Impact Story
Healthy Learners Regional Network Expansion
Expanding Services and Helping More Children
Research has proven that education helps children go further in life, but many children in poverty struggle to achieve educational success due to fixable health challenges that haven't been addressed.
About the Organization
Healthy Learners was founded more than 30 years ago to ensure that every child receives the health care he or she needs to thrive in school, but it had a hard time growing. In 2020, with help from a grant from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation, Healthy Learners embarked on a mission expansion strategy to serve more children in more communities.
Program Goals
- Conduct proactive health screenings to improve process efficiency
- Provide services in one neighboring county for each of the five program office locations
- Create four regional office hubs in the Midlands, Pee Dee, Lowcountry and Upstate that would provide a sustainable framework for continued regional growth.
From 2019 to 2023, Healthy Learners almost tripled the number of services provided annually.
Results
Healthy Learners now proactively finds children with health barriers to learning through vision, hearing and dental screening, making them better able to provide the health care services these children need to succeed.
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed initial progress, but Healthy Learners used the Foundation's grant to grow over the next three years, expanding into Williamsburg, Marion, Laurens, Newberry and Hampton counties — the nonprofit's first expansion in 15 years.
The growth made possible by the Foundation's grant also drew in other large funding sources from the private sector, allowing Healthy Learners to follow its growth with more growth.
| Year | Unique Students Served | Number of Services |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1,910 | 5,699 |
| 2020 | 1,419* | 3,755 |
| 2021 | 1,898** | 8,906 |
| 2022 | 2,362 | 12,629 |
| 2023 | 3,036 | 15,828 |
*COVID-19 Closures
**COVID-19 Recovery
Success Story
In the second grade, Ebony had dental issues which affected her focus, confidence and ability to learn. She told her grandmother, but the family was new to the area and had no transportation to bring Ebony to the dentist.
The school nurse connected Ebony with Healthy Learners, allowing her to get the dental care she needed. Now in fifth grade, Ebony's confidence has soared, she is on the honor roll, and she serves as the principal's ambassador. Healthy Learners was able to help Ebony thrive.
