23 Feb

Interested in Higher Education’s Impact on Workforce Development? Read on…

Posted by Kate Hofler in Greenville Forward News, Momentum.

Greenville Forward has been successfully implementing a dialogue-building program called Momentum for nearly four years now. The program fulfills one of our four main activities that we do as an organization to be sure Vision 2025 comes to fruition, opening dialogue around key issues. The month of March is concluding our three-month focus on Learning (one of our six main focus areas) and we are rounding out the conversation with a Momentum Series topic close to the heart of many industry leaders in Greenville. Read below to see what we will be talking about and how you can be sure to reserve your spot on March 1.

Higher Learning: Bringing Higher Education and Workforce Development Together.  

Greenville County is a learning community.  This is what Vision 2025 says about Greenville’s future.  We recognize that being a learning community is vital to our vibrancy, our wellbeing, and our success as a region.  We see our citizens engaging in post secondary education while we dramatically increase our efforts in workforce development, thus establishing ourselves as a world class, economically viable community.

The importance we place on higher education and workforce development in our community is paramount. The nature of work is changing and preparation to be a part of and remain in the workforce in this environment is also changing.  More job opportunities will require post-secondary education and degrees in the future, with the development of a high quality and engaged workforce being key to our success.   We are no longer competing on a regional scale for economic development issues, but rather on a world-wide scale.  It will be increasingly important that we have a workforce that knows how to operate in a globalized marketplace, that thinks critically and makes informed decisions in a highly complex environment, and keeps up with the technological changes and opportunities around us.

With this ever-changing landscape, how important is it for Greenville to stay ahead of the curve in training a highly educated and engaged workforce?  What role do institutions like The University Center, Greenville Tech, Furman University and Clemson play in moving forward?  Greenville’s economic competitiveness depends on the educational readiness of our workforce, so how can we ensure that our traditional higher educational systems have a specific focus on workforce development needs?

When: Thursday, March 1, 2012

 11:45a.m to 1:00p.m.

Where: Greenville Chamber of Commerce

24 Cleveland Street

Greenville, SC 29601

Cost:

$10 ($8.00 for Greenville Forward Members.)

Enter Promo Code before you purchase on Eventbrite.

Includes lunch; payable at the door. The series sells out quickly.

Reservations are required since space is limited to the first 30 signups.  Cash, checks, Visa/Mastercard accepted.

NOTE:  We order and pay for lunches based on RSVPs. If you register and your plans change, please notify us so we can cancel your lunch.   

To register, go to march2012momentum.eventbrite.com or email bkoonce@greenvilleforward.com.

www.greenvilleforward.com

Greenville Forward’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for greater Greenville by engaging citizens in continually updating, promoting, and facilitating a community vision for 2025 and beyond.

Vision 2025 dares to imagine a community whose growth is fueled by creativity, ignited by the power of ideas, and fired by the goal of excellence. Vision 2025 is just a glimpse into the future of Greenville. It’s a commitment to improving our community to match the changing times around us.

22 Feb

Keeping an Eye on Education

Posted by Brock in Uncategorized.

Back in 2007, Russell and I attended a Junior League event, where we were exposed to a variety of early childhood organizations and daycares.  We were moved.  Not only by the depth and breadth of the organizations represented, not only by the quality of care that many gave these children, but also by the challenges that each faced on a daily basis in trying to keep up with regulations, laws and care for those in need.  It was eye opening for us.  As a 30 year old, I had not really been exposed to that part of our community and it, honestly, didn’t cross my mind that it’s something I should think about.  But, this program made me think.  And, we got involved with The United Way, through Laurie Rovin to help her in her mission to provide better early childhood development to our youth in Greenville.

So, fast forward two years, and Russell and I are discussing our school system.  Our school system had just spend 1 billion dollars on renovating and rebuilding our entire school infrastructure from the ground up.  We had new schools, renovated schools, new equipment, high quality technology and new opportunities for our teachers to reach our students.  But, was this enough?  What else was needed?  How could we expose our community to the great things being done in our schools, while showing them that we still face challenges on a daily basis?  More importantly, how could we expose our decision makers to our schools.

According to our “Culture of Learning” Study from 2010, only 32% of Greenvillians believe that our politicians understand the value of education, while only 14% say that they are held accountable for their actions.  Many said that unless one of our legislators had a child in Greenville County Schools they may not have stepped into any of our buildings.  But, the same could be said for many of our business and civic leaders.

