Spartanburg is Making Strides

Liv Hayes
Care Case Manager, Upstate Family Resource Center
South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Summer Institute participant

This is such an exciting time to be involved in preventing teen pregnancy in South Carolina, especially in Spartanburg!  Those of us who have been involved in this initiative know how far we have come but appreciate the importance of maintaining the momentum and continuing along the path we have begun.  I have served on the South Carolina Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s Not Right Now committee and have attended Summer Institute many times.  I have gained so much insight into not only the issues that our youth face, but how our various communities are approaching these issues and what strategies are working best.  Attending Summer Institutes have increased my confidence in talking about teen pregnancy prevention and many other issues that go along with it.  I have gained a heightened sense of community pride, because I think Spartanburg is doing so many things well.  Spartanburg is very fortunate to have a united front of individuals, non-profit organizations, Foundations, other organizations, businesses and the faith based communities all working together with a common set of goals, all of which overlap and are interconnected.  Summer Institute helps to increase our community’s understanding that teen pregnancy affects multiple areas of our community’s well-being, growth and development.  Our community has developed a better appreciation for the need to saturate the populations we are working with, by providing a variety of evidenced based services and programs to these populations and by also always striving to follow current trends in best practices.  Spartanburg’s approach has been deliberate and effective, targeting those most at risk populations for primary prevention and intervening with a lot of support and guidance to the pregnant and parenting adolescents.  We are fortunate to have Summer Institutes every year to provide participants with strategies that impact young people’s health, futures, and communities.