In my last blog, Steps to Advance Race Equity in the Workplace, I shared the Wholespire strategy for integrating race equity into our operations. I also provided a timeline of how we got started and remained committed to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and race equity into all aspects of our work. In this post, I’ll explain one of our key steps toward advancing race equity in the workplace: completing an assessment.
What is an assessment and why is it important?
At Wholespire, we train youth advocates through The Healthy Young People Empowerment (HYPE) Project to identify, plan, and implement healthy eating and active living projects. In the HYPE training curriculum, there is a session that teaches youth the importance of assessing their focus area before starting a project so that they can have a clear understanding of the problem, whom it impacts, and how it shows up in everyday ways. This is the same approach that we used when planning our Race Equity and Inclusion (REI) strategies. We used several assessments to gather baseline data and provide guidance on our goal development. Eventually, they will be used to help us evaluate our work.
As a woman and a person of color, I personally find assessments to be a useful resource because they can help get everyone to a similar understanding of what problems exist. Now, if you are only looking for obvious examples of inequities in the workplace, such as hate speech and racial slurs, it may be hard to recognize where race inequity or racism exists in your organization. This could lead organizations to falsely believe that they should not have a plan to continuously assess and address equity within their organization.
In my last blog, I provided examples of the inequities that people of color may experience in the workplace related to raises, promotions and other income; equal pay; and a sense of belonging that are more subtle. Assessing can help us identify these more subtle examples.
Creating an Assessment
We really wanted to use the REI Workplace Guides to help guide our REI efforts because it was created by local partners, used by other organizations in South Carolina, and we participated in its development. When we looked for an existing assessment that would measure the indicators found in the REI Workplace Guides, we didn’t have much luck, so we created our own based on the guide’s 36 indicators. Additionally, we adopted and modified various other assessments that will be explained later in the blog.
We chose to collaborate with high school students and HYPE alumni because one of the long-term goals of The HYPE Project is to expose HYPE alumni to careers in public health and other aspects of community health improvement. We turned to the White Knoll High School HYPE alumni based on their successful HYPE project, the Fast Break breakfast program and the advanced learning program. We were confident that the students would grasp the concept of assessment and accept our challenge. After all, they learned about the importance of assessments during their HYPE training.
Six Assessments to Gauge DEI and Race Equity in the Workplace
The infographic below highlights the six assessments Wholespire used to establish goals and action steps for integrating race equity into the workplace.
Examples of Assessment Results
Our REI Organizational Assessment showed us where we are doing well and revealed areas that needed to be addressed. For example, on our staff inclusion survey employees indicated some of the areas we are doing well in are:
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to our staff.
Our staff feel respected and valued by leadership and teammates, despite their differences.
Our staff can voice contrary opinions without fear of negative consequences.
Wholespire shows that diversity, equity, and inclusion is important through its actions.
My job performance is evaluated fairly.
The staff inclusion assessment also indicated areas of needed improvement, which became our starting point for goal development and action planning. Examples include:
I do not feel encouraged to participate in diversity, equity, and inclusion professional development.
I feel like my colleagues do not understand who I really am.
Wholespire is not committed to improving the diversity of its employees.
Wholespire’s policies or procedures do not encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Overall, what we learned from the various assessments is that we needed to continue in the areas that we’re doing well, but to also start focusing on establishing and communicating organizational policies related to REI, encouraging professional development for leadership and staff, and improving staff interpersonal relationships to move closer toward a truly equitable organization. We also realized that internal communication is imperative to staff understanding our policies and procedures, so we’ve focused on improving the way we communicate with all staff.
As we continue to implement our strategies and move closer to reaching our goals, our plan is to reassess our efforts, evaluate the reassessment results, and revise any assessment tools or strategies to help us achieve our goals. If you want to learn more about the Wholespire race equity in the workplace journey, visit our DEI webpage. It has complete information about our framework, as well as resources to explore. You can also find race equity resources on Options for Action.
Over the course of the past few years, corporate wellness strategies have been on the rise, and for good reason. When executed properly, they can not only improve the overall health of your workforce, they can also increase productivity and positively affect your organization’s bottom line. But what makes a wellness program effective, and what are companies doing to respond to the events of the last few years? Read on to learn more.