So, in partnership with Greenville County Schools, specifically Patty Fox and Pam Mills, Greenville Forward created Eye on Education, a program to help community leaders become more familiar with our local schools.  It’s a chance to experience what is happening in Greenville County’s classrooms and see the activity in our schools. The program creates opportunities to develop dialogue on ways to improve the learning opportunities for our students and teachers.

All participant is broken up into two groups and set out to visit two schools each. Before the groups are broken up, they hear comments from Dr. Fisher on the state of Greenville County Schools.  When they return, they participate in a dialogue that discusses potential opportunities and next steps.

It’s a day of vigorous community building around public education in Greenville.  And, it’s this Friday, February 24th from 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Registration is almost closed, but if you would like to be added to the list, please visit, eyeoneducation2012.eventbrite.com or call us at 864-233-8443.

20 Feb

Special Membership Offer from Greenville Forward TODAY ONLY

Posted by Kate Hofler in Greenville Forward News.

We are all about the 2025.

As an organization moving Vision 2025 further, any number including a combination of 2025 reminds us of our goal and how we are doing in achieving the dreams and goals for Greenville County. 

So, on this 20th of February, we celebrate reaching 250 members with this one-day membership offer.

As long as the date reads 2/20, all new memberships to Greenville Forward will include a buy one, get one free option. You can join at any level and give the free membership to someone else for the exact same value.

Visit www.greenvilleforward/join now, fill out your information, and we’ll email you to see who you want to receive the free membership.

This one-day offer is an opportunity to grow our membership and our Vision 2025 community even more. Thank you for believing in Greenville. 

 

16 Feb

Conversation Cafe – How do we Create a Learning Community?

Posted by Kate Hofler in Education.

Here at Greenville Forward, we have asked this question several times. Partly because it is one of our six main focus areas, and partly because we are concerned about how Greenville will continue to move forward if we are not valuing learning in our community. How will we have a strong work force pushing us on if we are not educated and committed to continually learning? On Wednesday morning, Greenville Forward used the Conversation Cafe style of forum to address this question at Spill the Beans.

Despite the early morning meeting, the participants came away with some wonderful ideas for making learning an integral part of the fabric of our community. I was delighted to hear some new ideas I had not considered before and was challenged to think about learning beyond how I define it in my own mind.

And per my usual style, here are some notes that captured the response of the participants:

What communities beyond Seattle are we aware of that are thinking about this question and how are they addressing it? What programs are they using and what is their plan of action to move forward?

What is the motivation for learning and why should we communicate its importance to adults and children?

How do we recruit and attain talent in Greenville? We need to create an atmosphere where people want to be part of what is happening in Greenville.

What are the emerging fields that will really recruit and attain people in Greenville? We need to have a population that fosters learning.

How can you get every part of the community involved with learning? Everyone learns in different ways so there should be different modes of learning.

You need to get into the neighborhoods because people learn best in their own environments, like community centers.

There are many wonderful programs and experiences out there that people just don’t know about. For example, the Warehouse Theatre presents plays with important themes, etc. There is also Learning in Retirement at Furman. Do people know about that program? There are barriers of cost to many of these programs.We need to find enough things that are “free” for people. But there are still challenges of transportation.

How do we bring dialogue to other communities who are not coming here. How many learning opportunities are there downtown? Could we expand them to other communities?  We could engage not just people but also businesses.

If you were raised educated than you naturally encourage learning with your children. But some people do not have that background. At the grocery store, some parents might use it as a learning tool – perhaps the grocery store could be involved with that and provide “learning sheets” for children.

The difference between learning and education – even in the school we can create a learning environment versus an educated environment. The idea of community must start in the home. Education was never meant to be something that stopped at 3:00.

If more establishments like Spill the Beans opened up for events like this, that would be huge.

There is a community here that is glad to not be in school because “I won’t have to learn anymore.” This is not a result of teachers failing but what the community does to “blame” the schools.

How can you make being smart in school equally as cool as being captain of the football team? – “Pay people million dollar contracts to put an idea into the hoop instead of a ball.”

Sometimes learning means “extra work” – but if people love where they work, they are interested in continuing to learn. Top companies create a business culture that values learning and where people want to be engaged.

15 Feb

An International Visit

Posted by Brock in Uncategorized.

Yesterday, Greenville Forward played host to a group of visitors from India.  The participants came to Greenville, after visiting other communities across the the Country to experience our culture, our livelihood, our friendliness and our community.  We were able to sit down with the group of six to discuss the non profit culture in our community.  The conversation was candid and extremely interesting, revolving around funding, marketing and volunteer management.

