OneSpartanburg awards grants to build citizenship

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The Citizen Scholars Institute was awarded a $7,400 grant from OneSpartanburg recently during the second annual Citizen Scholars Summit at the Spartanburg Community College downtown campus.

The grant will be used to allow all eighth-graders enrolled in Citizen Scholars to participate in a year-long robot building course as part of the group’s Seminar Saturdays program, according to the Spartanburg County Foundation website.

“The Citizen Scholars STEM Seminar directly addresses low educational attainment within underrepresented students in Spartanburg as identified in the OneSpartanburg plan,” Betsy Sikma, the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for talent and economic inclusion, said in a statement.  “We recognize that in order to raise standards to develop our homegrown talent to be the best and brightest they can be, we have to start with high-impact programs like this one.”

Citizen Scholars, one of the Spartanburg County Foundation’s initiatives, has more than 200 children and teens from Spartanburg County public schools enrolled in its program, which helps the students develop the attitudes and skills to reach their college and career goals.

The Spartanburg County Foundation was established to improve the lives of Spartanburg County residents by promoting philanthropy, encouraging community engagement and responding to community needs, according to its mission statement.  Established in 1943, The Spartanburg County Foundation is the oldest community foundation in South Carolina, according to the foundation’s website.