The Benefits of an Effective Corporate Wellness Strategy
Creating a plan to encourage healthy eating and active living among your employees will benefit not only them but your organization as a whole. Below are some of the major reasons why you may want to consider developing a corporate wellness strategy of your own.
Decrease in Absenteeism
Corporate wellness strategies can help create a more physically and mentally healthy workforce. A healthier workforce is far less likely to miss time on the job, meaning you can all but cross absenteeism off your list of things to worry about as the leader of your organization.
Combat Chronic Disease
A good corporate wellness strategy is a form of chronic disease prevention. With the proper resources, education, and support system in place, your staff can learn to take on healthier habits and avoid serious health issues.
Save Money on Healthcare Costs
A generally healthy staff is most likely going to require much fewer and less expensive medical costs than an unhealthy one. That means that investing in a corporate wellness program can ultimately save your organization money on healthcare and related expenses.
Creating an Effective Health Strategy in a Post-Pandemic World
Just like pretty much everything else over the course of the past year, corporate health strategies have been completely altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. With remote work becoming far more prevalent and mental health issues on the rise, organizations are going to need to adjust their wellness programs to reflect these changes and a number of others. Below are some of the major focal points of post-pandemic corporate health strategies.
● Increased telemedicine and video resources ● Greater access to mental health benefits ● Adjustment to the work-from-home model ● Increased support for those with chronic conditions ● Greater use of public health data
Although vaccines are being distributed and the world is slowly returning to normal, certain changes resulting from COVID-19 may be permanent. It’s imperative to acknowledge these changes in order to create an effective corporate wellness program.
Reaching Beyond the Workplace
Companies have an opportunity to positively affect community health with their wellness programs, too. By creating a workplace that values health, you can serve as a healthy eating and active-living model for other companies and to your community as a whole.
Your company could also take it one step further than that and partner with community organizations in order to engage in public health advocacy. Using your platform to do things like combat hunger in the state, take a stand against food insecurity and health disparities, and promote a healthy lifestyle can boost your community and your company’s reputation.
Ready to incorporate HEAL into your workplace? Contact us today [LINK TO CONTACT PAGE] and we can help outline your next steps and provide you with resources to get started.
School meals are an essential part of every student’s day. Research by Tufts University shows that for many kids, the meals they eat at school are the most nutritionally balanced meals they get all day. Why is this so important now that COVID-19 lockdowns are over and people are back to their somewhat normal routines?
Because the pressure of paying for school meals, after a two-year hiatus, is back and creating a greater challenge for many parents to find room in their budgets to ante up.
According to the SC Department of Education’s 2021-2022 student enrollment report, 61% of students live in poverty. That’s based on all 74 school districts in the state, composed of 1,200 schools that serve over 777,000 students in Pre-K through 12th grade.
A solution for parents is to apply for free or reduced school meals through their school administrators. An even better solution is for school districts or schools to apply for the USDA’s Community Eligibility Program (CEP).
What is CEP?
According to No Kid Hungry, CEP is a unique school meal funding option of the National School Lunch Act that makes it possible for schools to provide free meals to all students. That means no more free or reduced lunch applications, fewer administrative burdens, and fewer social stigmas for students to deal with at school.
How does CEP impact families and students?
Improves student attendance and advancement. A study published in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition found significant benefits for students attending CEP schools, including higher attendance rates and more students advancing beyond 10th grade.
Fights hunger. The same study mentioned in the previous bullet also found students attending schools with CEP were nearly 3 times less likely to be food insecure.
Promotes equity and reduces stigma. CEP eliminates the out-of-pocket costs for families and reduces the stigma or embarrassment some students may feel by participating in the meals program. CEP also eliminates school lunch shaming, as no student can be turned away or given an alternative meal from failure to pay.
Reduces stress for families and students. Families with tight food budgets can rest assured that their child is getting nutritious meals at school, reducing financial strain at home. Students don’t have to worry about paying for meals either.
What are the benefits for schools?
Eliminates unpaid school debt. Every student gets free breakfast and lunch. Families don’t pay and administrators don’t have to worry about collecting money and managing accounts.
Reduces administrative burdens. Administrators apply for CEP once every four years.
Improves school nutrition staff morale. Staff focus more on nutritious meals and less on the nutrition budget.
Can generate revenue for school nutrition budgets. Oftentimes, CEP leads to an increase in breakfast and lunch participation, which increases revenue for the nutrition budget.