Many of the most interesting points were about the differences in non profits in India and non profits in The United States.  One comment indicated that all businesses in India were required to give 3% to charity.  Interesting, eh?  The group was very interested in conflict resolution between organizations, as well as program focus and community support.

Our panel was terrific and displayed a vast array of expertise in the non profit sector in Greenville, SC.  The panelists were:

  • Kate Hofler, Greenville Forward
  • Rebecca Ellefson, United Way Hands on Greenville
  • Adela Mendoza, ACCH/LiveWell
  • Russell Stall, Greenville Forward

The participants in the program were part of a national program called NCIV (National Council of International Visitors.)…


We build person-to-person relationships “one handshake at a time.”

The National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) is a nonprofit membership association with 50 years of leadership in citizen diplomacy.NCIV serves the international exchange community and helps build person-to-person relationships “one handshake at a time.”  Our membership includes a nationwide network of Community Member Organizations, National Program Agencies, Associate Member Organizations, and individuals.  NCIV members design and implement professional programs, provide cultural activities, and offer home hospitality for foreign leaders, specialists, and scholars participating in the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and other exchanges.  With leadership and training provided by NCIV, member organizations are expert at matching the resources of their communities with the needs of International Visitors.

We have recently had a chapter started in Greenville, under the leadership of International Task Force member, Bianca Walker and The Riley Institute at Furman University.  This was the first opportunity for the program to happen in Greenville, and we feel it was a total success.  So, if you hear more about the program, get involved.  Or call us and ask how you can get involved.

More information on the visitors:

Ms Ritamghara – Consultant Planning Commission, New Delhi

New Delhi/Old Delhi (the following from Wikipedia, January 2012)
Population: 249,998 (609th of 640 large cities in India)
The National Capital, as well as a State Capital; administrative and political capital; heavy tourism; Mughal and British colonial influences on culture and architecture February temp: 50 – 75 F
Transport: train, buses, taxi, by 2020 a subway system larger than London, UK
23 million passengers at airport; projected to be 34 million annually by 2013 Religion: Hindu 87%; Islam 63%; Christian less than 1%
US Sister City: Chicago, IL

Planning Commission website: http://planningcommission.nic.in/ Works across most of norther India: Utta Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand States Planning Commission has the 11th Five Year Plan in place (2007 – 2012); currently preparing 12th Plan (2013-2018).

Employed by Assessment Survey Evaluation Research (ASER), http:// www.asercentre.org/ From their website: ASER Centre seeks to use simple yet rigorous methods to generate new evidence for action, disseminate it widely, and
build the capacity of individuals and organizations across the country to do the same. In India and abroad, the findings of ASER and ASER like initiatives are leading to change.

Ms. Sudha Parthasarathy – Executive Director, Deepalaya, New Delhi

New Delhi/Old Delhi (the following from Wikipedia, January 2012)
Population: 249,998 (609th of 640 large cities in India)
The National Capital, as well as a State Capital; administrative and political capital; heavy tourism; Mughal and British colonial influences on culture and architecture February temp: 50 – 75 F
Transport: train, buses, taxi, by 2020 a subway system larger than London, UK
23 million passengers at airport; projected to be 34 million annually by 2013 Religion: Hindu 87%; Islam 63%; Christian less than 1%
US Sister City: Chicago, IL

Deepalaya – a non – government development organization working on issues affecting the urban and rural poor, with a special focus on children. It is because ʻEvery child deserves a chanceʼ that the organization exists and works towards making that possible. For the past 32 years Deepalaya has been working in the urban slums of Delhi and has also made inroads into rural development in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Check it out at http://deepalaya.org/

Deepalaya works in six areas through 330 educational centers reaching over 50,000: Education, health, institutional care, differently abled, gender equity, empowering $NGOʼs

Deepalaya Foundation USA is located in Huston, TX; they also have offices in Germany and UK. Duvall-Deepalaya Father Daughter Initiative is a collaboration with Robert Duvall (Academy Award winning actor) and his wife.

