In 2008, the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce (now OneSpartanburg, Inc.) assembled the Task Force on College Degree Attainment to examine the connection between economic development and educational achievement. At that time, 19.2 percent of adults ages 25 and older held bachelor’s degrees with the state average at 22.7 percent and the national average at 27 percent. Regional with dynamic economies boasted rates above 40 percent. Spartanburg County was not in the game. Leading the list of Task Force recommendations was the 40/30 Challenge to double the number of adult bachelor’s degree holders to 40 percent by 2030. IN 2010, the Spartanburg County Foundation established and funded “The College Hub” to address this single benchmark. The College Hub began its work by encouraging more young people to go onto college, and adults to return to complete degrees. Though the “40/30 Challenge” remained the north star, the College Hub Board of Directors began to recognize that the challenge could not be realized unless all points on the academic continuum were advancing concurrently. In 2012, The College Hub merged with another nonprofit organization, the Children’s Service Alliance,” serving as a network engaging early childhood providers and agencies. The combined boards of both nonprofits recognized that each had been working at extreme ends of the same education continuum. They also recognized that advancing academic achievement across the entire learning continuum was required if the “40/30 Challenge” was to be realized.
A MOVEMENT IS FORMED
A DECADE OF IMPACT
The Spartanburg Academic Movement launched as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) in 2013, building upon the two predecessor non-profit enterprises in Spartanburg County The very long and complex cradle-throughcareer academic achievement spectrum, and interventions must be aligned, targeted and shared collaboratively across Spartanburg County. This recognition led to a merger and rebranding of the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM). A critical impetus to the merger was the establishment and early success of a collaborative action movement launched a few years earlier in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, soon to be replicated in several cities and counties across the United States. The movement was calls StriveTogether and partnerships shared the tagline “every child…cradle to career.” The name, the tagline and the collaborative action strategies of StriveTogether aligned with the scope and sense of purpose shared by Spartanburg County’s two merging boards. In 2013, SAM launched as a StriveTogether partner. For nearly a decade, the Spartanburg Academic Movement has been building a cradle to career network of supports throughout Spartanburg County. TOWARDS SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION – THE NEXT TEN YEARS
In 2018, SAM achieved StriveTogether’s designations of Proof Point and Systems Change. Our work has aligned school districts, community organizations, policy makers, and business and industry around a cradle to career vision. Systems Transformation is the highest designation possible. It recognizes communities who are creating lasting change across four pillars of work: shared community vision, evidencebased decision making, collaborative action and investment and sustainability. This work is rigorously measured and must meet the highest possible standards of change. SAM continues to evolve recognizing that achieving systems transformation will require deeper levels of engagement as we build a strong educational ecosystem for Spartanburg’s children. We look forward to the next 10 years!