Can make it easier to serve meals in the classroom. Teachers only need to count the number of meals being served to students in their classroom rather than tracking free, reduced, and paid meals.
Who is eligible for CEP?
School districts or individual schools with at least 40% of “Identified Students” are eligible. The Identified Student Percentage are students who are approved for free meals without an application because they are:
Enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), or Medicaid,
Living in a household where another student is enrolled in one of the previously mentioned programs, or
Homeless, migrant, runaway, in foster care, or enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start.
What if my school district says it doesn’t qualify?
Some school districts may not qualify for CEP because the total enrollment of all the schools in the district does not meet the Identified Student Percentage of at least 40 percent. In this case, individual schools can apply for CEP if they meet the required percentage. Contact your school principal or school nutrition administrator and ask them about CEP.
Why don’t all school districts in a single county qualify for CEP?
In some cases where there are multiple school districts in one county, district-wide eligibility for CEP varies because CEP is based on household income. In Richland County, Richland One participates in CEP, so all students get free breakfast and lunch. In Richland School District Two, the district is not eligible for CEP because its Identified Student Percentage is less than 40 percent. Richland One is composed of more low-income families as opposed to Richland Two. This is an unfortunate fact that negatively impacts struggling families, school equity, and student mental health.
Are there alternatives for school districts, schools, and families that don’t qualify?
Provision 2 of the National School Lunch Act enables any school to provide free meals to students. There are no eligibility requirements under Provision 2 as there are with CEP, and also unlike CEP, you can choose to offer universal breakfast and/or lunch.
Non-pricing is another funding option for universal free school meals where schools have funding support from the local government, school board, or private sources. Meals are served free to all students, and meals are counted and claimed by fee category. The difference between federal reimbursement and program costs would have to come from non-federal funding.
It’s safe to say that most of us would like to see some sort of change in our communities and the world at large, but maybe most of us don’t know how to make that change happen.
While community betterment work may seem daunting, who will do it if you and your neighbors don’t? Plus, making a change where you live is one of the most fulfilling things any person can do.
There is a famous quote about change. Margaret Mead reminds us to “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
If you’re looking to make a difference and create change in your community, read on for some inspiring ideas.
The Best Ways to Give Back
There are many ways for you to give back to your community and help to improve it, and all of them involve one or more of the following three things: Time, effort, and generosity.
Whichever you feel you have or can give the most of, start there. For example, if you’re able to, donate money or resources to a local charitable cause. If you have extra time on your hands, get involved in grassroots advocacy or volunteer your time to help influence policy and create systemic change. Below are some more ideas for getting active in your community.
Youth Engagement Programs
Perhaps the best way to create positive change in your community is by reaching out to its youngest members and offering your knowledge, skills, and experience. If you can influence the youth of your community, you can influence the future of your community.
Community Health Initiatives
Nutrition and physical health have a direct impact on mental and emotional health. The consequences affect all the individuals in your community as well as your community as a whole. Seek better community funding for health initiatives, engage in food insecurity advocacy, or advocate for better community training. These are just three examples of how you can address systemic issues in your community and help make a difference.
Community Celebrations
Few things bring people closer together than tradition and celebration. If you can help organize a celebratory event for your community, you may open the door for more serious work to get done.
No one way of giving back to your community is necessarily greater or more effective than another. What’s important is that whatever you choose to do speaks to you.
The Ripple Effect of Trying to Make a Difference
When you take the time to engage with your community and make a difference, you inspire other people to do the same. Those people will then aim to “pay it forward” and make a difference themselves, and so on and so forth.
You may only be one person with limited time and resources, but the ripple effect of the good you do will reach far beyond yourself. Start that ripple effect today and get involved in community initiatives.
If you’re ready to get involved, contact us today and we can connect you with a community leader!
Depending on how long you’ve been keeping up with Wholespire, you may be aware that we award mini-grants to community coalitions and organizations periodically. Our application process is competitive, meaning we weigh various health outcomes, population, and demographic data to help determine the most need. However, what you may not know is why we offer mini-grants, rather than large chunks of money. In this post, we’ll explain the history of our mini-grants and the reason we use this model.
What is the Mini-Grant Model?
Mini-grants are grant awards that are relatively small amounts of money and typically have short implementation periods.
