Beaufort, South Carolina

diverse career opportunities for early and mid- level professionals. 3. To increase the retention of locally-trained graduate students for local jobs. 4. To increase the emphasis for addressing childhood poverty. 5. To attract and retain talent in healthcare. 6. To collect good data. 7. To improve proactive collaboration when preparing for devastating storms – whether hurricanes or flooding. A program is now being put together around “what do we do” for those top seven issues. Tourism is the city’s largest industry, followed by military-related establishments – Parris Island and the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and a U.S. Naval hospital are all in close proximity. The fact that Beaufort’s population is growing at 3.5 percent, annually, with a predominately residential tax base, brings to the fore another important focus – demographics. Beaufort Fire Chief, Reece Bertholf, reflects, “One of the biggest things Beaufort has recently undertaken is an attempt to connect with residents that are not “upper in age.” The city is working hard to engage the working residents, residents with families, and the people who will be the future of Beaufort. For the last 15 to 20 years, we have been a retirement destination. It may not necessarily encompass the city itself, but most of those 60,000 people we serve in our surrounding areas have had a career elsewhere and come here to enjoy their retirement. What’s come of that is a municipality stuck in the middle that’s not that aged – our median age is mid-30s – but that are working really hard to keep pace with the rising cost of living, of housing and construction, and the limited nature of retail and entertainment services. That was a big part of the Beaufort 2030 initiative: to bring younger, more energized people to the table, who are concerned with what Beaufort is historically – a beautiful natural place to live – but also have to find a way to marry that with an economic place to live and work.” Beaufort is the only community in the Hilton Head/Sea Islands area with a true downtown. Prokop explains, “Bay Street is our main street with all the retail shops and restaurants. We have two new things going on downtown. BEAUFORT , SOUTH CAROL INA