Boost The ‘Boro. What’s it mean? What’s it all about?

We had to do something and we had to call it something. I remembered Fred Hester planning occasional trips to the Bridger Corporation, feed store or grocery store at a time when trips to town were not so frequent. He’d announce, “Well, I’m going to the ‘Boro. Even as a small boy it caught my attention - short for Bladenboro. It came in handy with “Boost The ‘Boro”, so there it is!

Does that make us the “Borough of Bladen”?

Boost the Boro Initiative:

The Boost the Boro initiative is a brain child of Hiram Hester. Jon Hasbrouck was instrumental in bringing it all together at periodic brainstorming sessions.

It is not a business plan but rather an initiative that draws on five focal areas that would work through a Board of Directors from a Not for Profit organization named for the initiative.

1. The first focal area has a goal to Unify The Bladenboro Community and spark the interests of individuals, religious organizations, civic and other groups. If there is unity through mutual interest and understanding, mutual involvement would serve as a motivator that would result in ideas that would stay afloat. Each citizen would become an “Ambassador for the ‘Boro” to help promote the revitalization of Bladenboro.

2. The second focal area is to Spruce Up The Bladenboro Community. This is akin to the NC Rural initiative but it goes deeper to promote individuals to get involved to clean up their communities. The initiative would work with the town on ideas to mow, rake, paint, clean, plant, extract and generally, clean the town up. Down the line, the initiative would extend to acquire properties (cleared land, abandoned, condemned and available through acquisition or donation) for the purpose of development through a revitalization program.

3. The third focal, Stimulate Economic Growth In The Bladenboro Community is an idea to work (as closely as allowable) alongside the efforts of NC Rural to stimulate economic growth and development. The Boost the Boro initiative would actually have a goal to knock on doors and invite companies to partner with the initiative to bring economic development and growth. Another possibility of this focal area is to become a support partner with JobLink or other programs to support training efforts. Focal area three seeks to identify business and attract them to the town as the other focal areas “prepare the town and the citizenry to support the revitalization effort.” This focal area encourages entrepreneurs to “Take a Chance on Bladenboro.”

4. The fifth focal, Highlight The Bladenboro Community Through Varied Communications, is an idea to get the word out that Bladenboro is open for business and is a thriving community of similarly minded folks. We want to get the word out using newsletters and other suitable publications, billboards and signs, advertisements and other articles published outside the area. This web site is one of the means being used as a link to the world about our revitalization effort.

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