Charleston Currents

Good news

Rickey Watson, left, received a scholarship check from Board Chair Lee Deas and CEO Bob Smith. Watson now will now be able to attend a welding certification course offered as part of Palmetto Goodwill’s Career Credentialing Program. (Photo provided.)

FOCUS: Palmetto Goodwill plans for another 40 years of impact

Staff reports | October 16 was a special day for Palmetto Goodwill as it celebrated 40 years of service to coastal South Carolina. When the organization opened its doors in 1979 with six employees and a $90,000 budget, few envisioned the impact it would have four decades later through training, employment and community services to more than 400,000 people. During the span, Palmetto Goodwill placed 19,157 into new jobs., according to a press release.

“I want to thank every person who has ever donated to Palmetto Goodwill, supported our events, shopped in our stores, partnered with us or volunteered their time,” Palmetto Goodwill President and CEO Robert Smith said. “The Goodwill model only works with a supportive and engaged community and we are lucky to have had that these past 40 years.”

Donations and revenues have grown through the years allowing to provide an annual impact of over 41,000 services to more than 15,000 individuals. It also assists placing more than 3,000 people into new jobs. The organization’s unsold donations received each year also result in over 16 million pounds of waste and e-waste being diverted from area landfills.

by Charleston Currents · 10/21/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

A rendering of what the museum will look like. Source: IAAM.

GOOD NEWS: New museum’s groundbreaking to be Oct. 25

Staff reports | The International African American Museum (IAAM) will have a public groundbreaking ceremony 10 a.m. Oct. 25 with a theme of “Illuminating the African American Journey.”

“For almost 20 years, more than 1,000 individuals, corporations and foundations have been working to bring the museum into fruition,” said former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley in a press release. “The groundbreaking ceremony will give us an opportunity to express our deepest appreciation to the donors, volunteers and supporters who have worked so hard to get us to this milestone.”

by Charleston Currents · 10/21/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

FOCUS: As local governments ban plastics, port grows plastics business

By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | Plastic is a growing export business in South Carolina, but the tiny plastic pellets could also be a big environmental hazard — and the next battle in the so-called War on Plastic.

State Ports Authority CEO Jim Newsome last week called plastic transportation “a significant part” of the port’s growth strategy.

But downstream from the port’s headquarters on the Cooper River, Sullivans Island Mayor Pat O’Neil said he’s worried. The town’s single-use plastic ban appeared to curb litter. Then in July, a spill of plastic pellets (also known as nurdles) from Frontier Logistics at the port traveled to its beaches. Despite cleanup efforts, pellets remain in the sand, the mayor said. The pellets are used in the production of plastic homegoods.

“Industry is important (and) economic growth is important but we need to be selective and prudent in the types of industries we encourage,” O’Neil said.

by Charleston Currents · 10/14/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus

FOCUS, Palm: Whistleblowers, inspectors general and the common good

By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The role of a government inspector general is much in the news lately. The position has evolved from military tradition to ensure that government-funded entities use taxpayer money in careful, frugal and legal manners. We don’t want, for example, our hard-earned tax dollars wasted, ripped-off, squandered, thieved or frauded.

The inspector general was first used here during our Revolutionary War. General George Washington smartly recognized that his militia leaders and those that reported to them sometimes distorted, exaggerated and plain lied about their fitness and capabilities.

Washington appointed an inspector general modeling a practice of the Prussian Army, then the world’s elite war-fighting army. Back then, one of the practices of the Prussian Army was to require field inspections for war-fighting fitness to be conducted by knowledgeable staff who were independent and outside the reporting chain of command. They were intentionally free from the obligation to follow orders.

Washington and his command staff used an inspector general to provide a potential pathway for the truth. The obligation of Washington’s inspectional forces was to objectively determine capability and to accurately report on the conditions …

by Fred Palm · 10/07/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Common Good, Focus, Good news

GOOD NEWS: Local schools to get $5 million for mental health support

Staff reports | The Charleston County School District (CCSD) will receive almost $1 million a year for five years to expand mental health support for children through a Project Prevent grant from U.S. Department of Education.

“The need for additional social-emotional and mental health support has been recognized and supported by the CCSD Board of Trustees and the superintendent,” Jennifer Coker, the district’s executive director of Alternative Programs and Services said in a press release. “The school district has adopted mission-critical action items to address community needs. This grant allows CCSD to expand resources in our highest-need schools.”

by Charleston Currents · 10/07/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

FOCUS: Halsey Institute’s Southbound wins national $25,000 award

Staff reports | A 2018 book of photographs of the South by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston has won the 2019 Alice Award, a $25,000 prize given annually by Furthermore to a richly-illustrated book that “makes a valuable contribution to its field and demonstrates high standards of production.”

The book, Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South, accompanied the Halsey Institute’s 2018 exhibition of the same name. The book was edited and included an introduction by the exhibition curators, Mark Sloan and Mark Long, and designed by Gil Shuler Graphic Design. The catalogue contains contributions by Nikky Finney, Eleanor Heartney, William Ferris, John T. Edge and Rick Bunch. The Southbound project comprises 56 photographers’ visions of the South over the first decades of the 21st century. The photographs are accompanied by stories that provide the reader with a sense of place.

by Charleston Currents · 09/30/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news

GOOD NEWS: $1.2 million goes to Gullah Geechee preservation projects

Staff reports | The director of a commission to preserve Gullah Geechee heritage says she is thankful (“t’engkful” in Gullah) for more than $1 million awarded over the last month to keep the culture alive in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Also inside: Parks and Rec re-accreditation; big MUSC anti-opioid grant; more.

by Charleston Currents · 09/30/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

Photos are copyrighted by Rob Byko, 2019.

FOCUS: The whole world is watching response to climate change

Staff reports | Scores of impassioned activists, young and older, crowded the Stern Center Gardens at the College of Charleston Friday afternoon to discuss real solutions to climate change and ask leaders to do more and better. All across the world, millions did the same.

In Charleston at the Climate Crisis Moment event, the energy of participants, particularly girls and women college students, was inspiring, writes contributing photographer Rob Byko.

“They crafted the words, scheduled the speakers, led the charge and called out for all of Charleston to come out and match their enthusiasm. The drum beat repeated over and over…’Register to Vote’ and ‘Get Out the Vote’ If you can’t vote or are too young to vote, influence those who can. They crafted the words, scheduled the speakers, led the charge and called out for all of Charleston to come out and match their enthusiasm. The drum beat repeated over and over…’Register to Vote’ and ‘Get Out the Vote’ If you can’t vote or are too young to vote, influence those who can.”

by Charleston Currents · 09/23/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, Photo Essay, Photos

GOOD NEWS: Chamber to recognize leaders at Nov. 14 reception

Staff reports | The Charleston Metro Chamber will meet Nov. 14 at Riverfront Park for its second annual Honors Reception to celebrate the achievements of local organizations and leaders with an exemplary commitment to the region’s economic development and quality of life.

by Charleston Currents · 09/23/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

FOCUS, Knapp: Taking a look at job numbers for August

By Frank Knapp, special to Charleston Currents | Like the rest of the nation, South Carolina’s economy seems to be humming along.

But there are warning signs and growing concern that we are heading to a recession.

The Labor Department released its monthly jobs report last week. It showed that 130,000 new jobs were created in August. However, around 25,000 were temporary census workers hired by the federal government. That puts the August total for new private-sector jobs at about 100,000.

For his part President Trump is furious at the “fake news” for pointing out that the Labor Department numbers were well below economist expectations.

Maybe August is just a “quirky month.” That is how Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s National Economic Council Director, described it.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 09/16/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news