Ms Yasmin Abdul Sattar Shaikh – Chief Executive Officer, Modern Educational Social and Cultural Organization (MESCO), Mumbai, Maharashtra

Mumbai/formerly Bombay (the following from Wikipedia, January 2012)
Population: 12,478,447; Indiaʼs largest city and is located where people have lived for over 2,000 years
Capital state of Maharashtra; financial & commercial capital generates 6% of total GDP; Formerly 7 islands, now Mumbai City District and Mumbai Suburban District February temp: 63 – 88F
Transport: extensive suburban train system, busses, taxi cabs; building an above ground mono-rail system; Bandra–Worli Sea Link – 2009 bridge opened linking two parts of city, check out photos at Google images – dramatic pylons
Sports: Cricket – two international stadiums
Religion: Hindu 67%; Islam 19%; Christian 4%
US Sister City: Los Angeles, CA

Modern Educational Social and Cultural Organization (MESCO) – http://mescotrust.org/ Helping people live a better tomorrow
From MESCO website: During 2010-11 we have assisted 1,586 school & college students, provided Medical Services to 342 patients under various schemes and another 64,055 patients through our three Mobile Clinics and one Fixed Dispensary; and provided Poverty Relief to 2,644 beneficiaries.

MESCO activities include: Educational Support Services; Medical Support Services; Institutions; and MESCO General Aid Scheme

Mr. Bappaditya Mukherjee – Founding Secretary, Prantakatha, Kolkata

Kolkata/formerly Calcutta (the following from Wikipedia, January 2012) Population: 4.5 million; metro area, 14.2 million; third most populated city in India; commercial and financial hub of East India and northeastern states
Capital: State of West Bengal; people have lived in this area for over 2,000 years February temp: 60 – 80 F
Transport: train, bus and taxi; the largest subway in India since 1984 and expanding Ganges River flows through parts of metro area

Religion: Hindu 73%; Islam 23%; Christian 2% US Sister City: Long Beach, CA

Prantakatha – http://prantakathaindia.org/
From their website: an advocacy NGO that promotes Active Citizenship as a tool for social change. By Active Citizenship, Prantakatha considers people not to be a mere receiver of Ideologies, Goods & Services produced by State or Corporation, rather it looks at Citizen as determinant of this process. Prantakatha envisions a society where citizens enjoy its full authority in determining all that affects them, in market or outside market.

Dr. Nirmalal Jyothi Nekkalapudi Ramamuthy, Physician and Consultant, Founder and Managing Trustee, JRS Charitable Trust, Joy Home for Children

Secunderabad, Andorra Pradesh, a twin city to Hyderabad for many years, now a part of the City of Hyderabad, Hyderabad District (the following from Wikipedia, January 2012)
Population: 204,00 (2001)Hyderabad, 6,800,000 (2011); Indiaʼs fourth most populated; Area is a hub of technology, companies and educational institutes; business, finance and political center of Southeast India

February temp: 62 – 89 F
Transport: bus, taxi and extensive light rail system; subway to come on line soon

Religion: Hindu 55%; Islam 41%; Christian 2%
US Sister Cities: Riverside, CA; San Diego, CA; Indianapolis, IN

Joy Home for Children – website http://www.joyhomeforchildren.com/ From their website: A place to call home – Eliminating the feeling of loneliness and desertion, each child becomes a member of the Joy Home family. A permanent home with 3 acres of land as their playground providing a safe and secure environment where the children return to after a hard days schooling.

Joy Home for Children has programs in: Education; Food and Health Care; and Training and Developing Skills. A quote on their website:
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Mark Twain

14 Feb

Momentum Recap: Inclusion in our Classrooms

Posted by Kate Hofler in Momentum, Education, Inclusion.

Last Thursday, Greenville Forward hosted February’s Momentum Series with a dynamic conversation about inclusion on our classrooms. The topic can be a bit confusing, but the overall goal of the conversation was to consider how our classrooms measure up to the goals set for them in Vision 2025. Specifically, Vision 2025 states, “In 2025 the proportion of minority educators in Greenville County mirrors the proportion of the minority population. All students and educators have access to multi-cultural experiences, foreign language instruction, and teacher and student international exchange programs including opportunities for students and teachers, Pre-K – 12, to interact with and learn from students and other instructors across the globe.”

To put this goal in layman’s terms, the Vision basically hopes for two kinds of inclusion, racial and international. So last Thursday, a group of educators, statisticians, community volunteers, nonprofit leaders, concerned businessmen and women, and experts on the topic gathered around a table to assess how Greenville is doing on these two major fronts.

Overall, the general consensus was that inclusion is difficult to define. For many, it is hard to even broach the subject when the biggest problem with many of the minorities in classroom is the extreme poverty and insufficient nutrition facing many of these students. How can you worry about students’ opportunities to interact with international cultures when you are more concerned with where they will sleep tonight and whether or not they will receive dinner?

