Spartanburg’s Mary Black Foundation awards $2.6M to local nonprofits | Spartanburg News

SPARTANBURG — The Mary Black Foundation awarded $2,662,140 in grants to 28 nonprofits within Spartanburg County. The announcement was made on Aug. 30.

“Spartanburg’s nonprofit sector is doing incredible work to ensure healthy and resilient individuals, strong families, and a vibrant community,” Molly Talbot-Metz, the president and CEO for Mary Black Foundation, said in a news release.

Since 1996, the Mary Black Foundation has given more than $61 million to communities in Spartanburg Country. The goal of the foundation is to improve the health and wellness of those in the county.

The organizations that received funding this year include: Angels Change Ministry; Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate; BirthMatters; Bloom Upstate; Children’s Advocacy Center of Spartanburg; Children’s Museum Of the Upstate; CommunityWorks; Hope Center for Children; Hub City Farmers Market; Impact America; Institute for Child Success; Girls on the Run Upstate South Carolina; Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands; PAL (Play.Advocate.Live Well); ReGenesis Health Care; Servants for Sight; Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation; St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic; Uplift Outreach Center; Upstate Carolina Advocate Golf; and YMCA of Greater Spartanburg.

“We are proud to be able to provide financial resources that support their work,” said Talbot-Metz in the release.

Many of the organizations receiving money support healthy child development.

The mission of Spartanburg County First Steps is to provide evidence-based programs that help children develop through the first five years of life, according to Barbara Manoski, the executive director of Spartanburg County First Steps. The organization received $245,000 from the Mary Black Foundation.

“We really believe that healthy, strong and prosperous communities have programs in place to care for the wellbeing of their youngest children,” Manoski said.

Nonprofits who partnered with the foundation on Phase 2 of the Spartanburg Healthy Schools initiative were also given grants. Alliance for a Healthier Generation received $130,500 to implement the Resilience in School Environments (RISE) Index at Spartanburg School District 6. PAL (Play. Advocate. Live Well) received $223,300 to provide technical assistance to School District 6. United Way of Piedmont and PASOs received $353,306 to support community health and resource coordinator positions.

Uplift Outreach Center received $5,000 to help with board governance and engagement. The organization is a safe place for LGBTQ youth and their allies from ages 10 to 22 years old.

Deb Foreman, executive director of Uplift Outreach Center, described her board of directors as “a steering force of our organization.”

“We’ve seen over the last two years since we’ve been open that LGBTQ youth just want to be around other LGBTQ youth because those are their peers, and they get a lot of support from their peers,” Foreman said.

Uplift Outreach Center has had virtual meetings with youth due to safety concerns, but the organization plans to start having outdoor parking lot meetings in September, according to Foreman.

Girls on the Run Upstate was awarded $27,000 to support its after-school programming, which involves twice-weekly meetings for eight weeks. The funding will go to the organization’s 10 Spartanburg program sites.

“We’ll be able to support over 100 for the next two years,” said Mary Ann Cleland, the council director for the organization.

The organization helps girls with life skills, mental health and focuses on the importance of setting short- and long-term goals. At the end of the program’s season, girls from all of the organization’s program sites come together for a 5K run. This fall, the run will be held at USC Upstate on Nov. 20.

“All the girls that participate at all of our program sites come together on that day to really experience the power of goal setting and unleash their limitless potential,” Cleland said.