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Health

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.

COPA Design: Building Communities

Rationale: A legacy Community Impact Program aligned with Furman University’s Diversity Leadership Institute in the Riley Institute.

Project Description:

From the beginning, the group intentionally focused on the desire to make a direct impact on whatever project we took on. The group was in complete alignment and quickly gravitated towards what we internally called a legacy project. Members of the group had conversations with DLI graduates resulting in strong relationships and idea sharing which led to the COPA II project. Initially created in the Spring 2018 cohort, COPA Champions began to take form.

Swamp Rabbit Express - Strengthening Communities, Nourishing Lives

Approximately 76,000 students attend Greenville County Schools and about half of these student rely on the Food and Nutrition Program. This DLI group worked to expand student access to free, nutritionally balanced meals during the summer months. As a result of their vision, a second food truck will be donated to the Greenville County School District and allow lunches to be delivered directly to students in their own neighborhoods when school breakfasts and lunches are not available. 

Safe Water Initiative at Metanoia (SWIM)

Background

Children ages 1 – 4 have the highest likelihood of drowning across the US generally and in SC (CDC, 2018; CDC, 2016; CSN, 2015). Of all major injuries and deaths among children, drowning was tied with homicide as the number one cause of death in South Carolina1 children ages 1-4 at 36 of every 100,000 children (CSN 2015). Additionally, it is the number three cause of death among South Carolina children ages 5 – 14 at between 15 and 24 per 100,000, and the number five cause of death among children ages 15 – 19 at 38 per 100,000. Deaths tend to be higher in coastal communities – a phenomenon that is not confined just to the US. A number of US and international studies have shown that drowning prevalence is higher in coastal communities (Morgan, Smith, & Triggs, 2008; Franklin, Scarr & Pearn, 2010; Brenner et al, 2001). 

Igniting Imaginations

Igniting Imaginations seeks to enlighten and motivate students by providing insight into future career opportunities to underserved seventh graders within the Charleston and Berkeley County School Districts. This project will initially engage students from two underserved area  middle schools with local industry professionals to learn about possible careers in three key fields - healthcare, manufacturing and logistics & aviation. Overviews from each of the three sectors will include information such as descriptions of various jobs at different levels within their organizations, work environments (hours, attire/uniforms, field v. desk), expectations (timeliness, professionalism, focus on safety), educational attainment and other criteria needed for hiring and tips as to the biggest challenges/barriers facing potential employees (including soft skills, certificate attainment, drug testing, etc.).

A S.E.A.T. at the Table

Greenville’s downtown is flourishing through its beautiful scenery, waterfalls, award-winning restaurants, art galleries, local shopping, farmer’s market, entertainment, sports, and warm-hearted neighbors. This DLI team was inspired to enhance our loving community adding a combination of the infectious and positive aspects of pay-it-forward with the spirit of unity.  We have created A S.E.A.T.

Calder Ehrmann Culinary Program at PW

Greenville continues to be challenged with the issue of food deserts, defined as low-income areas without a grocery store within a mile, and therefore tend to rely on fast-food restaurants or convenient stores as primary food sources In partnership with the Phillis Wheatley Association (PWA) and Greenville County, a recent DLI capstone project (PW CHOP) initiated the first phase toward developing a culinary arts program to be operated at the Phillis Wheatley Center (PWC).

COPA Champions

COPA Champions is a program originally created from the mind of Anthony Esquivel, owner of COPA Indoor Soccer. Mr. Esquivel noticed that a large number of Hispanic youth from the local Berea neighborhood were coming to COPA to play soccer at his facility. Based on numerous conversations with the high school aged youth, he discovered that many of the bright and determined soccer enthusiast had no plans for life beyond high school despite their many academic and social achievements.

Askable Adults

The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s (SC Campaign), goal is to decrease teen pregnancy in our state, and to that end, it provides training and technical assistance to adults who are working with or caregivers to teens (ages 12-24).

The SC Campaign developed a six-hour long Askable Adult workshop targeted at adults working with teens (coaches, camp counselors, youth ministers, etc.) that provides participants with an opportunity to learn how to improve communication skills to support adolescents’ healthy decisions. The philosophy of the training is that every moment with a teen is precious and an opportunity for positive encounters that have the most benefit for the teen. 


Give It A Shot!

As we considered our team’s project for the Riley Institute, we agreed that we wanted to impact the lives of students in our state. Through the expertise of one of our team members representing DHEC, we learned that while our public schools require Tdap for all rising 7th grade students, there are two additional vaccinations that are critically important for our youth that many students do not receive. This leaves students vulnerable for potential health problems in the future.