing the overall budget,” Long said. “Our whole goal is basically to be more proactive in promoting economic development in Darlington County.”
By funding half of the partnership’s budget, the total budget amount would be reduced from $250,930 to a proposed $140,000, Long said.
The organization was able to exceed its fundraising goals because of an outpouring of support from the local business community, Long said. Despite the current economic hardships, many local business owners were more than willing to help foster growth and help build a better business climate.
Those local business owners funded the $110,930 that will go toward the economic development partnership’s operating budget, Long said.
“A lot of companies or similar organizations are unfortunately having to cut their budgets,” he said. “We’re able to grow our budget and we want to be able to take full advantage of that and basically be more proactive when it comes to going to trade shows, and looking for opportunities to meet with companies for lead generation as well as basically expanding our opportunities just in work force.”
By taking a proactive approach in dealing with the recession, Long said, Darlington County Progress and the Darlington County Economic Development Partnership were able to pool resources and even prosper in these difficult economic times.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement