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Lead Entity: Allendale County ALIVE

State: South Carolina
County (Census Tracts): Allendale (9701,9702,9703,9704, 9705.98)
Community Population: 11,722
Poverty Rate: 36%
Net Land Area: 408 square miles

• Round I Champion Community
• 61% of the single family population is under the poverty level
• Allendale County has the lowest per capita income and the lowest median household income in the State
• The unemployment rate is 8.5%, one of the highest in South Carolina

Allendale County, one of the smallest of South Carolina’s 46 counties, is located along the Georgia border in the southwestern edge of the state. Allendale County has a rich history of a grassroots approach to economic and community development, and they used this experience to generate a comprehensive strategic plan with benchmark goals that takes a holistic approach to improving the economic and social conditions in their community.

The process for creating a comprehensive strategic economic and community development plan was taking place in Allendale County well before they decided to apply for EZ/EC designation, they have had great success as a Round I Champion Community and the desire to implement their goals regardless of designation.

• Expand the pool of active, effective leaders in the County-provide education for citizens to promote active involvement in community affairs, develop curriculum for education programs, schedule and implement training sessions for the community, high schools and middle schools, establish mentoring programs to instill leadership qualities;
• Health-increase access to health care, enlarge corps of health professionals in the county, institute countywide mobile health van service, increase patient access to medical specialists in the county, provide more immediate access to emergency health care county wide, implement a Quick Response Vehicle System, lower infant mortality rate, lower substance abuse, and expand wellness opportunities;
• Education and Untrained Workforce-train the local workforce to meet the needs of the business/industries of the county, reduce the rate of pregnancy and substance abuse by adolescents, increase children’s readiness for school, increase access to literacy programs, strengthen school-community relations, provide extended community access to technology;
• Infrastructure-develop a county land use plan to support activities of the strategic plan, upgrade the water and sewer system to meet community needs, create a comprehensive program to provide affordable housing, provide access to low-interest loans for housing repairs and maintenance, lower pollution levels in the Savannah River, provide a county-wide cost effective waste management system;
• County Revitalization-expand child care services to include nontraditional hours, create a One-Stop-Capital-Shop and engage the businesses in using its services, create a small business incubator, institute a microenterprise development program, develop a youth entrepreneur program.

The application process emerged when Allendale ALIVE, a local grassroots organizations, chose to partner with the University of South Carolina. This partnership expanded to include more than twenty State, local and private organizations including Clemson University, regional banks, the NAACP, and area businesses. Participating groups represent minority and low-income folks and have worked to involve all members of the community. Through cooperation these groups were able to maximize their resources and bring a diverse range of skills and experience to the table when outlining the strategy for implementing their strategic plan.

The Allendale strategic plan has secured over $3 million in outside funding sources and clearly outlines a strategy for identifying financial resources and leveraging SSBG funds to achieve their benchmark goals.

The strategic plan was created and refined over the years through the involvement of a wide pool of community members. The degree of community commitment is evidenced in the large number of people who attended public meetings and chose to get involved in the process by being members of one of the several task force groups. The people of Allendale County will continue to participate in the implementation of the strategic plan over the next ten years and serve as the monitors of progress as the benchmark goals are achieved.

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