Our Business Calendar

**DDRA Presents Facade Grant**

The Darlington Downtown Revitalization Association (DDRA) presents Dana McKibben with Sassy Girl Vintique its latest Improvement Incentive Grant for signage and other outdoor improvements. The DDRA Improvement Incentive Program has helped encourage more than $200,000 in renovations in the City! Check out the collections of eclectic styles and home décor at Sassy Girl Vintique, 212 Pearl St., Darlington, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. New items arrive weekly.

http://www.buildupdarlington.org

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063493419643.

**Applications Open For Healthy Food Business Development Program**

CHARLESTON, SC, May 17, 2021 - The SC Community Loan Fund is now accepting applications for their Feeding Innovation program launching in June. The ten-week program is open to entrepreneurs in the Pee Dee hoping to develop or expand a healthy food business
“It is inspiring to watch entrepreneurs move through the Feeding Innovation program,” said SCCLF Program Manager Kelly Sharkey. “Participants begin the course believing in their business ideas, and as the course progresses, they gain the knowledge they need to bring their ideas to market.”

During the classes, participants will receive Clemson Agribusiness entrepreneurial training facilitated by Clemson Extension covering the information needed to develop a basic healthy food business plan, from marketing to financial planning to negotiations and deal making. At the end of the program, participants will present their business plans to a panel. The three strongest business plans will be awarded $30,000, $10,000 and $5,000 seed capital awards.

Feeding Innovation is open to entrepreneurs in the Florence area, and any community across South Carolina. Entrepreneurs in healthy food retail, agribusiness, or leading healthy food-related nonprofits are eligible for Feeding Innovation, as are organizations at all stages of development. The course will be held virtually on Wednesday evenings from June through September. Applications are due June 4th.

All interested parties can learn more and apply online at www.sccommunityloanfund.org/feeding-innovation.

Its mission is to advance equitable access to capital to build assets and benefit communities and people most in need of economic opportunity. Since its inception in 2004, it has financed more than $54.7 million in loans throughout the state, resulting in the completion of more than $361.3 million in community development projects. For more information, please visit www.sccommunityloanfund.org.

**The Biden Administration Endorsed Clyburn’s 10-20-30 Plan**

The Biden-Harris Administration sent Congress its first budget request and I am very proud that it endorsed my 10-20-30 plan to lift communities across our country out of poverty.

My 10-20-30 plan would allocate at least 10% of federal program funding to counties where 20% of the population has lived below the poverty line for 30 years or more.

Here’s what the plan accomplishes in tangible terms: new school buses for our children, repairs to our water and waste systems, broadband in our rural communities, updates to life-saving medical equipment at our health centers, and so much more.

The Biden Administration and our Democratic House Majority are fighting to build back our country stronger and more equitably than before, and we can’t do it without your grassroots support. If you are able, please consider making a contribution to our grassroots movement for progress today.

The deep and meaningful investments outlined in the 10-20-30 plan would touch communities that have been neglected for far too long -- from white communities in Kentucky and Native American communities in South Dakota to Latino communities in New Mexico and Black communities in South Carolina.

Right now, we have an opportunity to not only return our country to the way it was before the COVID-19 pandemic but to create profound change, to build back our country and economy stronger and more equitably, and to make America’s greatness accessible and affordable to all.