SCCC Better Together | Winter 2013

2 | SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPUS COMPACT | W INTER 2013

W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

3 EXECUTIVE D IRECTOR’S WELCOME

4 A DREAM REALIZED

6 MARTIN LUTHER K ING, JR. DAY OF SERVICE

8 SOUTH CAROLINA’S HUNGER GAMES | SNAP’S EVOLUTION

10 HUNGER AND HOMELESSNESS AWARENESS WEEK 2012

11 D ISCOVER VITA | NSLVE STUDENT VOTING INITIATIVE

SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPUS COMPACT | W INTER 2013 | 3

S O U T H C A R O L I N A C A M P U S C O M P A C T M E M B E R I N S T I T U T I O N S

Benedict College

President Dr. David Holmes Swinton

Ms. Tondeleya Jackson

Charleston Southern University

President Dr. Jairy C. Hunter Jr.

Dr. Rick Brewer & Dr. Hester Young

Claflin University

President Dr. Henry N. Tisdale

Ms. Carolyn Snell & Ms. Jennifer Holliday

Clemson University

President James F. Barker

Ms. Jennifer Shurley & Ms. Jennifer Goree

Coastal Carolina University

President Dr. David A. DeCenzo

Ms. Whitney Comer

College of Charleston

President Dr. P. George Benson

Ms. Stephanie Visser

Columbia College

President Elizabeth A. Dinndorf

Ms. Mary Carlisle & Dr. Ned Laff

Converse College

President Dr. Elizabeth A. Flemming

Rev. Jason Loscuito

Greenville Technical College

President Dr. Keith Miller

Ms. Susan Gasque & Ms. Sandra Hartsell

Midlands Technical College

President Dr. Marshall White, Jr.

Dr. Diane Carr & Ms. Mary Rawls

Newberry College

President Dr. Maurice William Sherrens

Dr. Joseph McDonald

The Citadel

Lt Gen John W. Rosa

Dr. Conway Saylor

The University of South Carolina

President Dr. Harris Pastides

Dr. Susan Alexander, Dr. Jimmie Gahagan,

Ms. Theresa Harrison & Dr. Dottie Weigel

The University of South Carolina– Beaufort

Chancellor Dr. Jane T. Upshaw

Dr. James Glasson & Ms. Kate Torborg Vermilyea

The University of South Carolina– Upstate

Chancellor Dr. Thomas F. Moore

Ms. Kara Ferguson

Winthrop University

President Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, Chairman

Ms. Laura Foster & Ms. Ellin McDonough

Wofford College

President Dr. Benjamin Bernard Dunlap

Ms. Jessalyn Story

W E L C O M E We have just crossed the halfway mark for this academic year and the efforts of South Carolina Campus Compact members to civically engage students and positively impact community challenges have been remarkable. During the past six months, August through January, our member institutions have reported the recruitment of 7, 393 campus volunteers and 420 community volunteers. These vol-unteers served 20,790 individuals, 267 of whom were reported as veter-ans, through various projects and events for a total of 42,145 hours of service.

A major portion of the recruited volunteers and service hours reflected in our mid-year report were in direct response to nationally and internationally recognized days of service. Each year volunteers join together in the call to action in November and January to serve others during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, respectively.

SCCC could not be more impressed with the dedication to service and student development demon-strated by the staff and faculty of our member institutions. Throughout this issue of Better Together we highlight these inspiring and impactful events.

Thank you for your continued support of South Carolina Campus Compact and our mission to improve “the ability of higher education institutions to partner with their communities to collectively impact community needs and provide real world learning for college students.”

Jessica Lynn

Executive Director


MARTIN LUTHER K ING DAY OF SERVICE SERVES AS A DAY ON , NOT OFF ,

AND AIMS TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNIT IES , EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS ,

BRIDGE BARRIERS , AND CREATE SOLUT IONS ACROSS SOUTH CAROLINA .

5,201

DREAM "This is not a black holiday; it is a people's holiday," said

Coretta Scott King after President Ronald Reagan signed the

King Holiday Bill into law on Nov. 2, 1983. But in the compli-

cated history of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it has only recent-

ly been a holiday for all the people, all the time.

Fifteen years earlier, on April 4, 1968, Mrs. King had lost her

husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to an assassin's bullet.

In the months after the death of the civil rights icon, Congress-

man John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan introduced the first legisla-

tion seeking to make King's birthday, Jan. 15, a federal holiday.

