Cities take part in CREATE program to help develop strategies for attracting small businesses
The City of Cedartown, together with the City of Rockmart, took part in a CREATE workshop and tour last August to help develop strategies for attracting small businesses.
The CREATE program is a multi-year cohort program developed in partnership between Georgia Power Company, Main Street America, and the University of Georgia Office of Public Service and Outreach.
CREATE is an acronym that means Cultivating Rural Entrepreneurs And Transforming Economies. Elizabeth Elliott, Georgia Department of Community Affairs Downtown Preservation Planner was present, as was Matthew Wagner, chief program officer with Main Street America.
Polk County was selected as one of the first communities to take part in the cohort, along with Baldwin, Bleckley, Hart, Pickens, and Toombs County.
The CREATE program provides technical assistance, seed capital, and guidance to help support and attract entrepreneurs and small businesses to participating communities. Investing in entrepreneurship is critical for job retention and creation in rural towns. In fact, firms employing 50 people or less account for 42 percent of overall employment in rural communities nationwide.
As part of the tour along Main Street in Cedartown, CREATE participants visited Cedar Valley Chops, an axe throwing entertainment venue, and the soon-to-be new home of Sugarless Sweets & Eats, a restaurant and bakery that is Keto friendly, sugar free, gluten free and soy free, and several other places of business, including
Antiques on Main, owned by Richard Long.
The cohort will be tasked with developing and implementing a targeted growth strategy for their local and regional economies. Later this year, communities will receive $5,000 in seed capital to kick-start their implementation efforts.