“A place that people want to call home because of natural beauty, great services, good education, and good jobs”
Participants’ vision for what they want Laurens County to be overwhelmingly fell into a broad quality of life category, with community pride, economy/workforce, and cohesion/unity/mindset responses split pretty evenly behind it. Essentially, residents want their community to be a place where everyone can benefit from and enjoy the qualities that make Laurens County unique.
Cohesion/Unity/Mindset
- More inclusive
- More up & coming—more diverse, more open-minded to change
- ONE county that promotes the well-being of its citizens
- One united area
- Progressive identity culture
- Unified and healthy
Community Pride
- An example to other cities/counties of how to change for the better
- Be more vibrant
- Best county in the state where people want to move to
- Have more pride
- I want Laurens to be the best it can be
- Known as “the Green side of Greenville”
- More vibrant
- Prideful
- Successful
- Vibrant community that shows pride and growth
Economy/Workforce
- A community with commerce
- A locality that can retain its best and brightest in the community. Our “brain drain” is disturbing.
- A STEM hub for larger businesses
- Diverse workforce
- Expand industry along exit 2 (I-385) and exits 53, 54 (I-26)
- Less poverty, more opportunities
- More white-collar jobs
- Quality leader in industry and education
- Strong growth at a steady pace with high-end earners and tech economy
Quality of Life
- A “hot spot” for young couples and families to settle/come back to
- A balanced county with good retail choices, more population, and higher median income
- A destination for tourists/weekenders/day trippers (3 responses)
- A great community to live and work (2 responses)
- A place to attract people to live
- A place to grow
- A place where families want to visit and move to
- A place with a small-town feel with amenities for millennials
- A safe, vibrant, growing community where people want to come live, invest, raise their children, grow old in!
- A thriving town that is progressive but still small-town feel
- A vibrant whole community where our young people want to return to live and work
- Active, healthy community
- An attraction for families who want to stay
- Destination for living, bringing families in
- Keep the family attraction/family friendliness
- Modern yet rural
- Safe, with planned growth
- The #1 place to live, play, work
- The place people want to come for work, to live, and to play
Other
- An affordable alternative for downtown living
- More single-family homes (starter) near the downtown areas
- Have the square revitalized
- More creative