Spartanburg Housing Presents 2021 HUD Strong Family Initiative

Spartanburg Housing Presents 2021 HUD Strong Family Initiative

SPARTANBURG, SC - Spartanburg Housing is hosting the 2021 Strong Family Initiative: Community Empowerment Day Event on Saturday, June 26, 2021, starting at 10:00AM and ending at 1:00PM at C.C. Woodson Community Center. The program will begin at 11:00 AM where Spartanburg Housing will award $4,000 to the 2021 Marche Gault Scholarship recipients and over $28,000 to the 2020/2021 Family Self-Sufficiency graduates.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Strong Families events are designed to bring together partners from HUD, other federal agencies, and partners in support of the event. Spartanburg Housing will collaborate with local partners for a fun-filled event for the whole family. Spartanburg Housing residents will have the opportunity to engage in free health screenings, a college fair featuring local institutions of higher education, and a resource and job fair. There will be games and activities for the youth, teenagers, adults, and the elderly. The day begins with transportation provided by Spartanburg Housing at each of the public housing sites.

"Spartanburg Housing has been a part of HUD's community initiative from the very beginning.  We look forward to the Community Empowerment Day on Saturday, where we will celebrate the more than 3,000 families we serve, our Mache Gault Scholarship recipients and our Family Self-Sufficiency graduates", says Shaunté Evans, Chief Executive Officer.

Background of HUD Strong Families Initiative:

Since the inception of HUD's Father's Day in 2011 we have known that it's the mothers that do much of the heavy lifting as it relates to raising families. In public housing communities where 75% of families are led by single women, that's an enormous amount of responsibility, and one which should be given due consideration. HUD's focus on Father's Day was intended to bring awareness to the grim statistics children living in father-absent homes face. Fatherhood should not only be a topic with which we speak only with men. Fatherhood programs have more recently found that if they only work with men and never connect with their female partners, then there is less reason for the female partner to want to connect with the father. Our focus on both parents aims to connect men and women to resources that will aid in improving these outcomes and unify the family. Involved fathers empower mothers, and by empowering mothers, families succeed.

HUD Strong Families consists of the following three pillars:

    Health Nutrition, Fitness & Prevention; Mental Health & Addiction; Social Determinants of Health (Environment, Violence, etc.)

    Education: FAFSA & Post-Secondary Enrollment; STEAM & Digital Inclusion; Reading & Book Distribution

    Economic Empowerment: Job Training; Financial Literacy; Supportive Services

Strong Families Matter

Children reared in safe and nurturing families and neighborhoods, free from maltreatment and other adverse childhood experiences, are more likely to have better outcomes as adults.

Source: https://www.hud.gov/strongfamilies

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Spartanburg Housing has provided housing assistance for people with low and moderate incomes, since 1939. Spartanburg Housing provides housing assistance for families, elderly, veterans, and disabled individuals through a variety of programs including Public Housing and Housing Choice Vouchers. For more information on housing assistance, contact Spartanburg Housing at 170 Arch Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303, or phone 864-598-6000. Spartanburg Housing offices are open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Visit online at SpartanburgHousing.org.