The King Memorial Center in Atlanta was founded around the

same time, and it sponsored the first annual observance of

King's birthday, in January 1969, almost a decade and a half

before it became an official government-sanctioned holiday.

Before then, individual states including Illinois, Massachusetts

and Connecticut had passed their own bills celebrating the oc-

casion.

The origins of the holiday are mired in racism, politics and con-

spiracy. Three years after Conyers introduced preliminary leg-

islation in 1968, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

— which King headed from its inception until his death — pre-

sented Congress with a petition signed by more than 3 million

people supporting a King holiday. The bill languished in Con-

gress for eight years, unable to gain enough support until Presi-

dent Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, vowed to sup-

port a King holiday.

The bill faced a somewhat tougher fight in the Senate, however.

In an opposition campaign led primarily by Senators John P.

East and Jesse Helms of North Carolina, some attempted to

emphasize King's alleged dalliances and his associations with

communists as reasons not to honor him with a federal holiday.

President Reagan signed the bill into law in November 1983

and the first official holiday was observed on the third Monday

of January 1986. In 1994, Congress designated the Martin Lu-

ther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service and

charged the Corporation for National and Community Ser-

vice with leading this effort. Taking place each year on the

third Monday in January, the MLK Day of Service is the only

federal holiday observed as a national day of service – a "day

on, not a day off."

In 2000, 17 years after the law's official passage and the same

year removed the Confederate flag from its statehouse dome,

South Carolina signed a bill recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.

Day as a paid holiday.


104 COMMUNITY

PARTNER SITES

1,059 VOLUNTEERS

$35,965 PEOPLE SERVED

5,201 IN DONATIONS

A WAKING


MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY OF SERVICE 2013

Top: USC Upstate,

Wofford College and

Converse College stu-

dents participate with

Operation Christmas

Child; Newberry Col-

lege and members of

the community march

across Newberry to

Bethlehem Baptist

Church.

Right: Columbia

College students do-

nate a pint of blood to

help save a life. Above: Winthrop University

partners with York Tech-

nical College and Clinton

Junior College students for

a highway clean up.

Far left: Benedict College

and Midlands Technical

College present a Health

and Safety Fair, including

Zumba lessons.

Left: College of Charleston

and Charleston Southern

University team up with The

Citadel to prepare food for

Crisis Ministries.


Above: Claflin University participates in a Serve and

Watch Inauguration viewing. Top left: University of

South Carolina students clean up yards in the community.

Left: Greenville Technical College makes cards for sick

children and deployed service members. Coastal Carolina

University sorts clothing. Bottom left: Cadets at The Cita-

del work on a Habitat for Humanity build. Below:

Clemson University students build stairs and ramps for

local homes.

Step 1. The Poverty Line They told us we’d live in poverty. We must under-stand—really understand—the hurdles that those living in poverty must leap over in order to survive. “Brace your-self,” they told us, it’s going to be rough. I didn’t and it was. My name is Lauren Spinella and I am an Ameri-Corps VISTA. The AmeriCorps VISTA program is an ini-tiative geared towards sustaining and strengthening existing anti-poverty organizations. The people served by these or-ganizations live below the poverty line; as an AmeriCorps VISTA, so do I. Coming from a middle-class family and a financial-ly stable household, I had trouble wrapping my head around the whole idea of poverty. I had savings. I had sup-port. I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t worried until about two weeks into my VISTA term when I found myself holding up the check-out line at Publix, frantically digging through the bottom of my purse for pennies and nickels to pay for my Pop-Tarts and Ramen Noodles. Yes, I had savings and yes, I had support—but when my car was totaled (courtesy of a reckless driver) and my home was flooded (courtesy of Hurricane Isaac), my savings were no more. Life happened and I was broke. I could barely scrounge up enough pocket change to cover my $10 gro-

cery bill and after two weeks of running on sugar and hope, I could feel my body closing up shop.

My wallet and body agreed: it was time to ask Un-cle Sam for food stamps. Step 2: Apply In mid-September I started the process of applying for food stamps. The flooding had knocked out my inter-net access, but luckily, I could look up information online at work. The application process went as follows: 1. Google.com Google Search: “I need food stamps in South Carolina” 2. Click on: The South Carolina Department of Social Services. 3. Click on: Apply for benefits. 4. Fill out a short application asking for information on your income, rent payments, and other bills. 5. Submit. 15 minutes later, I was done and getting back to work. “This couldn’t be any easier,” I thought. I was wrong. Step 3: Phone interview I received a letter on October 4th asking me to call in to the Department of Social Services to complete my phone interview. Food stamp applicants must interview with a social worker to clarify any inconsistencies in their application and further express their need for assistance. I realized later how much this speaks to the whole process

THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),

formerly called the Food Stamp program, provides benefits to

people in households with low income and few assets to help

them purchase food to be eaten at home.

