Beulah White,
Executive Director

Phone: (843) 527-4596/3035
Fax: (843) 527-3878
fiveriverscdc@aol.com

Incorporated: 1995

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Georgetown, located on South Carolina's coast, is home to a thriving port, golf courses designed by the likes of Tom Fazio and Jack Nicklaus, and nearly 50 antebellum mansions. In the 1930s, the largest paper mill in the country was built in Georgetown, and today is not only one of the largest employers in the area, it is the largest agricultural-designated landowner in Georgetown County. Amid this splendor lies great need - especially for affordable housing and economic development.

Some 19 percent of Georgetown County's residents live in poverty, compared to approximately 15 percent of South Carolina residents overall. Studies have indicated that 18 percent of all homes in the county have at least one major structural or safety defect, such as a lack of complete plumbing facilities or a public sewer connection. In August 2000, the county's unemployment rate of 7.3 percent was 57 percent higher than the unemployment rate for the state.

Adjacent to the Georgetown coast, the Georgia and South Carolina sea islands are home to very unique African Americans. They were historically able to retain much of their African culture and language (Gullah) due to the islands' isolated location. Today though, the unique Gullah culture is on the decline because of: land loss, high taxation, an increasingly tourist-driven economy, a stagnated local educational system, and an influx of retirees.