Staff Report
Published Jan. 16, 2012

Six Lowcountry nonprofits received funds from the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation in the second half of 2011, when the foundation awarded $6.7 million in grants to nonprofits across the state.

The foundation awarded a total of $7.7 million to nonprofit health initiatives during 2011.

The Lowcountry recipients are:

• The Association for the Blind; Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties; for in-school vision screenings for 4- and 5-year-olds from low-income families.
• Charleston Promise Neighborhoods; Charleston County; for health clinics based at four schools serving children from neighborhoods where the median income is $20,500.
• Children in Crisis Inc.; Dorchester County; for a program serving victims of child abuse.
• Communities in Schools; Charleston County; for expansion of a teen pregnancy prevention program for five North Charleston schools.
• Florence Crittenton Programs of South Carolina; Charleston County; for an in-house medical clinic serving high-risk, low-income pregnant girls and young women.
• Tricounty Family Ministries; Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties; for support and expansion of Healing Hands Ministries serving low-income populations through a health advocacy and prescription clinic.

The foundation was started in 2003 and has given more than $37.8 million to address childhood health, community health, mental health, obesity, diabetes, and nursing and health research.