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The Florence Chamber held its 2025 Building Bridges Diversity and Leadership Summit on Monday. Community participants were welcomed by City of Florence Mayor Lethonia Barnes and Les Echols from the Florence Chamber.

Several speakers addressed the day-long gathering, including Rhonda Midgette of InsightfulHR, Dr. Louis Venters from Francis Marion University and keynote speaker Julian Williams, Vice President of Access and Opportunity for the University of South Carolina.

The program featured a women in leadership panel moderated by Edith Robinson of QVC and an Executive Roundtable featuring executives from MUSC Health Florence, McLeod Health, SC Cancer Alliance and iHeart Media.

The mission of Building Bridges is to enable our community to address diverse issues through a process of changing attitudes & hearts through education and issue awareness.

Building Bridges was sponsored by Duke Energy, Assurant, HopeHealth and Spherion.

To see more photos from the day, click here.

Thanks to a new Down Payment Assistance Program offered by SPC Credit Union’s SPC Cares Foundation, Julia W. and her mother, both seven-year renters of a residence in Effingham, are now proud homeowners.

SPC’s Down Payment Assistance program was approved by the credit union’s board in late 2024 as a means by which to provide a financial springboard for prospective homeowners to be able to afford a home by overcoming the hurdle of a hefty down payment. Zero-percent interest forgivable Down Payment Assistance loans are available for first-time homebuyers–defined as anyone who has never owned a home OR has not owned a home in the past 3 years– as a bridge to home ownership. Qualified applicants may receive up to $5,000 for down payment and/or closing costs.

Upon the program’s approval, SPC’s Mortgage Lending Team was eager to find a mortgage applicant who met the program’s qualifications, which stipulate that the applicant must be a first-time homebuyer, must have a credit score greater than or equal to 620, must complete a Fannie Mae Home Ownership online course and earn an accompanying certificate, must be at or below 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI), must have $2,000 of personal funds available for the down payment or closing costs, and must have completed and approved a mortgage loan application with SPC Credit Union.

To read the full press release, click here.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2025-2026 Junior Leadership Florence County 4-H Program! Current public, private and homeschooled students who live in and/or attend school in Florence County and who will be classified as a high school sophomore or junior next school year are eligible to apply. The deadline is April 30th. Please share! Our applications are fully ONLINE!

Residents of Coward, Florence, Johnsonville, Lake City, Olanta, Pamplico, Quinby, Scranton, and Timmonsville.

Students who attend school in any of the public, private, or homeschools in Florence County, but are not residents of Florence County are eligible to apply.

For more information, click here.

The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce held their annual Business Outlook Luncheon on Wednesday, March 19th at Florence Center with a sell-out crowd of 535 local business and civic leaders in attendance.

South Carolina’s Attorney General, Alan Wilson, addressed the luncheon attendees covering topics on the fight against human trafficking to public safety here in South Carolina. As Attorney General, his focus on fighting human trafficking has improved the ranking of South Carolina to best in the nation for improving its human trafficking laws and last year’s report showed continued improvement in fighting that crime.

The Chamber’s Outlook Luncheon also included the announcement of the Public Servant of the Year as Clint Moore, Florence Assistant City Manager. The award was presented by Dr. Fred Carter, President of Francis Marion University.

The Small Business Person of the Year was also presented to David Fountain, Chief Operating Officer & Co-Owner of the Florence UPS Stores with other stores in Sumter, Summerville, and Charleston. The award was presented by Jim Ivey, President & CEO, Dedicated Community Bank.

The Chamber recognized its 2025 Chamber Ambassador of the Year, Michael Hinson.

Photos by True Light Photography
To see more photos from the event, click here.