The Shelbyville-Bedford Partnership isn’t going away.

At the regular meeting of the Shelbyville City Council a week ago members voted 4-2 not to fund a $100,000 request from the partnership. The city had been providing funding for the past three years. The status of a $100,000 funding by the Bedford County Board of Commissioners has not been determined.

No matter what happens the partnership plans to continue its work. And the message the partnership directors want to emphasize is the work of the group has a positive effect on everyone in the community.

“We need to get our message out there,” board member Christy Womack, co-owner of Dabora, Inc., said. “That is the most important thing. We’re interested in the betterment of Shelbyville and Bedford County citizens. That is ultimately who we are trying to serve. I don’t think we have done a good enough job of getting the message out of what we have done and how what we do benefits the everyday citizens of Bedford County and Shelbyville.

“Yes, we have made a lot of progress and we plan to continue to make that progress. We are not happy with the city. We still have the support of the county, and we have a nice partnership between the private and public sectors. We think that can work very, very well.”

Shane Hooper, president/CEO of the partnership, stresses the work of the partnership has a ripple effect through all levels of city and county.

“The thing that drives me is not one piece of our community,” Hooper said. “We can bring all the stakeholders to the table so we can all be better. It is not one piece of the community.

“We have to make sure we take care of our older people. It is also important we take care of our children and our school system. It is important to take care of younger professionals and give them an outlet they need and take care of young adults. We have to take care of regular working adults. We need to take care of those with lower incomes and middle incomes. The middle class is what drives the economy.”

Hooper stresses it is not an either-or situation when it comes to doing what is right for everyone in the city and county.

“We have to make sure everybody sees the need,” Hooper said. “Everybody benefits from what this organization brings to the table. We have to stay focused. We have to do things that take care of everybody. We don’t have the luxury of leaving people behind. We will never leave people behind.

Womack emphasizes economic development is what drives a community in all areas.

“Economic development benefits all areas of the county,” Womack said. “Shane has done a really good job of educating me on this and how that impacts citizens.

“Where does that flow through? It flows from everything. Economic development has to drive that bus. The guy whose kid is getting training on how to get a job knows what we do. The people working at National Pen who lost their jobs saw what we could do by pooling all of the resources from the state to get them jobs and most of them are in higher-paying jobs now. But we want everyone to know what we do.”