The vast majority of individuals receiving services reside within “Special Emphasis Neighborhoods”, which are areas designated by Greenville County based on indicators such as high unemployment, low income, substandard housing and low home ownership. Almost 30% of households within the community live at or below the poverty level, with a median income 30% less than that of Greenville County as whole. Many of our clients do not have transportation and the lack of mass transit makes travel to and from Greenville difficult. FFR works first at this level to ensure that immediate needs are met by providing food; financial assistance with shelter, utilities and medication; and Medicaid/Food Stamp counseling and application assistance. Once immediate needs are met, peripheral consequences of poverty need to be addressed. Dropout rates are escalated with 31% of the population aged 25 or higher without a high school diploma as compared to the 18% county-wide reported in the most recent Greenville County Consolidation Plan. Predictably, unemployment and teen pregnancy rates are also much higher than Greenville County as a whole. FFR addresses these needs through partnerships with organizations such as Greenville Mental Health, the Department of Health, Vocational Rehabilitation, The Greenville County School District and The Piedmont Women’s Center. Our greatest strength is the ease with which our clients can receive services. It is not uncommon for a person to come to FFR in crisis and immediately receive or schedule to receive services from multiple partners housed within FFR facilities. As a common example, a young girl could come in for a pregnancy test and counseling via The Piedmont Women’s Center. Upon learning that she dropped out of school, an employee would refer her to The Foothills GED Program to continue her education and Greenville Mental Health to help process this new stressful situation in her life. DSS staff would then assist with her food stamps application, if qualified, and FFR would schedule an appointment with The Department of Health for WIC counseling and benefits assessment. Finally, the young girl would leave the office with several bags of food should she be in financial duress. It is not only the individual services that FFR makes available to Northern Greenville County; it is the close proximity of all of the services to an underserved population that makes us so irreplaceable in our region. This is especially true considering we serve a population who faces a lack of transportation as a huge barrier to receiving services. These individuals need help and would go without if FFR did not exist. FFR is also currently in discussions with a local institution of higher education to provide an in-house educational element. This would further allow FFR to assist in moving our clients from crisis to employment and self-sufficiency at an increasingly efficient and successful rate.
