Collaborative Efforts Result in 4K Classroom for the Highland Community

On May 23, 2020, The Spartanburg Herald-Journal announced the awarding of a $300,000 grant to the Bethlehem Center by South Carolina First Steps. This grant will allow for the up fit of a community asset to create a 4K classroom serving children primarily residing in the City of Spartanburg’s Highland community. The Mary Black Foundation partnered with the Bethlehem Center and Spartanburg County First Steps to prepare the application.  The funding from this award will allow the Foundation to leverage additional resources to the Bethlehem for the completion of a Family Engagement space targeting parents of children birth to age 3 years. The addition of this space will allow for a full continuum of supports to young children and their families birth to age 4 years.

Ensuring that children enter kindergarten ready to learn and poised for life long success is at the heart of the Mary Black Foundation’s focus on Early Childhood Development. We are excited to be a part of this revitalization in the Highland community.  We know that an investment in the earliest years of a child’s life will provide the greatest return on investment for the child, the family they belong to, and the community as a whole.

Congratulations to the Bethlehem Center for receiving this well-deserved award. The recognition of the assets that continue to remain in grossly under resourced communities is a first step towards diminishing inequities in education and health outcomes.  Finding ways to begin layering in additional resources that build on the inherent resiliency of communities like Highland, and their enduring strength and assets that remain, serves as a catalyst for the type of change we all desire for every resident of Spartanburg County.

For more information, please click on the links below.

The Bethlehem Center: https://www.thebethlehemcenter.org/

GoUpstate Article: Spartanburg County Receives $300K Grant