Community Resource Hubs

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina launched an ambitious effort to open five community resource hubs to address disparities and barriers to economic mobility in its rural communities.  

“Our chamber’s goal was that every resident of Berkeley County has the opportunity to enjoy all the successes of our county,” said chamber CEO Elaine Morgan said. “We wanted to focus on helping residents get good jobs and better health care.”

The chamber partnered with a large coalition of businesses, government agencies and nonprofit service providers to offer easy access to a wide variety of resources and services, including: 

• Skills training, including welding, nursing, cybersecurity and CDL training
• Soft skills training and career coaching
• Telehealth and health support services
• Access to mental health, substance abuse and social service programs
• Free wifi and access to technology, including computers and printers
• Youth programs on digital technology

Each hub will have the individual characteristics of that community. This will ensure visitors have access to the most relevant services. Morgan said there is also a strategy in place to make the hubs sustainable and self-sufficient within the next two years, working with them on how to raise money to offset maintenance and other expenses. “I think we’re setting them up for major success,” she said.

To measure success, the chamber is partnering with Trident United Way, which is making its charity tracker available to the hubs. Morgan said this will enable the hubs to track the services visitors are using, as well as different services they are requesting. They will use this data to adjust their strategy as they move forward.  

Morgan said the key to this initiative’s success was to build trust. Don’t assume you have all the answers. “We started with meetings out in the community to identify what they need. It wasn’t the business community stepping in and saying, ‘This is what I think you need,’ it was them telling us. Trust and apathy are huge barriers in rural communities.”