Palmetto Project

Health for over 20 years, the Palmetto Project has been a leading advocate for a more effective system of healthcare for south carolinians regardless of their financial circumstances, race, or residency. Programs include: insure sc, children's health sc, heart & soul, the carolina hearing aid bank, and myvax sc. Additional information about these programs is available on schedule o and on our website at palmettoproject.org/health/.

Community engagement & civic participation Palmetto Project has become a leader in equipping communities with new tools to enhance communications, create trust, and solve problems. It also encourages civic participation through the Palmetto voter Project. Since the program started in 1994, south carolina voters have set records for turnout in every election. Additional information on these programs is available in schedule o and on the organization's website at palmettoprojectorgcommunityengage...

Families, youth, & schools Palmetto Project sees healthy families, engaged young people, and vibrant schools as the cornerstone of effective communities. Our initiatives provide thousands of vulnerable families with connections to social service agencies, support services, food and even christmas presents. Current programs include: my first books of south carolina, begin with books, families helping families, and challenge day. Additional information about these programs is available on schedule o and on our website at palmettoprojectorgfamilyyouthscho...

Insure sc: Palmetto Project continued its enrollment assister work throughout 2023 as licensed insurance agents who provided enrollment assistance for medicare advantage and medigap/medicare supplement plans, marketplace plans, and sc healthy connections medicaid. All licensed agents are salaried, with commission revenue directed to Palmetto Project, so their focus is on finding the best health care coverage for the consumer. This also included referrals to prescription assistance programs, federally qualified health centers, free clinics, and other community-based services. Agents provided direct enrollment assistance to 2081 medicare and marketplace consumers. 213 very low income medicare-eligible individuals were assisted with applications for medicare savings programs. Children's health sc: Palmetto Project continued working with low- and moderate-income families in sc to provide education, outreach, and application assistance for sc healthy connections medicaid to identify uninsured and underinsured children. Our team of licensed insurance agents and our americorps member works with families to complete the sc healthy connections medicaid initial and renewal applications, submit it, and follow it through to eligibility determination. Application assistance and education about dental and vision benefits and the importance of seeking preventive care was delivered to 414 families. Carolina hearing aid bank: through a special partnership with starkey, a national hearing aid manufacturer, the Palmetto Project provided 15 hearing aids in 2023 to low-income south carolinians. My vax sc: Palmetto Project has continued its previous work of providing vaccination resources to underserved communities. The my vax sc program was created to promote vaccine literacy in rural and underserved communities of berkeley, dorchester, and colleton counties, with the goal of increasing the number of vaccinations in these communities by reducing vaccine hesitancy. This effort supports flu, covid, and vaccines for older adults such as shingles and pneumonia. Palmetto Project has partnered with 12 local organizations to provide vaccine information and resources. 20 community events have been tabled by Palmetto Project staff, in addition to 3 large scale events: black expo, taste of black charleston, and charleston pride. 2500 individuals have been reached directly from in person events Palmetto Project has attended, 10,000+ indirectly through social media campaigns, radio ads, tv ads, newspaper articles, toolkit distributions, and the flagship website www.myvaxsc.org. Dolly parton's imagination library sc (dpil-sc)/begin with books: dpil-sc improves early literacy by enabling young children to build a home library and increase their school readiness. Through its partnership with dolly parton's imagination library, Palmetto Project is working to provide each south carolina child under age five a free, developmentally-appropriate book each month. Begin with books, our program in charleston county, is one of the most successful examples of how this program can change children's lives. Statewide, we are serving more than 21,000 children under the age of five. Families helping families: for more than 33 years, the Palmetto Project has provided a lifeline to families in crisis through its network of social service agencies and community-minded organizations across the midlands region. Many south carolinians know fhf because of its christmas programming that provides food, clothing, and christmas gifts for more than 3,900 families (12,000 individuals) with urgent and emergency needs. Homeless to hope fund: founded in february 2016, the homeless to hope fund is the nonprofit arm of a larger public-private partnership to address homelessness in charleston, berkeley, and dorchester counties. Tax- deductible donations are used to assist approved local service providers in providing temporary shelter and support to individuals committed to transitioning to permanent housing and independent living. This includes the development of a regional center for managing access to local services and service organizations. Lowcountry ministries fund: this fund was established in coordination with and at the request of the city of charleston as an opportunity to honor the victims of the june 2015 tragedy at emanuel ame church by furthering community concerns that were important to them, especially in underserved communities in beaufort, hampton, allendale, colleton, jasper, and charleston counties. In its second round of funding, eight organizations received funding of just over 199,000.