ACHIEVEMENTS

Enhancing walkability and improving community infrastructure

Reached an agreement with Jackson County to assume maintenance and liability for many of the sidewalks we built. The property owners paid for construction of the sidewalks on their properties. Vision Cashiers paid for the cost of engineering and property survey.
Secured a $60,000 grant from the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation to establish walkability in Cashiers. Hired a consultant, Equinox Environmental, to create a master implementation plan for the walkability initiative. The completed study is available to all.
Raised more than $100,000 and built sidewalks on the Village Green property on highways 64 and 107.
Built sidewalks on the Wells Fargo property on Highway 107, the RLR property next to Bucks and the Albers property along Highway 64.
Convinced United Community Bank to build a four-foot wide sidewalk on its property on Frank Allen Road and Highway 107.
Built an eight-foot-wide wide stone public pathway behind Zollers and Whiteside Brewery.
Built an eight-foot-wide stone public pathway on the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation property from Slabtown Plaza on Highway 107 to the Chamber of Commerce on Highway 64.

Worked with the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation to provide enhanced primary medical care through establishment of a clinic with two physicians and three rotating residents in collaboration with Blue Ridge Health and MAHEC (Mountain Area Health Education Center). The clinic is adjacent to the Highlands Cashiers Hospital.
Introduced a new Rescue Squad substation on Highway 64 at the Cottage Inn, reducing medical emergency response time by five minutes for Cashiers and Sapphire residents.
Convinced a medical group to build a primary care clinic.

Created and installed the “Cashiers Connect” Wi-Fi district, installing hotspots in 11 locations throughout the Cashiers commercial area and making Internet access available for free to all in that area.
Created “Call When Sick,” a virtual medical access program, for 295 families on the Plateau. Families paid $108 a year or $9 a month for 24/7/365 virtual access to a doctor. There was no co-pay and no deductible. Donations enabled Vision Cashiers to donate “Call When Sick” to 56 needy families. The Free Dental Clinic, the Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau, Blue Ridge School, the Community Care Clinic of Highlands Cashiers and the Cashiers Valley Preschool participated in the program.

Secured a grant from Dogwood Health Trust and conducted a housing study to assess the need for housing for workforce professionals (teachers, nurses, managers, etc.).
Working on securing land for the initiative to provide housing for the workforce professionals and their families.

With the leadership of Irv Welling, created Leadership Cashiers as a Chamber of Commerce initiative. Through educational sessions, the initiative builds greater understanding of the issues confronting Cashiers among the community’s future leaders.
Created a Property Owners Association (POA) that enables POA officers to meet monthly. They share best practices and discuss association, property and owner issues.

Created a Cashiers Dog Park in a joint effort with the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department. Raised more than $63,000 from 159 “Puppy Patrons” to build the park between the playing fields at the Cashiers Recreation Center. Patrons’ name and the names of their dogs are on the back of the Dog Park sign.
Created a Public Art task force to identify and place sculptures throughout Cashiers in conjunction with The Bascom. The initial pieces will be placed on the front of the new Boys and Girls Club property and on the grass area next to Slabtown Pizza.

The Education task force has run an annual middle school conference where children learned about their educational future and career opportunities. It was recently expanded to focus on 8th, 9th and 10th graders.
In cooperation with the Albert-Carlton Cashiers Library, the Literacy Council and the Village Green, created a StoryWalk® for the Village Green Ramble, an interactive display of a book written in English and Spanish which is changed four times a year. The StoryWalk® hosted the display of seven bilingual fiction and nonfiction books in 2022.
The Workforce task force has created multiple programs and methods that enable workers to find jobs and educate employers on how to find candidates.

Volunteers distributed 500 face masks to 100 businesses in Cashiers with support from the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation and the Dogwood Health Trust. Vision Cashiers helped raise $65,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau for Plateau-area residents who were “food insecure” during the pandemic.

Formed a community support group called The Crossroads Society that includes 31 families who support Vision Cashiers with annual contributions.