AARP – “Age is not a defeat, but a victory”
AARP’s remarkable founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, had a passion for education and service that carried her throughout her extensive career as a teacher and a high school principal. After retiring at age 60, she turned her energies to helping “aging folk realize life’s possibilities.”
Dr. Andrus had a new and different vision of aging. “We don’t get old,” she said, “we grow old. We mature. If we ever stop growing, then we have had it.” But as she looked around in 1950s America, she could see that “most organizations working with older citizens did things for them—things that too often led to trivial activities and childish games.”
“Why,” she asked herself, “can’t AARP offer senior Americans a chance to solve their own problems of personal identity, recreation, travel, health protection and financial security?”
Since 1958, AARP has been doing just that—and helping all Americans to understand that, in Dr. Andrus’ words, “age is not a defeat, but a victory; not a punishment, but a privilege.”
Here in South Carolina, AARP has more than 600,000 members. There are great ways to get involved ere in the Upstate. See the opportunities below and let us hear from you.
AARP South Carolina’s volunteers are local heroes. They are everyday people who care about their communities and are doing what they can to make a difference. We want to join you in the work you are doing in your community or to create the change you know needs to happen.
We work on the issues that impact the 50+ and their families, including:
- Veterans Outreach
- Health & Healthcare
- Hunger and Food Insecurity
- Utilities
- Caregiving
- Fraud Prevention
Join AARP South Carolina as a volunteer for some great opportunities and self-fulfillment. The calendar for the upcoming months is starting to take shape and your help is needed. AARP SC is planning some major events and activities for our Upstate members.
Here is a sample of volunteer opportunities that are available in the Upstate.
Community Engagement Team – be a part of the steering group to help plan and Implement community events. This group will meet on a regular basis to plan and develop events and on-going programs for members in the Upstate.
Community Event Volunteers – Spend some time working events and representing AARP SC at community events, festivals, Movies for Grown Ups, Shred Events with the BBB of the Upstate, and Fraud presentations. Look for AARP SC on Fridays on Main beginning March 17.
Advocacy Volunteers – Help track and advocated for issues that are important to older South Carolina residents. This includes state and federal officials. AARP is a fierce defender on issues that impact your wallet.
2024 Presidential Primary Volunteers – Track ALL presidential candidates when they visit the area. AARP is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. Volunteers will be needed to help AARP hold the candidates accountable on issues that impact older voters.
Sounds like fun. Click here to fill out an interest form. Look for an email or phone call from Patrick Cobb pcobb@aarp.org about a training and social event to learn more. It is all about having fun.
AARP is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. With over 600,000 members here in the Palmetto state, AARP is making life better for its members. For other information on AARP programs, services and benefits call 1-866-389-5655 or aarp.org
TATT Strategic Initiative Plan
Goal and Overview
The goal of the Strategic Initiative Plan is to assess current initiatives to determine their sustainability going forward, and to discuss potential new initiatives.
Process
- Each current TATT initiative will be reviewed by representatives from the corresponding group to develop a case(s) for consideration for one or two opportunities within that initiative.
- Chairpersons from each group will present their case(s) for consideration to the Initiative Advisory Board. This board will be made up of a diverse group of objective representatives from across the Upstate, and include members of TATT’s Board of Directors, funding partners, and community partners.
- The Initiative Advisory board will select one or two initiatives to present to the TATT Board of Directors for approval. The approved initiatives will be the focus of TATT going forward.
Initiative Criteria
- Issue fits within TATT’s five driver areas:
- Community Vibrancy
- Economic and Entrepreneurial Vitality
- Human Potential
- Natural Beauty and Resources
- Sustainable Growth
- There is a clear regional need/challenge –short-term and/or long-term
- Issue is a barrier to employment or economic success
- Issue is related to current or future growth in the region
- Issue is related to quality of life within the Upstate
- No other organization is addressing issue from a regional standpoint
- Issue has passionate local and/or regional champions interested in working collaboratively to lead the efforts
- Subject expert leaders are available to work with TATT on the issue
- Clear potential to grow individual or collective capacity
- Clear potential to measure success
- Initiative strengthens regional ecosystem
- Funding (grants or contributions) is available to help support initiative
- Promotes inclusion and equity
Initiatives Currently Funded by TATT
Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem
Upstate Mobility Alliance
Public Health with SC DHEC
Initiatives Being Considered
Air Quality/Natural Resources
Creating a Safer Upstate
Education
Planners/Sustainable Growth
Seniors
TATT’s Mission
- Foster Collaboration & Regional Thinking
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- By building trust and opportunities for collaboration and partnerships among Upstate stakeholders
- By leading conversations around regional issues and growing awareness of resources available across the Upstate
- By serving as a “Regional Connector”
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- Build Capacity Around Regional Issues
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- By working with regional stakeholders to build individual and collective capacity around strategic issues related to economic vitality and quality of life within the 10-county Upstate South Carolina Region
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- Maintain Organization Sustainability
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- By maintaining and growing regional financial partnerships
- By maintaining inclusive and diverse leadership that reflects the Upstate region and helps guide TATT’s mission focus and long-term sustainability
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Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement Department
History/Creation of Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement Department
The Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement Department was formed in 2000.
