Ten at the Top Upstate News
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Chandra Dillard, Rick Danner and Terence Roberts
Receive Regional Awards at Celebrating Successes Brunch
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During Ten at the Top’s Celebrating Successes Brunch on Wednesday, November 14, South Carolina State Representative Chandra Dillard, City of Greer Mayor Rick Danner and City of Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts were recognized for their record of servant leadership and contributions to enhancing the Upstate region. Dillard received the Burdette Leadership Award while Danner and Roberts were recognized with the Welling Award for Regional Collaboration.
This marks the third year of the Burdette Leadership Award and is given in recognition of Carol Burdette, the first female chair of Ten at the Top. It honors women who have both served and led across the Upstate. Previous recipients of the Burdette Award are Minor Shaw and Dr. Becky Campbell.
The Welling Award for Regional Collaboration, named after Ten at the Top founding chairman Irv Welling, recognizes individuals who have demonstrated longstanding involvement in encouraging collaboration across jurisdictional and stakeholder boundaries. Previous recipients of the Welling Award include Erwin Maddrey, Phil Hughes, GSP International Airport, Dean Hybl, Minor Shaw, Carol Burdette and Bobby Hitt.
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Town of Ninety-Six and Charles Townes Arts & Technology Experiment Receive Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Community Vibrancy Grants
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As part of the Celebrating Successes Brunch on November 14th, Ten at the Top announced the recipients for the 2018 Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Community Vibrancy Grants. The two recipients, each receiving $5,000, are the Ninety-Six Mill Village Association for their Movie Night at the Park project and Spontaneous Productions for the First Annual Charles Townes Arts & Technology Experiment.
The grants, which began in 2013, annually provide “seed funds” to support vibrancy initiatives in communities across the Upstate region. There were 26 applications for the 2018 grants and five finalists gave brief presentations before the selections were made during the Celebrating Successes Brunch presented by Piedmont Natural Gas on Wednesday, November 14, at the Greenville Marriott as part of the Our Upstate Vision Forum Series presented by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
“The goal of the Elevate Upstate program is to get communities thinking about what types of initiatives or programs might help spark vibrancy within their area and then provide some seed money to get some of them started,” said Hughes Investments President Phil Hughes. “In the six years we have done this program, I have been amazed by the great ideas and passion of communities across the region to grow their vibrancy and sense of place. It was a real challenge to narrow the field to five finalists and to select the recipients.”
In addition to providing $10,000 to the two winners, Hughes also pledged a $3,000 matching grant to the Piedmont Physic Garden in Union County to start an Environmental Arts Festival.
In the six years of the Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Grants program, Phil Hughes and Hughes Investments has provided a total of $80,000 to help with 24 different vibrancy initiatives across the Upstate region.
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How Can Sectors Work Together to Advance Mobility in the Upstate? Join Us for a Focus Group on December 4th
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As part of Phase 2 of the Connecting Our Future Mobility Initiative, we will be holding a series of stakeholder focus groups on December 4th to learn how you and your organization work with other entities in the region. As part of the session, we will explore the region's mobility needs and how government, private industry, and non-profits can more effectively partner to advance these priorities.
There are three open sessions during the day and we hope you will join us for the one that best fits your business or organization. Below are links to find more details and register for the sessions.
TATT ENGAGEMENT BRIEFING SCHEDULE -DECEMBER 4TH -
124 Verdae Blvd., 5th Floor Conference Room, Greenville, SC
(Colleges & Universities, K-12 School Districts, Hospital Systems and Non-profits)
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
(Business, employers, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, workforce development organizations, freight companies and utility companies)
12:30 AM – 2:00 PM
(City planners, city administrators, transportation managers)
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
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Kauffman Foundation Representative Says Entrepreneurs & Small Businesses Play Critical Role in Economic Success
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When we think about the economy in the Upstate or across the country, we often focus most of our attention on the larger companies such as BMW, Michelin, Bosch, Milliken and others with lots of employees and established brands and histories.
Yet, did you know that 89% of the businesses in the United States employ 20 or fewer employees?
According to Andy Stoll from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, the places that will thrive economically in today’s “Connected Age” are those that can best enable entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow and achieve success.