There were many other important comments that I jotted down while listening to the conversation. I am providing them below to offer a sense of the conversation and the important points made by many of our participants.

“Berea High School is composed of 40% Hispanic students. It is hard to find native speakers to become faculty members.”

“The lack of Hispanic faculty is a cycle that must start in high school to inspire Hispanic students to go on to college.”

“Are we truly connecting potential Hispanic teachers with the need in the field of education for them to fill positions?”

“What kinds of field trips could we create to show students Hispanic culture in our community?”

“Is the school district communicating enough with parents and communities? Perhaps school principals could share with the communities around them the vast needs they have for some of their students for food, shelter, and safety.”

“There is often a disconnect between at-risk children and performance. Is Johnny reading at a lower level because Johnny is homeless?”

“Those that are on the ground need to continue to do the work they do and build relationships with one another to partner in overall goals.”

“Contact principals in your area to see how you can become involved with supporting their schools.”

### One of the main things I noticed as an observer is the recurring theme of the importance of communities supporting schools. It seems that if the communities surrounding schools offered support in the form of food donations, supporting nonprofits that work with the homeless, etc. only then can they begin to fully address inclusion in the classroom.

 

10 Feb

Greenville Forward News: New Board Members and New Chair

Posted by Kate Hofler in Greenville Forward News.

 

Greenville Forward Expands Board of Directors and Names New Chair

Four New Members Added to Nonprofit Leadership Board

Greenville, SC – February 10, 2012 – Greenville Forward is pleased to announce the addition of four members to the nonprofit organization’s Board of Directors led by the newly elected Chair, Rita Barker of Wyche. The new board members include Sean Dogan, Ansel Sanders, Catherine Schumacher, and Gaye Sprague.

Rita Barker is an environmental attorney at Wyche, P.A. and is a graduate both of Harvard Law School and Clemson University. Rita has participated in Leadership Greenville, is a member of the City of Greenville’s Green Ribbon Advisory Committee, and is an active supporter of Upstate Forever and Friends of the Reedy River. She was recently selected as one of Greenville Business Magazine’s “Best and Brightest 35 and Under” honorees.

About our New Board Members:

Sean Dogan: Rev. Sean Dogan has served as the Senior Pastor of Long Branch Baptist Church since 1997. He recently launched an environmental improvement project around the church campus and is an active advocate for healthy living and local food access among his congregation through a program called Radical Faith Ministries.  Dogan attended the Shaw School if Divinity and Clemson University. He is actively involved with the United Way, S.H.A.R.E., and UNCF, to name a few. He was also honored by Greenville Business Magazine as “Best and Brightest 35 and Under.”

Ansel Sanders: Ansel Sanders is the Program Director at A. J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering.  He also serves on the leadership team for a new public middle school, slated to open in August 2014 adjacent to the ICAR campus.  Prior to coming to A. J. Whittenberg, Ansel served as an administrator at Mauldin Middle School.  In 2004, Ansel began his career in education by teaching 8th grade language arts in inner city Baltimore, Maryland, through Teach For America, a program that places high performing college graduates in struggling urban and rural school districts throughout the country.  He taught for three years before moving to Greenville.  He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Virginia.

Catherine Schumacher: Catherine Schumacher, a native of Spartanburg, is a freelance development consultant and grant writer who moved to Greenville in 2005 after spending a number of years working in Boston and New York. She also is a graduate of Harvard University. Catherine has 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, including not only grant writing and related services but also strategic consulting on fundraising, Board development and stewardship, and long-term organizational planning.

Gaye Sprague: Gaye Sprague is a civil engineer with 33 years of experience and is the owner and principal of Sprague & Sprague Consulting Engineers. She has Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in civil engineering from Clemson University and served on the South Carolina Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors from 2002 to 2008. She has served as chair of the Board of the Greenville Transit Authority and the Greenville Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee.  She has been an elder at Westminister Presbyterian Church, and her other volunteer experience reflects a lifelong commitment to nonprofit groups that focus on education and community welfare.  She was elected in November 2009 to one of two at-large positions on Greenville City Council.

###

7 Feb

A Community Concern – Challenge Series in Review

Posted by Kate Hofler in Community Leaders, Education.

Last Tuesday, Greenville Forward partnered with the Warehouse Theatre to present a documentary and discussion as part of the Challenge Series program. The featured film was “A Community Concern,” a film addressing three separate stories of communities working to challenge the broken educational systems in their towns. The three stories emphasized Oakland, Boston, and the Bronx.

