 Hello, Columbia, and welcome to City View, where we give you an inside view of the city of Columbia. As we open our program, our top story is the Mayor's Walk Against Domestic Violence, which is observed every October. The walk was held this year on October 29th at Page Ellington Park. It was held in person, which was a first in two years. Gathering in person was great. It was good to see everyone again at Page Ellington Park, and we share some highlights from this year's walk. No word in this for domestic violence is important, because as a child, I grew up seeing that. Seeing that break up homes and families. It's time for us as a community to come together, continue to put this issue forefront. One in three women, one in four men are affected by domestic violence, usually by an intimate partner. I wanna recognize our advocates that are in the back. The work that they do in terms of advocacy and connecting with victims of crime, especially in the domestic violence arena, that work is so important. You never know what you're doing for others. You never know how much you're helping them, but just trust me when I say just being there for the women and the men who are going through this is the best thing you could do. We want to make sure that all people who are dealing with domestic violence, women and men, are aware of the resources and that there are places to go and you don't have to live, you know, almost in a traumatic lifestyle dealing with someone who's victimizing it. Well, as you can see from all the smiling faces and camaraderie, everyone was ecstatic about joining each other in person again this year. And we look forward to next year's walk, and it's never too early to register, so reach out to us at columbiasc.gov or call us at public relations at 545-3020 or email us at pio.columbiasc.gov if you would like to participate in our walk in 2023. We look forward to next year and we look forward also to continuing our efforts to combat domestic violence in our community. Rapid Shelter, Columbia. We are following up on a story that we shared with you a few months ago. Rapid Shelter, Columbia is now open for operations as of November 1st. Prior to the opening date, we gathered at the site in order to hold a press conference to give an update about operations and how Rapid Shelter, Columbia will function. As this project in less than 70 days came from an email research to reality, less than 70 days. Not only are we looking at providing opportunity for our unsheltered, where we have our deep focus, now I'm gonna be very clear, this is temporary. Our long-term goal is to provide a permanent solution with the wraparound services that provide each and every individual who's suffering through homelessness, through whatever the circumstance is, an opportunity to have a successful life moving forward in a home, shelter, apartment, et cetera. I feel confident in saying, from the city's perspective, we're looking at a new era to help end homelessness in our community, the chronically unsheltered having a new tool in the toolbox if they choose to use it. The way things are happening was not working and that required us to have some hard conversations, uncomfortable conversations. We had to really look within our city, look at the way things are set up, the way we may have been avoiding, solving the root causes of issues facing our city and kicking the can down the road for years and really hold people accountable. And so today what you see is a combination or a perfect storm of so many wonderful things that the city has to offer. We have hired a great team of individuals that's going to be able to assist me with making appropriate assessments with clients, bringing them in, providing the resources that they need. The goal would be to bring them to a point of stabilization, whether it's with their mental health or substance use or whatever reason, whatever brought them to homelessness, bringing them to stabilization and then identifying the appropriate transitional housing for them. And Mayor Daniel recommends we are open initiative, continues, new businesses are opening in the city of Columbia, left and right. We have several new businesses that recently opened and here we feature them and the new business owners. Thank you so much Lydia for your investment in Columbia, your investment in Five Points and your investment in the growing part of Five Points. We have wonderful businesses that are attracted to this area daily and are taking the risk of starting a small business with us here in the city. So we appreciate that so much. So I hope you say very busy. Very exciting. They're here in Bull Street, centrally located in downtown Columbia, adding a lot more opportunities here in our Robert Mills neighborhood district, but just steps from the state house, steps from city hall, no excuses for you downtown business folks for not being over here at Refresh Beauty. The entrepreneurial skills that Tiffany will bring to this area and to this arena will certainly be a blessing, not only to this part of the city, but to this entire community. So Tiffany, we thank you for your energy. We thank you for your ability to not only just step forward but to do what is necessary to make sure that this business opens. Mayor Daniel Rickman recently hosted his first Move with the Mayor. Move with the Mayor will be a monthly activity where the mayor will gather with residents in various neighborhoods and communities and take a walk while discussing city issues and neighborhood concerns. This was the first move with the mayor in green view and the mayor said not only did he enjoy the exchange, but we believe the citizens did as well based on their smiling faces. And believe it or not, Columbia, it's time for the holidays and it's time to start preparing for the holidays. CPAC is offering a workshop, How to Trem Your Holiday Waste Line on November 20th. For more details, please see our flyer, which is now on your screen, and make sure you register for this free workshop. And speaking of the holidays, we also wanna share with you our holiday closings for the rest of 2022 and also for New Year's Day of 2023. Please note that during the holidays, city offices will be closed. However, for emergency services, you can always call 911. We will also share with you details regarding garbage and recyclable collection schedules that may be changing. Please visit our website for those details, follow us on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and also reach out to us here at Public Relations at 545-3020 if you have any questions. And of course, it's time for our students to apply for our Dr. Martin Luther King Dreamkeeper Scholarship Awards. The application process is now open. You may receive an application by downloading it from our website at ColumbiaSC.gov or contact your guidance counselor at your local school. And the scholarships will be awarded in January of 2023 during the Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Celebration at King Park. For details, please contact us at Public Relations Media and Marketing at 545-3020 or email us at PIO at ColumbiaSC.gov. Well, Columbia, that wraps up this edition of CityView where we bring you an inside view of the city of Columbia. We appreciate you watching and please stay tuned for more details and information from the city of Columbia. Stay social by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel for on-demand video programming. Also for videos and video programming, Spectrum, channel 1301, our Roku channel and Amazon Fire TV brings you the latest news and information from the city of Columbia. We wanna make sure you stay connected, so please join our email database by emailing us at PIO at ColumbiaSC.gov. If you have questions about anything on this program, please call us at Public Relations Media and Marketing at 803-545-3020. We will stay connected with you. And remember, we are Columbia.