Mary Duckett to be Honored at Annual Green Day Event

The Greenville Drive has chosen Mary Duckett, the long-time president of Southernside Neighborhoods in Action, as this year's honoree at the annual Green Day event on August 6. The event is a celebration of Greenville's birth and each year, the Greenville Drive recognizes a member of the community who has helped make Greenville what it is today. Mary has been a community champion since moving to the Southernside neighborhood in the 1950s. The construction of A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School and a new Hampton Avenue pedestrian bridge are just two of the countless projects that have been successful because of her leadership and advocacy over many decades of service to her community.

The event will take place during the Drive game at Fluor Field, which will be followed by a fireworks show.

New Report Details Upstate & SC Homelessness Rates

Homelessness remains a widespread issue in Greenville, the Upstate and across South Carolina. According to a new report produced by the Upstate Continuum of Care and the South Carolina Interagency Council on Homelessness, 11,338 persons were experiencing homelessness from October 2016 to September 2017. On a single night in January 2019, 1,401 persons were experiencing homelessness across the 13 counties of the Upstate. This represents the highest count of any region of the state and an increase of 216 persons from the previous year. Greenville County had the third-highest number of persons counted in the state with 753, behind only Richland and Horry counties. Spartanburg, Greenwood and Anderson counties were also among the top 10 counties with the highest counts.

Homelessness among K-12 students was also substantial. In 2017-2018, 12,660 students were identified statewide as experiencing homelessness. Nearly half were Upstate students (5,782 or 46%). Even more striking was the number of students identified as experiencing unsheltered homelessness (1,345), which represented 76% of all unsheltered students in the state. Not having a stable living situation was also related to poor academic proficiency, higher dropout rates and failure to graduate on time.

Local and statewide solutions to combating homelessness include developing a larger inventory of low-income/affordable housing, greater levels of funding for supportive housing and case-management projects, increased outreach resources to connect persons to existing services and robust prevention and diversion strategies to help keep persons from becoming homeless.

To learn more, including how to get involved, visit Upstate Continuum of Care at www.upstatecoc.org/data-1.

Group photo of Grassroots Leadership graduates

2019 Grassroots Leadership Development Program Graduates

Congratulations, graduates! This year's 14-member class joins the more than 150 community leaders who have graduated from Greenville Dreams' Grassroots Leadership Development Program since its inception nine years ago.

Greenville Dreams works in partnership with United Way of Greenville County, the City of Greenville and the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority to educate and deploy neighborhood leaders from special emphasis neighborhoods in Greenville County.

For more information, visit https://www.unitedwaygc.org/greenville-dreams-grassroots-leadership.

Sterling and Viola Neighborhoods to Celebrate National Night Out

Held on the first Tuesday in August, National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes community and public safety partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.

Sterling Neighborhood Association National Night Out
August 6 | 6 - 8 p.m.
Sterling Community Center, 113 Minus St.

Viola Neighborhood Association National Night Out
August 6 | 6 - 8 p.m.
Viola Community Center, 218 Viola St.