In 2011, 14% of Americans— about 1 in 7— received SNAP

benefits. On average, SNAP’s 45 million participants re-

ceived $134 per month.

KEY SNAP LEGISLATION

1996 Welfare reform produces

major cutbacks to the Food

Stamp program

2002 Farm bill offered states

opportunities to streamline the

application process

2008 Farm bill increased benefits

and changed the name of

the program to SNAP

1960

560,000

participants

1964- Formally

established federal Food

Stamp program


SOUTH CAROLINA’ S HUNGER G AMES In South Carolina over 100,000 households depend on SNAP (Supplemental Nutri-

tion Assistance Program) each month to get the food they need for good health.

College of Charleston VISTA Lauren Spinella explains her trials and tribulations of

receiving SNAP benefits in South Carolina. Her experience was covered in conjunc-

tion with College of Charleston’s 2012 Food Stamp Challenge.

1970

4,300,000

participants

1980

21,000,000

participants

1990

20,000,000

participants

2000

17,200,000

participants

2010

40,300,000

participants

1971- Established uniform

national standards of eligibility

and work requirements

1996- Major

changes: eliminated

eligibility for many

legal immigrants;

placed time limit on

food stamp receipt

for certain groups;

and reduced the

growth of the maxi-

mum benefit

1977- Established income

eligibility guidelines;

formalized income exclusions

and deductions

2009– Temporarily

increased the current

maximum benefit by

14 percent

1982– Added the

gross income test and

allowed states to

require participants to

look for work

1989, 1990-

Established

Electronic Benefit

Transfer Card as an

official alternative

to issuing benefits

2008– Increased benefits by

raising the minimum standard deduc-

tion and increased minimum benefits

for one– and two-person households

Under subsequent

amendments, the

maximum benefit will fall

back to its unadjusted

amount in November

2013

2002– Offered

states opportunities to

streamline the appli-

cation and reporting

processes and reinstat-

ed eligibility for certain

groups denied bene-

fits under the 1996

legislation

of applying for food stamps. Having to provide a detailed description of how you are struggling to barely get by and how badly you need assistance to a total stranger can feel in-credibly humiliating and frustrating. I had until October 24th to call in for my phone inter-view. With our big event “Dash for Trash” coming up, I barely had time to eat lunch, let alone spend two hours on the phone with Social Services. “Dash for Trash” was on Oc-tober 20th. I planned to call in immediately afterwards. However, I didn’t get that far. On October 15th, I received a letter saying I had missed my phone interview. “What? How is this possible?” I double checked the first letter. “Please call by Octo-ber 24th to complete your phone interview.” I double checked the date on the calendar-- October 15th. At the bottom of the new letter, it said “Call in by October 31st. Social Services had already taken the liberty to extend my interview deadline. The next day at work, I rushed to get the bulk of my work done in the morning. At 3:00 pm, I called in to the Department of Social Services. “Thank you for calling. Your wait time is approxi-mately 45 minutes.” I put my phone on speaker and left it on my desk while I continued working. 32 minutes into my wait, the call was disconnected. At this time, it was just after 3:30 pm. The phone lines closed at 4:30. I knew that by the time I waited for another 45 minutes and finally got through to a representative, it would be too late to conduct the interview. The next day, I finished my work by 1:30 pm, leaving plenty of time for me to call (and call back if the call was dropped) and complete the interview. After about 45 minutes of fumbling through an automated menu and waiting on hold, I finally got through to a human being and began the interview. At the end, my interviewer told me that she would be sending me a letter listing all of the documentation she needed me to send back in. “Can’t you just tell me what I need to send now so I don’t waste any time waiting for the letter?” I asked. She couldn’t, so I waited.

Step 4: The Letter About two weeks later, I received the letter. They asked me to send back a copy of my lease, proof of income, and a copy of my electric bill. I had to wait two more weeks waiting for a letter that listed only three things? I received the letter on Monday, October 29th and had to get the documen-tation in by Friday, November 2nd. Just one business week. Question: How was I going to take off work to drive to North Charleston and wait in line for an hour just to hand in three papers? Answer: I wasn’t.

