Potential Opportunities Guide Taylors TownSquare improves the Taylors, South Carolina community by facilitating connections and enabling responses to those connections. To do this, we will work in 5 key areas: Relational, Physical, Communication, Economic, and Real Estate. While some of these needs are met by our current TownSquare meetings and communication initiatives, over the years we have collected information about the things you have told us you would like to see in the Taylors Community. Today, we are going to look at a few projects that have been identified from the total of feedback over the past 2 years of Taylors TownSquare.
The Activity Step 1 Around the room you will see scattered pieces of butchers paper on tables that have different potential project names on them. You can find out more about each project from the brief descriptions in this document. Using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threat analysis method, we will analyze these projects together. Talk to one another, but don't compare projects at this point, you are only seeking to analyze each project on its own merit.
SWOT Analysis In SWOT Analysis, you analyze a task in terms of its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ● Strengths | Things about our organization that make a project more likely to succeed. ● Weakness | Things about our organization that make a project more likely not to fully succeed. ● Opportunities | Things going on outside our organization that make a project more likely to succeed. ● Threats | Things going on outside our organization that make a project more likely not to fully succeed.
Step 2 We will give everyone 3 stickers in which to identify the top three projects that you would support Taylors TownSquare with your own time and money in pursuing. Each of these projects will benefit some facets of our community over others, but our goal is to get a sense of what direction our community wants to go. If you would not support a project with your own time or money, simply don't identify any projects with stickers. Talk to people. Find out why they think the way they do. Make a friend. And then together, we can all move forward.
The Potential Projects Community Festival A Relational Project Many individuals have proposed hosting a community festival of some type since the inception of Taylors TownSquare meetings. Festivals can generate lots of activity for local businesses and can generate a spirit of cooperation in a community.
Some Key Needs ● Local businesses, organizations, and church partners for both volunteers and finances. ● Location suitable to host a festival ● A strong leadership team to coordinate the event
Farmers Markets A Relational Project Farmers Markets can be a great opportunity for local producers to meet consumers while creating greater transparency in where our food comes from.
Some Key Needs ● ● ● ●
Vendors to supply the market People to run the market Monies to fund the market in the form of sponsorships or donations. A strong leadership team to coordinate the market
Chick Springs Park A Physical Project The proposed Chick Springs Park sits on of one of the oldest historic areas in our community, the former Chick Springs Hotel and Resort site. Greenville County Recreation is nearing the completion of negotiations to acquire the property. As the process continues, they will need volunteer support for work days to help clean up the area along with other needs to be determined.
Some Key Needs: ● Volunteer base willing to help with workdays and other events ● Potential financial sponsors to make components of the park happen
Main Street/Gateway Upfitting A Physical Project As part of the forthcoming Taylors Community Plan by Greenville County Planning, we can take an active role in executing specific components from the plan as they are related to Main Street and Gateway Upfits. This is a topic we have heard a lot about, from people mentioning things like bike lanes and sidewalks, to signage and streetlights.
Some Key Needs: ● Funding sources to help us execute pieces of the plan ● People to continue to give input into the Taylors Community Plan
Small Business Incubator An Economic Project Small Business Incubators come in a variety of forms, but essentially work off the concept of a community supporting a small business through its initial stages so that it came become selfsustaining. A common scheme is a competition in which a contest is held for prospective businesses to enter their ideas and be put through a series of tests that show the viability of the business. A prize of space, funding, or both is awarded to the winner of the competition. Business Blackbox Magazine has shown interest in sponsoring this type of project in Taylors.
Some Key Needs: ● ● ● ●
Space and/or Funding for competition winner Judges to adjudicate the competition Volunteers for the events that would be associated with the competition A leadership team to coordinate the events
Taylors Mill Area Revitalization Assistance An Economic Project In general, public charities (such as Taylors TownSquare) cannot give money directly to private entities by simply writing a check, and for good reason. However, many have shown interest in what the community can do to support the Taylors Mill. Through research and conversations, we have begun to identify some potential legal mechanisms by which Taylors TownSquare could function as a fiscal sponsor for assistance to the Taylors Mill Area for the purposes of restoration and revitalization. There would be some significant legal and financial assistance needed to setup the program to begin with, after which we would then need to fund the projects themselves.
Some Key Needs: ● Funding for the highly specialized legal and financial consultation to setup such a program ● Funding for the target projects to better the Taylors Mill Area