At that time, Animal Control and Litter Control were brought together for the purpose of being good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars while also utilizing all available resources. Then, in 2006, four Property Maintenance Inspectors were moved from the Building Codes Division to our team. In 2018, the Keep OneSpartanburg Beautiful Coordinator position was created, and, in 2020, a County employee Roadside Litter Crew was added.
Our department strives every day to meet and accomplish the goals and the vision set by our County Council. Our staff has always had an unpublished mission statement of “Where do you need us to go, what do you need us to do?” This department has served as a model throughout the state for other counties to emulate and adjust to their needs.
Property Maintenance Division
Our Property Maintenance Division consists of one Senior Officer and five field officers. The current major focus of this division is a joint effort to remove blighted areas—mainly structures and blighted properties, while also focusing on cleaning up our county’s gateways.
Spartanburg County’s leaders and elected officials understand that, to have growth, there must be reason for growth to happen. Areas with blight generally do not grow. Our leaders have never ignored the fact that we have blight in our county and removing that blight has always been at the forefront of their minds. In fact, removing blight has become a key part of our County’s most recent Strategic Vision Plan. In an effort to support this vision, we recently removed two large abandoned and nuisance commercial properties and are currently working to remove many other unsafe structures.
Litter Control Division
Our Litter Control Division consists of one frozen Senior Officer position and five field officers. Early on, our leaders understood the need to have resources addressing the crime of littering. These officers use many different tactics to address issues, such as field surveillance cameras, special details, community awareness programs, etc.
The newest program is a joint effort with the City of Spartanburg, United Way of the Piedmont, SC Works, Hope Ministries, PalmettoPride and various private groups. It is called our “Litter Heroes” program. This is a 90-day program which currently employs up to four individuals, who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability, to work in a litter crew as employees. These individuals will earn a wage of approximately $12 an hour and will work approximately 25 hours a week with their assigned agency. While going through the program, these individuals also receive case management and life skills training. The program has graduated nine individuals, with three of those individuals becoming officially employed with Spartanburg County.
Animal Control Division
Our Animal Control Division consists of one Senior Officer, a newly created Animal Cruelty Investigator position, and six field officers. Of all of our divisions, this division receives the most calls for service, on a daily average.
Spartanburg County is currently in the process of building a Pet Resource Center. This would be the first of its kind in our County, as Spartanburg County has always contracted out the animal sheltering portion. Currently, we are partnered with Greenville County Animal Care and have been working with them for the past 11 years. The Greenville County staff has been and continues to be very helpful in this process. Greenville County helped us establish our feral cat program, in which we partner with Animal Allies, a low cost spay/neutering facility. This program is nearing 10,000 surgeries on outdoor community felines.
As part of the planned Pet Resource Center’s team, Spartanburg County recently created our first Animal Cruelty Investigator to tackle the in-depth animal cruelty cases we face. We are also looking to hire a Director of Animal Welfare Services to head our Pet Resource Center. Our next steps will be to secure a site for the Center and begin putting safety net programs into place.
Keep OneSpartanburg Beautiful Division
The Keep OneSpartanburg Beautiful (KOSB) Division is new to our team and consists of the Coordinator position. In 2022, we hosted 45 events and collected 14,997 pounds of litter and 14,200 pounds of recycling from Spartanburg County. In 2023, we’re looking to double our hosted events.
