The course is expected to follow the school year and is planned to begin in September of 2007. The program will be divided into modules and will highlight various leadship skills and concepts, as well as various businesses, resources and institutions in Bladen County.

Various employers / groups will be given the opportunity to sponsor a participant. The class will be structured for about 15 participants. Bladen Community College committed to playing an integral role in the planning and facilitation of this program.

More information will be forthcoming.

Additionally, the Bladen Cluster NC STEP Leadership Sub-Committee decided to use "Leadership Bladen" as a brand name by incorporating the phrase in to the title of a quarterly leadership forum.

BLADEN CLUSTER - NC STEP

INITIAL APPLICATION

The Bladen County Cluster application to the NC STEP Program was developed by various community leaders and was endorsed by the town councils / boards of Bladenboro, Clarkton, Elizabethtown and White Lake.

However, the Bladen NC STEP Cluster is not limited by the initial application. With the NC STEP Program, our goal is to make it a community-lead program that changes and adapts to the needs of the community.

With that being said, in order to present an idea of what the original NC STEP application is about, the following synopsis of the original application narrative is offered:

With the NC STEP's three-year program, we hope to receive:

• Education and training scholarships for local leaders;
  
• One-on-one assistance from community development specialists;
  
• Grants to help plan and implement development projects, including up to $20,000 in a planning grant and up to $200,000 in an implementation grant;
  
• Workshops around topics ranging from brownfield development and historic preservation to financial and infrastructure issues; and
  
• Networking with other rural leaders at the state and global levels.

Additionally, we will have an opportunity as a NC STEP site for preferred treatment on other Rural Center grants. Currently, Bladen's Bloomin' staff is putting together a Building Re-Use application to the Rural Center with this preferred status. The grant, if awarded, will provide funding for Flanders Air Filters, which will be locating in Clarkton and should provide 100 -150 jobs.

We also hope that this preferred status will help as our regional group works with Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority, Smithfield Foods, and the Lumber River Council of Governments on getting money for our regional water effort to treat water from the Cape Fear River.

Our initial goals as a result of participation in the NC STEP program are to:

• Improve Leadership;
• Support Entrepreneurship;
• Revitalize Downtowns;
• Support Industrial Development; and
• Create Tourism Opportunities.

The potential programs discussed in our successful application include:

• Leadership Mentoring - This program will allow traditional community leaders to talk to a new generation of potential community leaders and hope that we can develop this into a regular community leadership development program.
  
  
• A Revolving Loan Program for Small Business and Entrepreneurs - This program would make low interest operating capital loans to small businesses or entrepreneurs that would have difficulty securing traditional bank loans.
  
  
• Building Reuse and Renovation Loans - This revolving loan program would make low interest loans to small businesses, entrepreneurs, or facility owners to renovate vacant downtown facilities when the projects create new jobs.
  
  
• Downtown Façade Improvement Grants - This program would provide matching grants for downtown businesses whose investments in renovations of their facilities improve the appearance of downtown areas.
  
  
• Chamber of Commerce / Tourism Promotion Effort - This effort will help the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce begin to implement a plan to promote tourism, shop at home, and supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs.
  
  
• Continuous Infrastructure Improvement Planning - This effort will help the small towns identify infrastructure needs to support future business and industrial growth.

Each town has four representatives on our NC STEP Program Committee - an elected official, two community representatives and a manager / staff representative, along with one representative from Bladen's Bloomin' (the lead group in our application).

It is our vision that through the NC STEP Program, we will work together to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs so that we can become one of the most successful places in the state to start a small businesses. Through this effort, we hope to provide new jobs and business opportunities for our citizens.

By focusing on small business development, entrepreneurship and community development, we will be able to compliment the successes of Bladen's Bloomin' in industrial recruitment and will help improve Bladen County for the future.