As we were watching the film, I feverishly took notes about key elements that are worth sharing or quotes that had an impact, followed by a quick recap of our discussion. I am going to share them here but I do hope that you take the time to watch the film on your own at some point if you have the chance. I am fairly certain that you can get it on Netflix or we can loan you our copy. Overall, the key theme I noticed was that no matter how desperate, how devoid of funds, or how seemingly impossible the outlook is when trying to impart change, people are capable of making a difference when they work together toward a common goal.

Oakland: 

In Oakland, we saw the role of community organizers filtering the angry, desperate, and passionate parents’ through a system of building relationships with one another so that their concerns became actual action steps.

They determined that failure had been the norm. And then decided that failure was unacceptable.

The community organizers worked to push the local school board to create more small, new schools to eliminate overcrowding and offer enriched educational experiences.

In the fall of 2001, five new schools opened.

The Bronx:

Several entities came together to create a better outlook for the youth in their community. “Ain’t no power like the power of youth cause the power of youth don’t stop” was a constant motto.

New York City has the nation’s largest school system.

Local volunteers and students were trained in community organizing and literally lobbied the Department of Education for a building for their new school, The Leadership Institute.

“Every child was born with the potential for greatness.”

The whole goal was to create relationships between the people in power and the people in need.

The School District Superintendent literally told the students that the Leadership Institute’s Building was “not a priority.”

The Leadership Institute does not get its own building but the school does go on.

Boston:

The Boston Parent Organizing Network was founded to improve education for low income students.

The Boston community realized that the connection with the parents was absolutely crucial for success in a child’s education.

The school district event created a Vice Superintendent for Family Engagement position.

“Your child must know that you are supporting them.”

The district even offered an education fair where all schools were represented to show parents the options.

After-film Discussion: 

“In the amount of time that people could have done nothing, these people created schools.”

“Work together; do not begin by being argumentative and accusatory.”

“Someone was able to create a peaceful table where there was mutual respect.”

“Many parents are disenfranchised in our community and we must figure out ways to bring them back into the fold of the school.”

“Success is an approximation of justice. We are not going to get there all at once.”

“Why don’t we have a Superintendent of Family Services in Greenville?”

“We should focus on supporting communities where the schools are located.”

“Perhaps we could identify schools in our community that are struggling and adopt these communities like Leadership Greenville projects.”

“If the schools fail, then we fail as a community.”

Overall, the attendees at the Challenge Series felt that if Greenville were to pursue a similar track to improve our educational systems, we would need to better support the communities where our schools are located. In turn, the communities should support the schools. It is not just about the teachers and parents — anyone around a community can be part of the village raising our children.

(Stay tuned for the next Challenge Series event happening in March of 2012.)

 

6 Feb

Faith-Based Community Gardens

Posted by Reece Lyerly in Environment, Gardening for Good, Health and Wellness.

Beyond the traditional neighborhood community garden, there are many other groups of people growing food in the Upstate, such as faith-based communities.  Faith-based community gardens are funded and supported primarily through religious organizations, such as churches and synagogues or faith-based non-profit organizations. Faith-based gardens are often developed with the intent of providing fresh produce to members of the religious organization or those in need in the local community. Some produce donations from the bounty of these gardens are provided to soup kitchens, homeless shelters, or food banks to ensure that those in need have access to healthy, fresh, and affordable produce.

Here in Greenville, there are existing community gardens at First Christ Church, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, John Calvin Presbyterian Church and St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, to name a few.  In fall 2011, Triune Mercy Center joined the community garden network when volunteers and parishioners alike joined to build 4 raised beds.  The food grown in Triune’s small plots supply weekly grocery distribution to families and individuals that would otherwise lack fresh produce.  There are plans this spring to expand the garden with blueberry bushes and fig trees!  If you are a member of a faith-based community and want to start a community garden, contact Gardening for Good today!

31 Jan

You are never too young…

Posted by Kate Hofler in Community Leaders.

Here at Greenville Forward, we believe in young leadership. This belief is evident in our constant supply of bright-eyed college and high school interns, our involvement with Youth Leadership Greenville, and our general attitude that the young people in our community are going to be the ones to shape our community’s future in 2025.

I share this element of our culture at Greenville Forward because we are delighted and honored to have one of our own, a former high school intern who worked with the HeadStrong project, representing our community on a national stage.

Join us in cheering on Carrie Tian tomorrow as she competes on Jeopardy as the youngest contestant at 17 and a representative of Harvard University. More here: http://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-television-distribution/releases/view?id=30509&shared

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