I printed out the three documents they asked for (thankfully, I have a printer at work), put them in a stamped envelope, and sent them off to the Department of Social Ser-vices. Steps 5, 6, and 7: Wait.

I was actually denied after sending in my documenta-tion. I sent the materials through certified mail and while they were signed for, indicating that they were received, I was sent a letter soon after saying that my application was denied be-cause that documentation was never received.

After speaking with a DSS representative, I was able to sort it out—though it did push my process back a few weeks, ultimately resulting in me receiving my SNAP benefits in December. To clarify, I am grateful for the assistance I receive from the Department of Social Services. I recognize the challenges of applying for SNAP and how I was lucky in a lot of ways: to have familial support after the flooding in my apartment and the flexibility I have at work, for starters. However, someone else in the same situation might not have been able to print out their documentation, or take time off work to go to Department of Social Services. What if you don’t have a car to drive to the office? What if you’ll lose your job if you take time off of work? What if your process is pushed back and you just can’t go a few more weeks without food security? I was lucky that I could afford to wait a few

months while waiting for my benefits to be processed. Not

everyone can.

10 | W INTER 2013 |SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPUS COMPACT

NATIONAL

HUNGER AND

HOMELESSNESS

AWARENESS

WEEK 2012 Each year, one week before Thanksgiving, the Na-

tional Coalition for the Homeless and the National

Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homeless-

ness co-sponsor National Hunger and Homeless

Awareness Week. During this week, schools, com-

munities and cities take part in a nationwide effort

to bring greater awareness to the problems of hun-

ger and homelessness. In November 2012, South

Carolina Campus Compact’s 17 member institu-

tions held over 45 events dedicated to Hunger and

Homelessness Awareness Week. Take a look at a

few highlights of the week.

From Top: Coastal Carolina students spend a night outside by recreating shanty towns. Newberry College holds a candle light vigil as

part of their “Hunger Games” themed series of week-long event. Greenville Technical College and USC– Upstate team up for 60 Sec-

onds of Service by preparing sandwiches to be donated to the local soup kitchen. Right: The Citadel’s cadets show their appreciation on

Veteran’s Day by volunteering at Charleston’s Crisis Ministries.


SCCC RESOURCE : V I TA (VOLUNTEER I NCOME TAX ASS ISTANCE)

CAMPUS COMPACT PARTNERS WITH CIRCLE IN AN EXCITING

STUDENT-VOTING INITIATIVE Campus Compact has partnered with The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) in a

new initiative to study student-voting rates from the recent 2012 elections correlated with data from educational programs across

the country. Designed to increase student civic learning and engagement in a democracy, the National Study of Learning, Voting,

and Engagement (NSLVE) will offer participating institutions the opportunity to receive information in aggregate form that can be

utilized to assess engagement on their campuses as well as make comparisons to similar institutions, who have also chosen to par-

ticipate.

South Carolina Campus Compact member institutions have moved quickly to obtain approval to take part in this initiative. Many

departments, from Political Science to Career and Civic Engagement, have joined together to show their support and to begin look-

ing at ways this information can be used to evaluate current programs and to gauge the overall civic engagement of students.

South Carolina Campus Compact is encouraging all of our members to participate so that we might also compile statistics from an

organizational standpoint. Our member campuses are truly dedicated to civic engagement and democratic participation and this

could offer data to support that fact. Please share this information with your counterparts at other universities and colleges through-

out the state and nationally as any accredited educational institution can join the initiative. For more information, please contact

Nancy L. Thomas, Director, Initiatives for the Study of Higher Education and Public Life at Tufts University at

[email protected] or learn more online at http://www.civicyouth.org/nslve-faq/.

January through April is traditionally known as tax time,

and the VITA Program is in full swing. Originally found-

ed 1971 by Gary Iskowitz at California State University

Northridge, the concept was to provide local taxpayers

with free tax return preparation by accounting students, in

effort to provide both a valuable community service and a

powerful hands-on learning experience for the students.

The program grew from a small group of dedicated stu-

dents to what is now a nation wide program that serves

thousands of taxpayers and provides a valuable learning

experience for accounting students.

The VITA Program generally offers free tax help to people who make $51,000 or less and need assistance in preparing their

own tax returns. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified

individuals in local communities. They can inform taxpayers about special tax credits for which they may qualify such as

Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled. VITA sites are generally located at

community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other convenient locations.

There are thousands of VITA sites located across the country. To locate a site near you between January and April call

1-800-906-9887.

Documents

SCCC Better Together | Winter 2013