Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina awards $290,000 in Grants
June 24, 2015
COLUMBIA, SC – The Sisters of Charity Foundation awards $290,000 to seven Strategic grantees addressing the root causes of poverty in South Carolina.
The Foundation’s mission to address generational poverty is reflected in its decision making around Strategic Grants. These grants are to comprehensively work with organizations to affect organizational and community impact at multiple levels. The Foundation views Strategic Grants as a partnership with each grantee to enhance results, maximize resources and to insure that measurable change occurs. The Foundation focuses on three broad categories of health, education and social services. “The Foundation is very excited to be able to award these grants to seven worthy organizations across the state.” Said Tom Keith, Foundation President. “These grantees represent a culture of collaboration and vision that really drive their program’s success and ultimately the success of their communities.”
The seven recently awarded Strategic grantees are:
Anderson Interfaith Ministries (Anderson): AIM’s mission is to connect people with support, resources and education so they can empower themselves to be self-sufficient. Programs are offered on a continuum from crisis stabilization to asset building programs designed to move economically disadvantaged people out of poverty. AIM’s crisis stabilization programs are limited to Anderson County, but most of their asset building programs (education/ training and housing) cover Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties.
City Year Columbia (Richland): City Year is wholly focused on fighting the national dropout crisis and is committed to leveraging the talent, energy and idealism of corps members to serve as tutors, mentors and role models in schools to help students stay on track to graduate. The corps members do this by focusing on three early warning indicators that have been defined through research: attendance, behavior and course performance in math and English. As the second oldest site after Boston, City Year Columbia was founded in the summer of 1993 and has been serving schools in the Midlands of South Carolina for 22 years. For the 2013-2014 school year, 24 City Year Columbia corps members proudly serve over 1,500 students at Hyatt Park Elementary, Heyward Gibbes Middle and Sandhills Elementary Schools in Richland and Lexington Counties.
Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (Greenville): GAIHN orchestrates a partnership of local congregations in the Greenville area that provides emergency shelter, meals and short-term housing to local families that include children, while intently focusing on helping those families achieve self-sufficiency and self-fulfillment. GAIHN is an integral partner in the Upstate Collaborative for Families’ Success which is producing opportunities for select families to overcome addiction and achieve family stability (housing and employment sustainability).
Healing Families Foundation (Lexington and Richland): The mission of the Healing Families Foundation is to reduce addiction as a leading cause of family collapse and harm to children by raising support for prevention and treatment programs at LRADAC. Strategic Grant funding will support the Implementation of the Women and Children Succeeding (WACS) program on the campus of LRADAC. WACS will be made available to qualifying women who are completing or have completed treatment at LRADAC’s Midlands Family Care Center or outpatient Transformation Institute for Women.
Homes of Hope, Inc. (Greenville): Homes of Hope’s mission is to rebuild communities through developing affordable and energy efficient housing, and rebuild the lives of men overcoming addictions through job training and mentoring. Their strategy is to produce life-change, not just circumstance change; focusing on building relationships with each participant (housing, or men’s development) to help them beyond the foundational part of their work (housing and job training). Strategic Grant funding will provide support of Homes of Hope’s building and maintenance of homes (materials, labor, land, fees) and the Men’s Development Program.
Metanoia Community Development Corporation (Charleston): Metanoia Community Development Corporation is a movement of people rooted in faith, investing in neighborhood assets to build leaders, establish quality housing and generate economic development. They are pushing forward into new relationships with God and one another to create strong communities. Strategic Grant funding will support Metanoia Youth Leadership Academy Curriculum Development and Metanoia Organizational Outcomes Development.
The Family Effect Foundation (Greenville): The Family Effect is the philanthropic foundation for The Phoenix Center, with a mission of reducing addiction as a leading cause of family collapse and harm to children. Strategic Grant funding will allow The Family Effect Foundation to continue to grow and develop the Women & Children Succeeding (WACS) Program at Serenity Place in Greenville. Placement in the WACS program will continue to be offered to successful graduate mothers of Serenity Place who 1) want to return to school and complete their education, and 2) are willing to sign an accountability document and maintain certain requirements while in the program.
About the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina, established in 1996, is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System. The Foundation is committed to addressing the needs of the poor and underserved in all 46 South Carolina counties, and strategically uses resources to reduce poverty through action, advocacy and leadership.
