Pickens County: Building Brighter Futures

Unite for a Future where all people in our community are financially stable.

Your support provides financial coaching and other services to help families and individuals become financially stable, such as:

Pathways: This 6-18 month intensive, one-on-one financial coaching program is designed to equip hardworking, low to moderate income individuals and families with the skills, assistance, knowledge, and resources necessary to achieve freedom over their finances. Financial coaching sessions focus on budgeting, debt management, asset-building, credit and more. Coaching participants have the opportunity to earn financial incentives. Participants are Pickens County residents who have transitioned out of crisis assistance and are willing to commit time and effort to improve their finances. Program participants are primarily accepted through a referral process, in partnership with local human service agencies.

Free File: This free, high-quality tax preparation service ensures hard-working people in our community get every dollar they deserve. Free File serves people with a household income of $60,000 or less, but the average income of Pickens County residents served is $20,000. Free File is volunteer driven and the volunteers receive training and IRS certification in order to provide expert assistance.

211: This easy to remember phone number connects individuals with resources in the community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Unite for a Future where all children in our community can read on grade level by 3rd grade.

Experts say the chance of succeeding in life increases with a quality education. Research suggests that a child is 90% likely to remain a poor reader at the end of the fourth grade if the child is a poor reader at the end of the first grade. Furthermore, one in six children who are not reading proficiently in the third grade does not graduate from high school on time, a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers.

Your support provides educational programs to help children succeed in school and in life, such as:

Camp iRock:  A partnership between United Way of Pickens County, the School District of Pickens County, the YMCA of Easley, Pickens and Powdersville, and Call Me MiSTER, Camp iRock is an innovative and award winning summer program which helps children improve their reading abilities in an enriching summer camp environment. In the spring, the School District of Pickens County identifies students who could use a boost in their reading abilities and sends their families an invitation to attend Camp iRock.

Preschool Pages: Preschool Pages is a partnership with local elementary schools to support the development of early literacy skills in preschoolers in the community. Young children and their caregivers participate in story time and related crafts and activities which helps these young learners develop important early literacy skills while learning that school is a safe and nurturing place. You can support children by donating books or funds for books, ensuring that each child can take a book home from the program to build their own age-appropriate home library.

Bright By Text: This free subscription based texting service, in partnership with Pickens County First Steps, promotes the learning, development and health of children prenatal through eight years old. Bright By Text provides two to four text messages per week on topics such as brain development, games and activities, health and wellness, STEM, safety, and more. Parents and caregivers with children under 8 can text the word SCKIDS to 27448 to sign up.

East End Elementary: Parent University: Parent University workshops will be held in the evenings for parents with children of all ages. The workshops give parents information on how to grow their children as readers. Parents learn what their child’s reading level is, what their MAP score is, and instruct them on how they can help their child improve. Incentives and rewards are given to parents for attending.  The United Way grant includes the purchase of a book vending machine for 3rd graders, which will be used to incentivize improvements in reading.

McKissick Academy: Parents as Learners: PALS program (Parents as Learners) holds evening events for parents of K-3rd graders to address their child’s reading (family literacy, getting ready to read, growing readers, and reading and writing at home).  There are incentives for parents to attend. The United Way grant also includes after-school tutoring for struggling readers. 

Pickens County First Steps: Reach Out and Read: Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based national pediatric literacy program through which pediatricians, as part of routine primary care for young children, are trained to offer parents anticipatory guidance about the importance of reading aloud.  Free books are given to young patients to take home.