 Hello, Columbia, and welcome to City View. Will we give you an inside view of the City of Columbia? I'm your host, Lisha Yudsi. In our top story, community development staff recently kicked off a press conference in honor of National Community Development Week. The purpose of this press conference is to bring awareness to the National Community Development Week, a week-long celebration observed all over the nation that brings the community together with government officials through events that are designed to showcase the impact of CDBG and home investment partnership funding throughout our community. These funds are allocated annually from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve the physical, economic, and social conditions of our community and to provide decent, safe, and affordable housing. One of the highlights of national community development week was the community development block party that was sponsored by our community development team. With a real community event, and so what better can you do to draw all sorts of people together, to sit down, to break bread together, and talk about the community? And that's to have a block party. We have great games where people can win prizes. But one of the fun things with our games is that we ask questions about our city of the citizens. And then when they get them right, they get a prize. If they get them wrong, we help them get the right answer, and they still get a prize. So it's been a lot of fun. If citizens want more information about community development and the services we provide, they can call 545-3373. That's 545-3373. And someone will be happy to help them. Not only have staff been focused on community development, but also business development. Staff in the Office of Business Opportunities recently held a Minority Business Opportunity Conference for local vendors. The purpose of today's event is to bring together different vendors from throughout the Columbia area, as well as other surrounding counties into the metropolitan city, to learn about different procurement opportunities that are available through the city. And matching you up, the vendor up with different purchasing agents, not only within the city, but also the county and department of our transportation and other possible entities that you can do business with and actually provide different services and products to the city. It's very, very important because the city of Columbia, our city manager, our mayor, our city council, they realize the economic and social impact that small businesses bring to any local community. So making sure that they have the resources that they need to strive and to thrive and to really grow. The city of Columbia would like to give a special shout out to our team in the 9-1-1 Communication Center. They recently celebrated National Telecommunicators Week. And in honor of the week, a staff luncheon was held in order to recognize those who help our community and serve our citizens on a daily basis. Well, it's spring, and it's a great time to get out and move. And that is what Mayor Steve Benjamin has been doing with Move with the Mayor. It's just an opportunity to help everyone understand that you can integrate healthy activities into your everyday life. A brisk walk through downtown with some friends, helps you lose some pounds, drop some calories, and promote this healthy living. We're just trying to help us realize if we live healthier lives that we can spend more quality time with the people we love doing the things that we enjoy. And that's what this is all about. Another sign that it's spring in Columbia is the season opening for the Columbia Fireflies. There's no better place for family-friendly, affordable entertainment in town. No question about it. Again, we bring baseball. We also bring entertainment. There's not a moment when we're not hearing laughter or cheers from the stands. There's so much to do in this park outside of just watch a baseball game. One stop spot for Fireflies information. Go to columbiafireflies.com, very simple. That's where you can get your tickets as well. If you're looking for kind of the express checkout and you're looking for just Fireflies tickets, you can go to firefliestickets.com. But it's where you can get box scores, stats, ticket info, also our promotion, promotional information as well. If you're trying to look up what theme night is coming up, whether or not we're gonna have fireworks, keep you up to date on start times and game times. That's where you wanna go. Another event that is held every spring is the South Carolina Cornbread Festival, which is sponsored by the North Columbia Business Association in conjunction with the city of Columbia and other sponsors. City of Columbia staff in Planning and Development Services also held an event for the second year in a row, Open Streets. Well, that wraps up this episode of City View. Will we give you an inside view of the city of Columbia? Be sure to stay tuned to City TV for all the local news and also follow us on our social media platforms and visit our website at columbiasc.net.