Tri-County Organizations Launch Partnership to Improve Early Childhood Education and Care in Berkeley County

Charleston, S.C. – Six Charleston-area organizations, a mental health professional, a doula, and a data expert have come together to form a coalition designed to improve the wellbeing and potential of children affected by adverse circumstances in Berkeley County, South Carolina.

Called the Berkeley County Early Education and Care Collective (BEE&CC), the coalition was one of 139 groups that applied to take part in the Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Learning Community program of Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village Network, an initiative funded through a $2.2 million grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. BEE&CC was one of ten groups selected across the United States to take part in the program.

Led by backbone organization Berkeley County First Steps, BEE&CC member organizations include Charleston Area Justice Ministry, Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, South Carolina First Steps, South Carolina PASOs, YWCA Greater Charleston, and three individuals: Stacy Albarran, a mental health professional, Simone Richie Lee, a Berkeley County doula, and Alexa Stephens, a data expert and independent consultant who will serve as BEE&CC’s project coordinator.

Under the NOW program, BEE&CC will improve its members’ ability to provide all Lowcountry families with resources to build a strong foundation and nurture healthy children by forming a supportive community of practice and sharing knowledge and data among its member organizations and NOW Learning Communities across the nation. Vital Village will provide the group with a robust set of knowledge, skills, and tools to scale and sustain equitable transformation of early childhood care, education, and health systems in their individual communities.

“We’re grateful to NOW and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for this funding, which has tremendous potential to change maternal and child health outcomes in South Carolina’s largest county,” said Adrienne Troy-Frazier, executive director of BEE&CC’s lead organization, Berkeley County First Steps. “Through this grant we hope to use the expertise, knowledge, and local relationships nurtured by our member organizations and fellow Learning Communities to expand on ways to reduce the effects of adverse experiences in childhood.”

The need for this program in South Carolina, even as early as the time a woman conceives, is significant. According to America’s Health Rankings, black mothers are more than four times more likely to die in childbirth than white mothers in South Carolina, and according to the March of Dimes, in 2015 nearly 20% of infants were birthed by women in the state receiving inadequate prenatal care. South Carolina’s black infant mortality rate is more than double that of white infants, at 11.2% for black infants versus 4.8% for white infants in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available.

Participating NOW Learning Communities, which include coalitions in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington in addition to BEE&CC, will kick off the 18-month initiative with a one-day action lab, attend semi-annual learning symposiums, and participate in monthly check-ins and webinars in which the coalitions will learn from each other. They will also have access to resources in the NOW Online Forum, focus groups and surveys that multiple members can co-design, and technical assistance and training.

“It is clear that adverse social environments and experiences in early childhood are key drivers of inequities in health and development and have a durable impact on wellbeing and life chances,” said Renee Boynton-Jarett, MD, ScD, founder of Vital Village and a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center. “Communities across the country are responding by identifying how systemic inequities, institutional racism, and historical and community trauma harm health, but also cultivating community-based solutions and developing sustainable neighborhood opportunity structures to promote child wellbeing, which is transformative.”

Launched in 2016, NOW builds on Vital Village’s network approach to build the capacity of other local communities and coalitions across the country working to promote child wellbeing, align systems of care and education in early childhood, and improve neighborhood opportunity structures that promote optimal wellbeing and reduce inequities in child health and education—all through a trauma-informed lens.

ABOUT VITAL VILLAGE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT NETWORK

The Vital Village Network is committed to maximizing child, family, and community wellbeing. Since 2010, Vital Village has fostered partnerships between residents and organizations aimed at improving the capacity of three Boston communities to promote child wellbeing and prevent early life adversities. The Network uses a trauma-informed lens to support systems alignment and collaboration across community-based early childhood health and education efforts. Its focus areas include promoting family strengths and social connections during the preconception and prenatal period, peer-to-peer advocacy aimed at addressing social and material hardships, and innovations in early childhood education. For more information about Vital Village, visit www.vitalvillage.org.

ABOUT BERKELEY COUNTY FIRST STEPS

Berkeley County First Steps is part of a statewide initiative to prepare young children for school and a lifetime of learning. Serving the hardest-to-reach children and families first, its vision is to see that every child in Berkeley County enters kindergarten safe, healthy, ready to succeed, and eager to learn. It seeks to fulfill this vision by providing families with improved childcare and early education opportunities, striving for an early childhood system that is transparent and easily navigated by families, ensuring that family engagement and partnership is embedded in this system, expanding and improving healthcare, and strengthening families through a parenting skills program. For more information about Berkeley County First Steps, visit  www.berkeleyfirststeps.com.

TheSiteCrew.com Launches New Website for Advantage Healthcare of Charleston

Website Design Advantage Healthcare of Charleston

TheSiteCrew.com, a full service web design and search marketing company serving clients nationwide, is proud to announce the launch of a new website for Advantage Healthcare of Charleston in Goose Creek, South Carolina.   The new website can be found at https://ahcwellnesscenter.com.

TheSiteCrew.com custom designed this website with a clean uncluttered design, global navigation including a site search, social media integration, and on-page search engine optimization to enhance the user experience.

This new website utilizes responsive web design.  Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design which makes web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes including tablets and smartphones.  When viewing the website on different devices a visitor will see the site content shift and change to fit the screen and settings of their device – no more zooming in and out or scrolling right and left.

For optimal security, this website utilizes the secure HTTPS protocol.  Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between the visitor’s web browser and the website that the visitor is connected to. The ‘S’ at the end of HTTPS stands for ‘Secure’.  Communication between the visitor’s web browser and the website is encrypted.

TheSiteCrew.com specializes in producing beautiful, user-friendly, search engine optimized websites that effectively promote a client’s business. If you are considering a new website or redesign, contact email@thesitecrew.com for a free website analysis and quote.

TheSiteCrew.com
https://thesitecrew.com
843-771-7210
email@thesitecrew.com

 

Alcami Corporation Growing Operations In Charleston County

Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Investing $5 Million In Capacity Expansion 

May 3, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Alcami Corporation, a leading provider of custom development and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, today announced an investment of at least $5 million in the expansion of its existing Charleston County operations. This project is expected to lead to the creation of at least 30 new jobs.
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NCGS, Inc. Expanding Its Charleston County Presence

Clinical Trial Manager Creating 80 Jobs At New Corporate Headquarters 

COLUMBIA, S.C. – NCGS, Inc., a clinical research organization (CRO) supporting the pharmaceutical industry, is expanding its Charleston County operations. The company is constructing a new corporate headquarters, which will bring $10 million of new capital investment and create 80 new jobs.
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Growth, energy efficiency, patient convenience drive campus design for new Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital

Energy efficiency, patient convenience and the ability to expand in the future were the three biggest factors shaping the layout of the new Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital campus.

Roper St. Francis officials have approved the site plan and are moving forward with the buildings’ design. Continue reading “Growth, energy efficiency, patient convenience drive campus design for new Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital”