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Bamberg among Promise Zone counties

SC Promise Zone

Excerpted from the Orangeburg Times and Democrat:

APRIL 29, 2015  | Bamberg County is one of several counties in the South Carolina Low Country expected to benefit from designation as a federal Promise Zone.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tim Vilsack and Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday announced eight new Promise Zones, including six cities, one rural area and one tribal community.

Promise Zones are high-poverty communities where the federal government partners with local leaders to increase economic activity, improve educational opportunities, leverage private investment, reduce violent crime, enhance public health and address other priorities identified by the community.

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Six S.C. counties win Promise Zone designation

SC Promise Zone

Excerpted from the Charleston Regional Business Journal:

APRIL 29, 2015  |  The 90,000 residents who live in selected portions of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties have been chosen for a federal program that is expected to add jobs, investment and grant funding to the area.

With a poverty rate of 28.12% and an unemployment rate of 14.7%, the six counties west of the Charleston area were designated earlier this week as the S.C. Promise Zone (.pdf), according to a news release.

The Promise Zone initiative, laid out by President Barack Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address, focuses on creating jobs, leveraging private investment, increasing economic activity, expanding educational opportunities and reducing violent crime in high-poverty counties, according to the news release.

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State’s Southern counties win Promise Zone designation

SC Promise Zone

Excerpted from Statehouse Report:

APRIL 28, 2015 |  The Obama Administration today announced six rural counties in the southern tip of South Carolina won a new federal Promise Zone designation in a program to give pervasively poor places a better chance at getting federal grants and other help.

The state's new Promise Zone essentially is west of Interstate 95 in the southern tip of South Carolina.The designation brings two key tools to the impoverished bottom of the state: a handful of trained federal workers to help counties apply for existing federal grants, and extra points for applications submitted in programs to improve education, grow jobs, boost safety and add affordable housing.

“The Promise Zone designation for our region creates exciting opportunities for our people,” said Danny Black, president and CEO of the SouthernCarolina Alliance.  “As the lead regional organization in this effort, we look forward to working with our partners at the municipal, county, regional, state and federal levels, in both the public and private sectors, to identify, pursue and implement programs that will bring real economic development, community development and workforce training opportunities to our communities.”

Experts say having the Promise Zone designation should pay big dividends to the six counties because they often don’t have the human capital needed to be successful in tapping into federal grant dollars. In the only other rural Promise Zone area announced last year, the eastern area of Kentucky has been successful in winning more than $43 million of major grant funding.

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Jasper County part of new Promise Zone

SC Promise Zone

Excerpted from the Jasper County Sun Times:

APRIL 28, 2015 |  A six-county area encompassing the SouthernCarolina Alliance region has been designated a federal “Promise Zone” by President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Obama Administration announced Tuesday that SCA is one of eight additional Promise Zones across the country, including six cities, one rural area, and one tribal community.

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