Due to ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19, Ten at the Top’s Upstate Summit originally scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, 2020, has been postponed to Wednesday, May 5, 2021. The health and safety of the community has always been of the utmost importance to Ten at the Top and it is critical to play a responsible role that reflects the organization’s mission to make the Upstate region stronger together. Given the large number of attendees at this biennial event, it was clear that deferring the event to a later date was the most optimal decision to make and implement moving forward.

 

“We are certainly living in unique and unprecedented times. Given the importance of taking precautions to further prevent the spread of this virus, moving the event date was ultimately the best decision to make for our attendees, supporters, and the Upstate region as a whole,” said Dean Hybl, Executive Director of Ten at the Top. “This date change will allow us to enhance the overall event experience and dive deeper into Richard Florida’s focus on 'The New Urban Crisis,' by waiting until a more appropriate time to host a large-scale event.”

Upstate Warrior Solutions Helps Veterans Navigate COVID-19

by Nate Moore, Director of Community Engagement, Upstate Warrior Solution & U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

“I’m living two paychecks behind right now,” local veteran Chris W. said. Chris was medically separated from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1979 and has spent the last 40 years dealing with the ups and downs of readjusting to life in the “civilian world.” An unexpected move to Greenville in late 2019 wiped out his savings and made it difficult to pay the high gas bills from January and February. When COVID-19 hit in early March, his financial situation worsened. Because Chris is at a high-risk for COVID-19, he could no longer take public transportation or have people drive him without risking his health. He had to purchase a car to buy groceries and go to the Asheville VA for medical appointments.

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COVID-19 Means Adjustment, but Does Not Change the Mission of Purple Heart Homes

by Laurie Bowen, Communications Director, Purple Heart Homes, Golden Corner Chapter

Purple Heart Homes USA is a 501(c)3 public charity that was founded in 2008 by John Gallina and the late Dale Beatty, two combat wounded veterans. Purple Heart Homes is dedicated to providing housing solutions for service-connected disabled and aging veterans that are substantial in function, design, and quality fit to welcome home the fighting men and women of America. Headquartered in Statesville, NC, Purple Heart Homes USA established its first chapter in Upstate South Carolina in 2013 to better service local veterans. The Golden Corner Chapter serves veterans in Anderson, Pickens and Oconee counties, but we have traveled further when the need requires. Our mission includes providing veterans with free services such as building decks and ramps, widening doorways, renovating bathrooms with walk-in showers, installing grab bars and other home improvements that address safety and accessibility and provide veterans with peace of mind. As of May 2020, we have completed 85 projects and are hoping to reach our 100 th veteran served by the end of this year.

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Chapman Cultural Center: Home for the Arts in Spartanburg

by Arts Organization Leaders in Spartanburg

Chapman Cultural Center’s mission is to provide cultural leadership for all of Spartanburg County. We are the leading local arts agency and we own and operate the Chapman Cultural Center in downtown Spartanburg.

In addition to our own programs in arts education, public art projects, and providing operational funding to local artists and non-profits, CCC serves as a cultural and entertainment destination with the co-location of 8 local nonprofit arts, science, and humanities organizations that manage their own staff and programs. A term we often use to describe our facility is that we are like a shopping mall for the arts. Because inside CCC, you’ll find classrooms, art and dance studios, a performing arts theater, and exhibit galleries!

Through these unprecedented times, we’ve had to increase our leadership role in responding to COVID-19 and setting the policies and procedures for how our campus operates and determine timing and protocol on how we reopen and serve our community.

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Greenwood Arts Center Adjusts Amid COVID-19

by Anne Craig, Executive Director, Greenwood Arts Center, Retired

The Arts Center in Greenwood sits patiently in the Uptown awaiting reopening and return to some of our wonderful programs. Although the facility has been closed since mid-March, the staff has remained active with planning, corresponding, and social media outreach. The virus has caused this organization to look at all programs and readjust our calendar of events and classes. With the Governor’s directive in place, the Arts Center will reopen on June 8. Normally, the Center would present the Festival of Flowers Juried Exhibit during this time. The Festival has been canceled for this year; however, the 30+ topiaries will be on display in the uptown and the Center would like to be part of that visitor experience. So as our visitors stroll through uptown, they can also view amazing art. We moved our local exhibit to this June time slot to facilitate delivery of art and ease of organization. Finally we feel it is important to focus on our community of artists and explore the rich talents that they have to offer. This exhibit will also be available online for all to see. To encourage engagement, we will have peoples’ choice awards for the exhibit with voting onsite or online. We plan to offer our summer camps on a limited basis, 10 students with social distance in a large classroom. We feel it is important to ease back into our role of providing enriching arts education experiences to this community.

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Curtains Up on Community Theater—Virtually

by Sandy Staggs, Artistic Director, Proud Mary Theatre Company

The Curtains Up Coalition is a group of Upstate community theater artists creating innovative ways to keep curtains up and audiences inspired. During this challenging time when theater doors remain closed, Curtains Up will produce virtual theatrical content and be a unified front for theater advocacy and fundraising.

