Experts have told us that we should continue to plan for frequent interruptions and modifications to business operations from the pandemic. Is your leadership and economic development team ready to help ensure a healthy community as we enter the fall and winter season? The time is now to make changes to adapt and ensure that South Carolina’s local economies remain resilient.
For innovative, adaptive ideas, we are highlighting two of Main Street South Carolina’s communities: Main Street Hartsville and See Lancaster. Each has creatively assisted their small businesses with real solutions to stressed economies.
By tapping into public and private support, the Hartsville community developed a micro-loan program known as the All-America City Comeback Campaign that assisted 38 businesses and provided more than $150,000 in direct assistance.
Lancaster used a gift card program to infuse more than $50,000 into its downtown businesses. All 170 city employees were given a $300 gift card redeemable at local businesses that opted to participate. This program was so impactful that it will return during the holiday season in the form of $100 gift cards for all city employees.
In the past several months, event cancellations have been a constant, but we have also seen new ways of hosting events. One resourceful modification to meet social distancing measures is drive-in movie nights. This public gathering variation got a positive reception from Lancaster residents. Additionally, local event sponsors have allowed cancelled event monies to be used for new programming as seen in Hartsville with their just-launched discounted gift certificate.
When canceling or modifying planned activities, constant communication is a must. In fact, with limited community interactions at the moment, communicating positive messages is important. Hartsville and Lancaster have seen increased engagement on social media posts (See some of Hartsville’s efforts here and Lancaster’s here) that celebrate building renovations, business expansions and public projects. Increased awareness of these positive activities cultivate excitement and hope for the future.
We talked about these practical solutions with the leaders of these two programs — Suzy Moyd in Hartsville and Joe Timmons in Lancaster — in a recent episode of the City Quick Connect podcast. These are two fantastic program directors and they’re doing amazing work in their communities.