Moving to Action on Self-Sufficiency: Momentum in the Moment
In July 2024, the 1000 Feathers team began a substantial, long-term partnership with three local funders and leadership organizations in Beaufort and Jasper counties in South Carolina – United Way of the Lowcountry, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, and Beaufort County Government. The partnership and overall effort will address one of the most significant challenges facing residents and neighbors: barriers to self-sufficiency. Study after study in these local communities and region has shown that too many people work without a living wage, including 34% of households in Beaufort County and 46% of households in Jasper County that fall below a nationally researched standard of self-sufficiency. Residents and families have difficulty finding an affordable place to live, quality healthcare, childcare, quality education and training, transportation to work and school, technology including wifi, and healthy food.
Self-Sufficiency Puzzle
Over the past six months, a Core Team – representatives from the local leadership and funding organizations and 1000 Feathers – worked diligently to fully understand the barriers and opportunities to self-sufficiency, create a collective vision and philosophy for the effort, and lay the foundation for the local community to take action together. These are not easy nor insignificant tasks and were critically important to lay the groundwork for movement building! The Core Team co-created a set of one-year goals in July 2024, and while they were only at the six-month mark, the Core Team made progress toward those goals. They also helped create the idea of a puzzle to describe our work in self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency is a puzzle to be solved—and the puzzle looks different for everyone. But we do know that in our communities it consist of at least eight interrelated components (see image).
The local leadership and funding organizations recognized that this work could only be done by sharing power, influence, and decision making with a diverse group of voices, especially those with lived experience. That is why our top priority in 2025 was to work with Lowcountry residents and neighbors, organizations and providers, leaders and champions, and decision-makers in co-creating the path forward.
We are excited to announce and the launch of a diverse, representative Steering Committee with 28 Lowcountry leaders and champions and also share that an additional funder – Coastal Community Foundation – has signed on to support the effort. Together the Steering Committee and funders have committed to a data-driven decision-making process to aid in the identification of focus areas and priorities; identifying additional members of Beaufort and Jasper Counties, organizations, and key partners to serve on additional committees and task forces to meet the needs of the effort; and using our collective knowledge and connections to identify, secure, and allocate resources to support priorities and long-term focus areas.
More action to come as we build a movement to improve access to opportunities for all Lowcountry residents to achieve independence.
