Bladen County Cluster
Economic need
Bladen County is a tier 1 county that has lost more than 1,000 jobs over the last three years as textile plants and tobacco warehouses have closed. The county's unemployment rate is currently 7.2 percent.
Like the county, most of the four towns in this cluster—Elizabethtown, White Lake, Clarkton, and Bladenboro—has a poverty rate of approximately 30 percent. Vacant storefronts are a common sight. The towns range in size from 529 to 3,698, with a collective population of 6,650. Although they share many social and economic ties, they have distinctive features as well. Bladenboro, for example, supports an industrial park, but White Lake's economy is driven entirely by seasonal tourism.
History
Bladen's Bloomin', a nonprofit revolving loan program, and Bladen's Bloomin' Agri-industrial Inc., a nonprofit real estate program, have been working with the four towns to create economic activity for the last 15 years. Currently, the towns and Bladen County are planning a regional surface water treatment plant on the Cape Fear River. This is a critical component to economic development in an area that has previously depended on a groundwater reservoir that has been overdrawn. The towns also see small business development as an essential part of their future.
Vision/Goals/Expectations
For STEP, the four-town cluster has established five overriding goals. (1) They will seek to develop and strengthen leadership. This will include special focus on the next generation of leaders, possibly through a leadership mentoring program. (2) They will create an environment that supports entrepreneurship. One town's small business incubator is inspiring the others to plan their own. (3) They plan to undertake visual and structural improvements in their downtowns as a further stimulant to small business development. Façade improvement grants and building reuse/renovation loans are possible tools. (4) They plan to address infrastructure issues that could inhibit future growth. (5) Finally, they will encourage tourism that in turn will create additional business opportunities.
Contact
Robert G. Hester, President
P.O. Box 2203
Elizabethtown, NC 28337
Phone: 910-862-6755
Fax: 910-862-6757
E-mail: edc@bladenco.org
