Forward Rabun receives $25,000 donation from ELK

Wayne Knuckles/The Clayton Tribune Todd Webb, left, COO of Elk International, presents a check for $25,000 to Development Authority of Rabun County Board Chairman Claude Dillard (center) and Forward Rabun Director Rick Story at a recent meeting.

CLAYTON—Forward Rabun, the county-created entity designed to drive Rabun County economic development, is preparing to move into new quarters off GA-15 in May.

Rick Story, the county’s Director of Development, hosted a joint meeting between the boards of the Development Authority and the Rabun County Chamber of Commerce recently to update both on progress that is being made to make the Forward Rabun concept a reality.

“Forward Rabun is a new organization for our community,” Story said during a slide-show presentation. “It’s based on a model that has been used in many other communities, and it’s a model that has been successful in those communities.”

Story said county commissioners first approached him over a year ago with their vision.

“They wanted to take all county-funded economic development entities and integrate them,” he said. “We all have the same goal.”

Commissioners wanted to bring the three entities most responsible for economic development—the Development Authority, the Tourism Development Authority and the Chamber of Commerce—together under one banner to promote development in Rabun County.

“It’s the coordination, it’s the umbrella organization that gets everybody moving together in the same direction. Even though we’re independent, we work together for the same goal.”

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