One Region Roadmap: Economic Recovery Planning in Charleston

Like many Sun Belt communities, the Charleston, South Carolina, region was growing rapidly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Decades of significant economic growth challenged regional planners and economic development entities. They frequently found themselves independently responding to a stream of proposed business expansions and developments, without the capacity to coordinate with regional partners on supportive resources. When COVID-19 caused activity to stop in early 2020, regional economic-development partners banded together to develop an economy-recovery plan.

“One Region Roadmap” is an initiative of a regional partnership among the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, and Charleston Regional Development Alliance. The strategic plan was guided by input from thousands of residents, businesses, nonprofit stakeholders, and community partners, and funded by a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant. Its strategic planning and public input processes were designed to address both economic challenges heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and existing threats (e.g. workforce automation) to the region’s economic prosperity and global competitiveness. This presentation covers the Charleston region’s approach to identifying and planning for future economic disruptions, prioritizing equity in economic recovery strategies, and providing meaningful opportunities for stakeholder and public input throughout strategy development.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Intermediate. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.