 Hello, Columbia. Welcome to our edition of Telling Our Story, Exploring the Parks. I am your host, Wanda Austin Herndon. Join us as we explore our parks. Hello, Columbia, and welcome to another edition of Telling Our Story, City Parks and Recreation. I'm your host, Wanda Austin Herndon, and today we are at the Catherine M. Balefield Book of Washington Heights Cultural Arts Center, and we are looking at our new resource center today. So come along and take a tour with us. The Community Resource Center, located at Catherine M. Balefield Book of Washington Heights Cultural Arts Center, is a prime example of how the City of Columbia cultivates and reimagines its resources. Acquired in the year 2000 from Richland County School District 1, the school formerly known as Sarah Nance was envisioned for another purpose. Ms. Catherine Balefield, a pillar of the local community, worked with city, county, and school district officials to convert the school into a cultural art community center. The wing of the complex was used as a library meeting room for the community use. She was the anchor to this community, and her long-term vision was that this school would turn into a community center, that it was the basis for people to be able to have ideas, have resources, and really be the center to build up this neighborhood one block at a time. After a flood damaged the library in 2022, the space was reimagined once again. Mayor Daniel Rickerman came forth with an idea to repurpose the building as a resource center for local entrepreneur and nonprofit organizations. A strong advocate for small business, Mayor Rickerman saw an opportunity to offer free space for local small businesses and nonprofits to grow their organizations. Because the best ideas, the best businesses, the best community movements are born in a place like this. These ideas are behind every one of these doors in these neighborhoods, and now we want to give them the resources so they can take those dreams and chase them. I really like that this is an opportunity for the community, especially for small business owners, nonprofits, to really have a space to grow, and they don't have to meet every day in coffee shops and libraries, so I think this is really cool. And I was very fortunate I was the first resident here, so I got to pick and choose where I want it to be, and it has been a godsend. I would actually say that my business has increased about 30 percent because it makes me more productive. Given new life in August 2023, the former library is now equipped with a printer, free city Wi-Fi, video conferencing equipment, conference rooms, and office cubicles to support a rotation of about 10 clients over one year's span. Oh man, we have gained at least six new partnerships since being here. Like I said, just Zoom is okay, but getting that face-to-face time with people, for us to put our presentations up on the board for them and be able to host them and do lunch and things like that has been phenomenal. We actually gained our first sponsorship while being here, and I really do believe that we wouldn't have been able to accomplish that unless we were here in this space. The beauty of it is that we get to connect with other business owners that otherwise I have no idea who they are, and through that been able to make collaborations, actually doing an event with another resident that just started. Definitely providing that space for me and my intern to work together, but also if I have any like meetings. So that could be really helpful to kind of use this as like a space to build the business, but also get some touch points with the community as well. The name is true. It's an incubator. It's a place for you to come and for you to grow. For you to apply, you need to come in and fill out an application with me or one of my supervisors. You will then go under a review process. You need to either have an LOC 501C3 or acquire a City of Columbia business license. You will then go under a review process, and we'll see if you qualify. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed our tour of our new Resource Center. Please join us again next time here on Telling Our Story, City of Columbia Parks and Recreation. As with all our parks, our mission here at the City of Columbia Parks and Recreation is to change lives through a cultural of transformational leadership, innovation and phenomenal customer service. Thank you for joining us today. And please join us in the future for more episodes of Telling Our Story, Exploring the Parks. And remember, we are Columbia.