BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation Awards Eight Grants to South Carolina Organizations

The BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation awarded eight grants in the fall of 2020 to organizations working to improve the health of South Carolina’s economically vulnerable citizens.

Health Priority Grants

Affinity Health Center — To increase access to dental services for low-income patients through the addition of a dental assistant and dental hygienist (1 year in Chester, Lancaster and York Counties)

Eat Smart Move More SC and South Carolina Office of Rural Health — To support collaboration at the local level by building the capacity of local coalitions to accelerate needed upstream community health transformation in South Carolina. Coalitions will receive technical assistance, financial support to target coalitions and support in establishing community indicators systems to better assess needs and progress at a community level (4 years, statewide)

Reach Out and Read Carolinas — To implement a quality improvement pilot program with pediatric providers designed to incorporate books on healthy dental hygiene and help families build routines that support oral health and brain development (3 years, statewide)

SC Department of Health & Environmental Control — To support the planning and launch of the SC Oral Health Institute (SCOHI), that will prioritize improving oral health in South Carolina (3 years, statewide)

SC Department of Mental Health — To establish the first statewide community centered Zero Suicide framework by connecting community members and other local efforts to existing Zero Suicide taskforces (3 years, statewide)

University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health (Center for Community Health Alignment) - To support the EACH (Ensuring Access to Coordinated Health) Mom & Baby Collaborative, which will scale successful community health worker (CHW) models that have been effective in improving birth outcomes in SC through a partnership with Family Solutions of the Lowcountry, BirthMatters, and PASOs (3 years)

University of South Carolina’s School of Medicine Greenville — To support Levi S. Kirkland scholarships for underrepresented minority students at the USC School of Medicine Greenville (10 years, statewide)