Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina awards strategic grants to four nonprofit organizations

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina has awarded strategic grants to four nonprofit organizations that continue to create positive change in South Carolina communities by working toward the relief of generational poverty.

Recipients of the strategic grant come from different areas of the state and have varying fields of impact. The Free Medical Clinic serves Midlands residents; Root & Rebound serves all of South Carolina, but is based out of Greenville County; Teach My People serves Georgetown County; and the Sustainability Institute serves Charleston County.

“Poverty continues to be an issue in South Carolina, but it’s an issue we can do something about. While it may be too much work for one person to take on, we are proud to partner with organizations who see barriers and find solutions to remove them,” said Tom Keith, president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina.

Each organization will partner closely with the foundation to maximize their results and resources, and to ensure the occurrence of measurable change.

• The Free Medical Clinic provides on-site health care for patients who live at or below the Federal Poverty Level, cannot afford health insurance, are ineligible for Medicaid, Medicare and Veterans’ Affairs benefits. They partner with local nonprofit agencies to help patients gain access to services that are not provided at the clinic.
• Root & Rebound is one half of the South Carolina Second Chance Justice Collaborative (SCSCJC), a partnership with Soteria Community Development Corporation. Through the SCSCJC, Root & Rebound will provide direct legal, education and policy advocacy support to Soteria clients and others. The collaborative also will roll out a first-of-its-kind mobile, responsive community-lawyering model, which will include direct services and policy reform. In addition, the Collaborative will launch the South Carolina Child Support Advocacy Initiative to address disparities in child support enforcement that lead to high rates of incarceration.
• Teach My People (TMP) is an afterschool and summer program serving students who have been impacted by poverty, while placing a year-round emphasis on academic success. Each year, TMP brings in 10 rising first graders and works with them until they graduate high school. In total, TMP will provide tutoring, mentorship, character development, collegiate planning and other programming for 124 students in the 2019-20 academic year.
• Sustainability Institute’s Energy Conservation Corps Program addresses two critical needs in the Charleston area: they provide workforce training for young adults, and they repair low-income housing in vulnerable communities. Their six month training program is affiliated with national AmeriCorps and allows young adults who experience barriers to participate in service learning, learning professional skills while giving back to their community.

“The Foundation respects the great work of each of these organizations. Our strategic grantee partners consistently find innovative ways to address the relief of poverty, and we are happy to support them in any ways we can,” Keith said.

About Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina
Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, founded in 1996. Their mission is to address the needs of the poor and underserved throughout the state of South Carolina. Through the strategic use of resources they seek to reduce poverty through action, advocacy and leadership.