Children and families in Spartanburg’s Southside community will receive additional support in the coming years, thanks to a $1 million federal grant.
The two-year grant was awarded to the Spartanburg Academic Movement by the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program.
Russell Booker, the Spartanburg Academic Movement CEO, described the funding as a “planning-slash-implementation grant” that supports hands-on assistance in the short-term as well as long-range strategic development to address community challenges.
E.P. Todd Elementary School will see the addition of a site coordinator to assist families with a wide range of needs and connect them to community resources.
SAM has site coordinators in six schools in Spartanburg County school districts 3 and 7. These schools include Mary H. Wright Elementary and Carver Middle schools, which, like E.P. Todd, serve children from neighborhoods on the Southside.
The grant also will fund the creation of a position to coordinate planning discussions among Southside residents, neighborhood associations, churches, schools and other stakeholders.
The hope, Booker said, is for efforts on the Southside to resemble those underway in the Northside and Highland neighborhoods, where community partners are coming together to provide comprehensive support for children.
Goals include increased school readiness, successful transitions as children work their way through the K-12 system and dual enrollment and internship opportunities for high school students.
“This is a great opportunity to support the Southside,” Booker said.
Mount Moriah Baptist Church is among the community organizations that have come together to plan for ways to support children in need on Spartanburg’s Southside.
The work being done in Highland and the Northside is under the umbrella of Movement 2030, led by SAM and supported by $100 million in investments from local, regional and national sources.
If partnerships on the Southside take shape over the next two years as Booker and other leaders hope, then SAM may apply for additional funding – up to $30 million – through the Promise Neighborhoods program.
Booker acknowledged concern that the federal program may not hold up during the second term of President-elect Donald Trump. “Promise Neighborhoods has been successful, and my hope is that it will continue to be part of the work going on in D.C.,” he said.
If not, he said SAM and its partners will seek other funding sources to bolster local schools and the children they serve.
Booker credited numerous partners in the Southside initiative, including city and county officials, school leaders, churches and community activists.
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg Academic Movement awarded grant to support Southside