Downtown Florence received the Main Street South Carolina Outstanding Award. Main Street South Carolina is a program of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.
The award recognizes a public/private partnership that leads to successful achievements for both and clearly demonstrates a cooperative spirit and long-term commitment to the partnership.
The Florence Downtown Development Corporation’s North Dargan Innovation Center, a startup incubator space, struggled to gain traction with entrepreneurs. Aiming to make it more sustainable and effective, the Downtown Florence Main Street program partnered with Francis Marion University to advance the center’s mission.
FDDC provided a physical space, a renovated downtown storefront, while the university provided personnel including an executive director, grant-funded training programs, on-site mentorship with professionals and other support services. With its new support, the center grew into the multi-campus Kelley Center for Economic Development. The Main Street program subsidizes rent for Kelley Center graduates for up to two years for businesses in the program area.
In its new form, the Kelley Center has helped bring about several new small businesses in downtown Florence, ranging from a dance studio to food service businesses and a marketing agency. It played an instrumental role in supporting Florence’s downtown grocery store, which has eliminated a food desert.
“This partnership between Downtown Florence and Francis Marion University has reinvented a key downtown space in a way that drives entrepreneurship and bolsters local business owners. The North Dargan Innovation Center is helping to build the downtown business environment of Florence’s future,” said Jenny Boulware, Main Street SC manager.
Main Street South Carolina empowers residents, business owners and local officials with the knowledge, skills, tools and organizational structure necessary to revitalize their downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts into vibrant centers of commerce and community.
Main Street South Carolina follows the National Main Street’s Four Point Approach — economic vitality, design, promotion and organization. Each year, Main Street South Carolina recognizes members’ achievements and successes in downtown revitalization. For more information about Main Street South Carolina, visit the Municipal Association’s website at www.masc.sc (keyword: Main Street).
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