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Education

DLI Twenty Sixers

The goal of the DLI Twenty Sixers project is to provide children with autism an opportunity to interact with typically-developing children and to provide typically-developing students with an opportunity to learn about autism, to develop a relationship with an affected child, to be exposed to a potential career path and to create a sustainable project model for the Autism Academy.

The Dollar $cholars

Everyday 7,000 students drop out of high school and graduation rates continue to decrease. The Dollar Scholars project focuses on providing financial literacy for young people in middle school. Middle school students were chosen because students between the 6th and 8th grades are the most open to new information and are the most adaptive. The idea is to have young people focus on financial literacy so as they get older they can make wiser decisions.

Dream Connectors

The primary goal of the Dream Connectors is to provide seventh grade students, primarily those from less advantaged backgrounds, with the opportunity to learn about diverse career opportunities available in the Upstate. The project consists of pilot programs that will connect students at the Hughes Academy of Science and Technology and Lakeview Middle School with Upstate businesses, namely BMW, Greenville Health System and Michelin.

Dream Connectors Too

Dream Connectors Too aims to strengthen and expand the successful DLI capstone project begun by the Dream Connectors DLI group. The original pilot project aimed to link seventh graders in two middle schools to three of the largest businesses in Greenville County, which are significant generators of local jobs: The Greenville Health System; BMW; and Michelin North America.  Each business did an interactive presentation at each middle school, hosted a tour of their facilities, and then did a follow-up visit to the schools.

Dream School Team

Members of the Dream School Team created and implemented a program for St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School in Greenville, intended to raise public awareness of the school’s educational success. As a K-6 school located in a former mill neighborhood, St. Anthony’s serves a diverse population, 90% of whom are non-Catholic.  The school achieves remarkable results with limited resources from a 60-year-old building.

Eleraffes

Eleraffes group members examined diversity in Greenville County, by focusing on the Senior Choice Program at the Northwest Crescent Center. This location was chosen because of the assortment of activities it provides for all age groups in the community. The Eleraffes conducted interviews with program directors and participants of the Senior Choice program in order to learn more about the program and its demographics.

Embrace SC

Embrace SC has created a website that can be utilized as a tool for companies who are targeting and recruiting diverse candidates to the Midlands. Mindful of the negative perception that many people still have of South Carolina, the group’s website provides links to organizations, activities and relevant resources in the Midlands that cater to diverse individuals in the following categories:

Empathy without Apprehension

Empathy without Apprehension’s goal is to improve the interactions between law enforcement and youth. By facilitating the interactive game Juvenile Justice Jeopardy, the Greenville Sheriff’s Department will be able to expand their community outreach to teens in the county. The game teaches youth about the justice system and helps them understand their legal rights as well as the consequences of certain actions. Juvenile Justice Jeopardy has been successfully implemented around the country and this DLI project will be the first time it is introduced to South Carolina.

Explorers

The Explorers aim to spread an understanding of and appreciation for diversity to students. The Waccamaw River is essentially the only separation between the attendance regions for St. James and Conway High Schools, but students from these two high schools generally have very different day-to-day experiences, mainly because of disparate backgrounds. The Explorers aim to bridge this gap, partnering with such organizations as Coastal Carolina Community College, in understanding between students from these two schools by bringing them together through education.

Fight4Her

Fight4Her focuses on assisting female veterans in the Upstate with connections and resources that they might engage to more successfully transition from their military service to the private sector, especially in their search for meaningful employment. We learned of the need from our team member, Rachel Putman, through her work at Goodwill Industries of the Upstate.