While that certainly includes creating and identifying the various resources needed by entrepreneurs, Stoll said that also means purposefully creating a culture where all potential entrepreneurs and small business owners are aware of and have access to what they need to be successful.
“Many communities have the ingredients that entrepreneurs need,” Stoll said, “they just may not be organized in a way that is supportive.”
Stoll, a senior program officer for the Kauffman Foundation who has started six entrepreneurial-focused organizations, made those comments during a recent two-day visit to the Upstate. During his trip, Stoll met with local entrepreneurs and toured some of the great incubators and entrepreneurial support locations in the region including NEXT in Greenville, BGEN in Gaffney and the Tri-Country Entrepreneurial Development Center in Walhalla.
He also spoke at a luncheon in Spartanburg hosted by the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, Johnson Group, VentureSouth and VentureCarolina and conducted a workshop for about 30 entrepreneurs and entrepreneur support providers as part of Ten at the Top’s Entrepreneur Support Providers Network.
“The Upstate is ahead of many other places in looking at ecosystem building,” Stoll said. “That you already have people coming together to see how they can work collaboratively and enhance opportunities for entrepreneurs is vital.”
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TATT Conducts 13th Upstate Bus Tour
Since 2015, Ten at the Top has coordinated bus tours to communities across the Upstate to provide a hands-on opportunity to learn about some of the unique places in the region.
The most recent tour was held on November 13th and included visits to four cities within Greenville County.
Included during the day was a driving and walking tour of the City of Greer, as well as walking tours of Simpsonville and Fountain Inn. The group also had the opportunity to tour the Fountain Inn Museum.
Concluding the day was an update from local developer Phil Hughes on the new Bridgeway Station Project in Mauldin.
TATT is planning to take a break from the bus tours in 2019, but will be asking for input on potentially relaunching the program in 2020.
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Become a 2019 TATT Funding Partner
In 2019 Ten at the Top will be celebrating a Decade of Connecting the Upstate.
We are grateful to the many funding partners and supporters who have played a critical role in supporting the development of the organization over the last decade.
In 2019 we plan on recognizing our long-term partners and supporters while also looking to grow engagement across the region.
We hope you will continue your TATT support or become a new partner in 2019.
If you have questions about TATT partnership and sponsorship opportunities or would like to set up a personal meeting, please contact
Allison Hall.
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Check out the TATT YouTube Channel for archives from meetings, presentations and events hosted by Ten at the Top. The Channel also includes videos of the Elevate Upstate Grant recipients and other TATT initiatives.
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TATT volunteers have developed a number of interactive regional asset maps. Check out links to regional resources below.
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Trying to find out what is happening across the Upstate? Check out the Calendar of Everything from our partners at In the Know Upstate.
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98 Regional Engagements in 2018
4,693 Participants in 2018
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802 Regional Engagements since 2010
37,974 Participants since 2010
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On the Calendar
Be sure and put these TATT events on your calendar:
Connecting Our Future Focus Groups
December 4th, various times
124 Verdae Boulevard, Suite 503
Greenville, SC 29607
Institutions & Non-Profits
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Business & Economic Development
12:30-2:00 p.m.
Local Governments
3:30-5:00 p.m.
SAVE THE DATE
2019 PIQUE: Young Leaders Elevating
the Upstate
March 25, 2019
Greenville One Center
Registration Coming in January
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Become a TATT Supporter
As a non-profit organization, TATT relies on funding partners and event sponsors to help sustain our regional mission. During the year TATT hosts several exclusive events to provide board members & funding partners additional opportunities to network and build regional contacts. If you are not already a TATT supporter, please
check out our 2019 Partner & Sponsor Packet to become engaged. Contact
Dean Hybl or
Allison Hall for questions or more information.
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Check Out the New TATT Video
Special thanks to WSPA-TV for creating a new video highlighting current initiatives being coordinated by Ten at the Top. This
video was first unveiled during the 2018 Upstate Regional Summit.
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Ten at the Top is a regional non-profit organization with the mission of fostering collaboration and partnerships across the Upstate around issues that impact economic vitality and quality of life.
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