“Community theaters are completely shut down during this crazy time. We can’t entertain, engage, inspire, give back, employ artists, or fuel our economy like we normally do—so Curtains Up is here to find innovative ways to inspire, create, and advocate,” says Noah Taylor, Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Company in Anderson, who co-founded the Coalition with Ryan Hewitt, Artistic Director of Greenwood Community Theatre.

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Challenging Times but Also a Time to Be Grateful

by Catriona Carlisle, Executive Director, Meals on Wheels of Greenville

Meals on Wheels of Greenville continues to serve nearly 1,900 clients each week during the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing and practicing health and safety protocols for clients, volunteers, and staff. These protocols include a new drive-thru meal pickup service for delivery volunteers, limiting the number of volunteers in the office at each time, providing masks and gloves to all volunteers, and recommending proper hand cleaning in between meal deliveries. Additionally, volunteers are asked to follow new contactless delivery protocols, which include placing meal deliveries on a porch surface or door knob, ringing the doorbell or knocking to notify the client they have arrived, stepping back at least 6 feet and ensuring the client receives their meals. The unwavering support of the Greenville community has ensured that these protocols are followed and have kept many involved in our mission healthy and allows them to continue to serve. We are grateful for the loyalty to our mission!

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A Word from Furman University President Elizabeth Davis

“Pivot” is a word we’re using a lot these days. It may not feel like it now, but it wasn’t long ago that COVID-19 was an abstract disease happening halfway around the world. It has since hit Americans and American culture and business with a force we won’t fully understand for years.

So, we pivot, keeping one foot grounded in our typical worlds—work, school, family and friends—while swinging the other around to adjust to new challenges until we find a toehold to do our work and make connections in the most effective way possible.

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Though we have been unable to physically gather since March, Ten at the Top has fostered continued regional conversations by hosting a regular zoom "TATT Chat" to share updates on COVID-19 as well as other things happening across the Upstate.

In June, TATT will be hosting a pair of TATT Chats on June 11th and June 25th, both virtual sessions will be held from 3:00-4:00 pm.

Each call includes updates from sector leaders as well as county updates.

Here is a direct link to presentations, summaries and videos from the eight TATT Chat sessions that had been held.

Our speaker for the June 11th TATT Chat will be Charlie Hall, Executive Director of Upstate Warrior Solutions to discuss ways to support military veterans in the Upstate. We also will have community updates from local partners from our 10 Upstate counties.

The call is open to anyone interested in staying updated on what is happening across the Upstate, but advance registration is required in order to receive the weekly call login.

While cities, counties, businesses and organizations across the Upstate continue to address public health and economic issues related to the global pandemic, Ten at the Top remains committed to serving as a regional convener and connector to help support local efforts and grow the Upstate’s collective capacity.

 

To better understand concerns and challenges within each of the seven non-urban counties across the Upstate, Ten at the Top is holding a “virtual listening tour” with elected officials, community and business leaders and other key stakeholders and interested parties from each county.

 

Following the virtual Zoom sessions, we will compile the feedback to identify common themes and opportunities to support local and regional efforts in the coming months. We will also connect with leaders in Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg who are already looking at next steps within those counties.

 

Each session will include a consistent set of questions posed by TATT staff and board members as well as an opportunity for others participating on the call to ask questions of the local leaders. Our hope is that the calls will both help us understand opportunities for collectively addressing issues across the Upstate and also provide an opportunity to build connections for local leaders with others from within the region who may be able to help support local efforts.

Sessions have already been held with leaders in Cherokee, Greenwood and Laurens counties. The final four listening tour sessions will be completed this week.

 

Below please find the dates, times and registration information for the remaining sessions. All sessions are open to anyone interested in sharing your insights or learning more about how to support efforts across the Upstate. Once you register, you will receive the Zoom login information for the call.

 

Union County – June 2 – 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. – Click Here to Register

 

Oconee County – June 3 – 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. – Click Here to Register

Abbeville County - June 4 - 2:00-3:00 p.m. - Click Here to Register

Pickens County - June 5 - 10:00-11:00 a.m. - Click Here to Register

Due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision has been made to delay the 2020 application process for the Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Grants. We will continue to review the situation and decide later in the year if the application process will open in 2020 of delay until 2021.

We are pleased to announce that though the completion of projects by the recipients of the 2019 grants have been impacted by COVID-19, Hughes Investments will provide the final grant funding for all recipients from the 2019 grants cycle that complete their initiative in either 2020 or 2021.

Over the last three months, while the pandemic has curtailed our ability to physically gather, it has only increased our realization that collaboration and working together are critical to our individual and collective success. We are blessed in the Upstate to have so many different organizations, businesses and communities that are overcoming the limitations this crisis is placing on all of us to work together to ensure that all Upstate residents are able to withstand this crisis.

At Ten at the Top, we have recognized that the most impactful way we can support organizations, businesses and local communities during this challenging time is to serve as an information collector and connector.

As the crisis started to grow in mid-March, Ten at the Top launched the Upstate COVID-19 Information Repository with links to local government, health organizations, K-12 and higher education, utilities, non-profits and other COVID-19 related resources. The site now also includes links to the latest government and community information, ways you can help, positive community stories and a calendar of virtual meetings & events.

If you have a regional resource or updated information to add to the repository or for us to share through social media, please contact Sharon Purvis, TATT Outreach & Special Projects Director.