This year, we hope to expand our focus on educational projects and workshops. During the last week of January, we finished our Recycling into Art Mosaic Project with Woodland Heights Elementary School. KOSB and Spartanburg Soil and Water Conservation District will seek design concepts from Spartanburg County artists to enhance selected storm drains along the Butterfly Creek Greenway on the Northside of Spartanburg, SC. Selected artists will turn their concepts into reality in the form of small-scale, semi-permanent, outdoor murals that will adorn Spartanburg County storm drains, raising awareness, and educating the public about the effects of stormwater runoff on water quality.
Another exciting event that we will need everyone’s participation in is the Team-up to Clean-up Litter Competition. The Keep SC Beautiful affiliates in seven counties in the Upstate have organized the Team-up to Clean-up Litter Competition from April 1st – 22nd.
Craig Scharton Takes Over Role as Ten at the Top’s Entrepreneur Ecosystem Facilitator
Ten at the Top is pleased to announce Craig Scharton is taking over responsibility for its entrepreneurship initiatives, commonly referred to as the Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem. He replaces Erin Ouzts who volunteered for 10 years before officially creating the role in 2019. Erin is retiring from her work at Ten at the Top to focus on other ecosystem needs and family.
“Supporting entrepreneurship and specifically the service providers who support entrepreneurship within our region has been a key driver area within Ten at the Top since the beginning of the organization,” said TATT Executive Director Dean Hybl. “Erin Ouzts has done an amazing job cultivating relationships and building awareness of the importance of having a strong entrepreneur ecosystem. I especially want to thank her for all she has done to support entrepreneurship in the Upstate.”
“Erin will be tough to replace, but we are very fortunate to have Craig Scharton moving into the role of facilitator for the Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem. Craig has great experience working with businesses and entrepreneurs and is the ideal person to continue TATT’s work building the collective capacity of support providers and entrepreneurs in the Upstate.”
Scharton, who moved to the Upstate in June 2022, has over 35 years of progressive experience leading diverse teams in non-profit and public service environments to execute meaningful and innovative projects to improve the standard of living in local communities.
“Craig’s well-rounded experience and welcoming personality make him a great fit for this role. The Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem will benefit from his knowledge and ability to bring people together around complex topics,” said Erin Ouzts.
In Fresno City, CA, he built ecosystems of support for entrepreneurs and support providers as Senior Director, Economic Development with One by One Leadership, president of the California Main Street Alliance, as a Fresno City Council member, owner of a restaurant, director of Central Valley Business Incubator for Water and Energy Technology, and multiple positions with the City of Fresno and Downtown Fresno Partnership.
While working with California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) (similar to SC MEP), he strengthened CMTC’s relationship with 40+ partner organizations to realize an additional $100 million + in additional sales for small and medium-sized manufacturers.
He taught urban entrepreneurship at Fresno State University as an adjunct professor for 14 years and created the Fresno Downtown Academy which received the International Downtown Association Award in 2016. Craig has been a featured speaker at multiple events, including the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) National Conference, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the California Workforce Association, and the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies.
Scharton has experience on multiple boards, including the Fresno Community Development Financial Institution, Jane Addams Community Development Corporation, and the President of the California Main Street Alliance.
“Erin Ouzts has built out an incredible framework for entrepreneurs and those who support them. I am honored to be able to build on her work,” said Scharton. I love building communities to support our independent businesses from home-based cottage businesses to downtown retailers to local manufacturers. Every sector has a role in growing our entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
‘What serendipity to find someone who will seamlessly take over for Erin Ouzts who is such a pro herself at bringing together people and organizations to continue to build a healthy Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem!’ said Justine Allen, Ten at the Top Program Manager.
Scharton will continue the Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem’s mission to increase the ecosystem’s ability and capacity to help entrepreneurs be more successful faster. The quarterly Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem, Innovation Leaders Coalition, and Rural Entrepreneurship Leaders Coalition groups will continue to meet. He will focus on continuing to create awareness of the multiple entrepreneur resources available through the StartGrowUpstate.com resource navigator and connecting disconnected entrepreneurs to the ecosystem.
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About Ten at the Top
Comprised of public, private, and civic leaders from across the ten-county Upstate South Carolina Region, Ten at the Top was created to connect and encourage regional collaboration through data-driven research and regular convening of leaders and citizens to address key issues facing the region. Ten at the Top works with regional partners to foster collaboration and strategic planning to enhance the economic vitality and quality of life for Upstate residents both today and as the region continues to grow. For more information, visit www.tenatthetop.org.