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Lowcountry's Promise
Lowcountry's Promise, the local initiative of America's Promise, is a grass roots campaign dedicated to mobilizing the community to ensure that every child and youth has access to the five fundamental resources they need to become successful adults.
THE VISION
All five promises are being fulfilled, (through community collaboration), for lowcountry's children and youth to reach their maximum potential.
THE MISSION
To identify, mobilize and strengthen local commitments to ensure a community wide system of service delivery that provides the 5 Promises in a collaborative and effective manner making the best use of resources in Charleston, Berkley and Dorchester counties. To build supportive networks and a sustainable infrastructure to ensure long-term sustainability of Lowcountry's Promise.
THE FIVE PROMISES:
1. An ongoing relationship with a caring adult.
2. Safe and structured activities during out of school hours.
3. Healthy Start - Continuity of health care and a medical home for children and youth.
4. Marketable skills through effective education.
5. Opportunities to give back to the community through service.
THE PURPOSE
The primary purpose of Lowcountry’s Promise is to take a leadership role in mobilizing, collaborating, and coordinating of services for children and youth. Lowcountry’s Promise serves as a catalyst for expanding existing youth programs and creating new ones when necessary, while avoiding duplication of services.
HISTORY
Lowcountry’s Promise grew out of Charleston’s Promise, which began in 1997 when Mayor Riley and other members of the Charleston Delegation returned from the President’s Summit for America’s Future and committed to establish Charleston as a “Community of Promise”.
Inspired by the mission of America’s Promise “to mobilize people from every sector of American life to build the character and competence of our nation's youth”, the Mayor’s Office for Children, Youth and Families accepted the responsibility to develop a local vision for these efforts and implement the goals and objectives. The infrastructure of Charleston’s Promise took shape with the identification of community “Commitment Makers” and the development of partnerships designed to strengthen services to children around the five fundamental resources. An alliance governance structure was created consisting of a 25-member Steering Committee and working subcommittees to further develop the five fundamental resources and other organizational needs. The Steering Committee determined that it was necessary to expand the scope of the Promise initiative to include Berkeley and Dorchester counties. With the decision to broaden the focus to the Tri-County area, Charleston’s Promise was renamed Lowcountry’s Promise.
Spanning all sectors of the community, the Commitment Makers to Lowcountry’s Promise include businesses, non-profits, schools, colleges and universities, faith-based groups, governmental agencies, elected officials, and funders. The primary goal is to build community-wide alliances to fulfill all five promises and ultimately fulfill our commitments as a “Community of Promise”.
GOALS
1) To establish a sustainable infrastructure for Lowcounrty's Promise that will marshal the resources to ensure that children have access to all five fundamental resources of America's Promise.
2)Develop an Implementation Plan to achieve the mission and purpose of the Lowcountry's Promise, monitor progress, and continuously improve delivery of the five fundamental resources.
3) To establish a systematic approach to secure commitments that addresses the needs of children and youth.
4) To increase awareness of the five fundamental resources of America's Promise and to effectively deliver on all five promises to children and youth.
5) To measure and evaluate outcomes and update indicators, in order to track the impact on children and youth.
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