Welcome Terence Roberts, TATT Chairman
Guest Presentation
Federal Update—Congressman William Timmons, South Carolina 4th Congressional District
- Economic relief: our economy was in best place it has been, so it fell hard. Currently we have 19+ million unemployed, $30 trillion debt.
- In SC $20 billion Pension shortfall, $8B is SC state budget annually. Next year USA owes $800 billion on interest payment on our loan
- COVID—number one best treatment is convalescent plasma; Blood Connection in Greenville is out so if you know anyone who has had COVID and recovered, encourage them to give blood.
- If you are high risk, stay home but let’s get everyone else back to work!
- Challenge will be to maintain economy as cases grow. Hospital capacity is the only reason we will shut down again. We need to be careful, methodical, intentional.
- To his small business friends, he tells them to keep cash on hand, get a loan, hang on until vaccine. Expects vaccine by March 2021.
- There is a law that says if you are high risk, you are protected and do not have to return to work right now (over 60/underlying health issues). So if your boss is giving you a hard time, it’s not OK. But for everyone else, it should be OK to go back, if you are safe about it.
TATT Updates Dean Hybl, TATT Executive Director
- July TATT Chats to be held July 16 and July 30
County Updates
Pickens: Roy Costner, County Council Chairman
- Testing through DHEC, great work.
- Clemson face mask ordinance, other municipalities asking
- council working on local ordinances for small businesses, hopefully by July
- working towards task force on broadband, hoping for federal funding
Anderson: Carol Burdette, United Way of Anderson County
- COVID testing—sites open, today was the 3rd one
- Last week over 800 people tested. 505 cases, 10 deaths, upward trend
- Biggest questions is about schools—all five superintendents in a meeting last week, all gung ho to go, but it’s a question that’s back and forth daily
- At the UW, we’re working on collaborative among SHARE, AIM, and Clemson Community Care to ensure that every family that needs help to stay in their home. More collaboration during this time than ever before.
- County econ devel and mfg to increase childcare opportunities
Greenville: JoKeitha Seabrook, United Way of Greenville County
- Greenville is hotspot, a lot of organizations still working at home
- Decision about schools will be coming down soon, probably some sort of hybrid
- UW has raised $1.2 million, given out $540K out in mini grants, food, housing, utilities, now moving into healthcare and education.
- Hispanic population feeling the effects along with other minorities, trying to identify barriers
- Localized 211, mini grants to CommunityWorks, etc. to help with housing, etc. Shelters were closed and people have been housed in hotels.
Laurens: Amanda Munyan, Laurens County Chamber of Commerce
- Numbers on a quick rise, but also a lot of additional testing
- Leadershhip in the community monitoring that, trying to figure out schools, just like everyone else
- County Council approved funding to be administered by the Chamber for small businesses
Oconee: Annie Caggiano, Oconee Economic Alliance
- UW still has funding for tornado relief
- Seeing more masks, no talk of ordinances
- County focused on budget. Between tornado and COVID, there’s been a lot.
- Economic development has been really busy, which is good news. Manufacturers are the largest employers in Oconee.
- No-contact thermometers distributed to manufacturers, tourism destinations, etc.
Other updates that weren’t shared on the call due to time:
Frannie Stockwell—Cherokee County: Encouraging that loans are available for small businesses again, but discouraging that jobs are not readily available to those looking
Todd Horne—Spartanburg County: Chamber and Chapman Cultural Center partnering for a face mask challenging, placing masks on public works of art to encourage mask use; the Bringing Back the Burg Business Recovery Task Force is making major strides. We have amassed $478,000 for the Bringing Back the Burg Small Business Fund which will be announced in a press conference this afternoon.
Katherine Pendergrass—Union County: Ribbon cutting for new shop downtown on Main St. today: Belmont Farm Bake Shoppe; Blood Drive Friday, registrations have already exceeded their expectation—they hoped for 27, we’ve got 58 registered with more saying they will walk in; Groundbreaking ceremony was held last week for “The Depot” which is a “Main Street Alleyway” to additional parking as well as a place for vendors during special downtown festivities. This will also be another source of community pride.
Marisel Losa—Greenwood County: Greenwood Counts website about to launch—indicators broken down by gender, age, race/ethnicity, income, etc., will allow for funding that requires those kinds of indicators.