Since 2018, Wholespire has been offering mini-grants of up to $5,000 to community coalitions, schools, local government, faith-based groups, and other non-profit organizations. These mini-grants can be used to implement a policy, systems, or environmental change that addresses healthy eating and/or active living. To date, 45 mini-grants have been awarded for projects like:
Add signage to an existing walking loop,
Add fitness stations to parks,
Create community gardens,
Include bilingual signage at farmers’ markets, and
Start new HYPE teams to lead civic action projects similar to the ones just listed.
Why Wholespire Adopted the Mini-Grant Model
Before 2018, Wholespire awarded large grants with a longer implementation period to help a small number of communities work on multiple improvement projects. Our hope was there would be a greater health impact. But that didn’t happen with all of the communities we funded.
Some communities experienced challenges, while others didn’t. Receiving a large amount of money can be overwhelming. It isn’t always easy to choose how to spend the money and what areas to tackle first. Sometimes it’s difficult to reach a consensus, while other times, you get so bogged down in a couple of strategies that the other strategies and the money get lost.
After evaluating these instances, Wholespire noticed that even when coalitions have large amounts of grant funding, they tend to spend their money in smaller increments like $5-$10,000 rather than spending large amounts of money at one time. We concluded that change needed to happen. We needed to look internally and adopt a different approach to grantmaking. So, we began using the mini-grant model to help grantees manage their awards better.
Successes Related to the Mini-Grant Model
We found that the smaller mini-grant investments led to a domino effect of momentum in communities. Oftentimes, the mini-grants led to investments by community partners as well as in-kind donations. Adopting this model meant we would be able to give more coalitions and organizations the opportunity to apply for these small grants.
In addition to being able to reach more coalitions, it gives community coalitions and organizations a chance to implement a project without the burden of managing large amounts of funding or committing to a long period of time. Coalitions can organize and work on community action plans without the time constraints of a grant and then apply for a mini-grant when they are ready to carry out their plan of action.
Our experiences have shown that many community coalitions and organizations are looking for a few hundred dollars to complete a project that fits our mission, while others need seed money to get a project moving. Wholespire provides funding opportunities, when available, for not only these reasons but ultimately to reduce health disparities, improve health equity, and increase access to healthy choices.
As pioneers of policy, systems, and environmental change in South Carolina, Wholespire has provided technical assistance to hundreds of community coalitions and partners over the past 15 years. It’s a service we provide to help build the capacity of and sustain community coalitions, strengthen community-based projects, and improve the likelihood of better health outcomes.
Oftentimes, technical assistance is provided to partner organizations and addresses other areas of our work, like advocacy, youth engagement, and marketing. In this post, we’ll define technical assistance, show some examples, and tell you how you can take advantage of our technical assistance services.
What is technical assistance?
Technical assistance, also known as TA and commonly referred to as consulting, is the process of providing specific support to a community coalition or organization with a development need or problem. It is an effective method for building the capacity of any community coalition or organization.
Technical assistance can be provided in a variety of ways. It can be one-on-one consultation or small group facilitation. It can be provided in person or by phone, email, or other online methods. In addition to being referred to as consulting, TA is also known as coaching or mentoring.
At Wholespire, TA applies to our areas of expertise – policy, systems, and environmental strategies, advocacy, coalition development and sustainability, The HYPE Project®, and marketing and communications. The range of subtopics is almost endless. The only area our TA does not cover is IT support.
Why is it important?
Technical assistance is important to any community coalition or organization, no matter the stage of development and operations. When you don’t have expertise in a specific area in your coalition or organization, leaning on consultants is often used to learn more about the issue, the needs of the community or group, develop action plans, the actual implementation of those plans, and any steps needed after to sustain the effort.
Technical assistance can lend to the longevity of your coalition or organization. It’s called capacity building – the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes, and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt and thrive in a fast-changing world (United Nations).
What does it cost?
At Wholespire, we provide free and fee-based technical assistance services. Free technical assistance is provided to Wholespire chapters and grantees. TA can range from organizational structure and partnership development to advocacy/policy development and project implementation. Another example of free TA is when a mini-grant applicant needs guidance on the application or requests, input on their project idea, or needs help getting over unforeseen hurdles during their project. TA also includes connecting our grantees with other existing local community health initiatives that can complement their project, open up doors for future collaboration, lead to other funding opportunities, and, ultimately, make communities healthier and more equitable.
Fee-based TA is a contracted service provided to partners and other organizations that request assistance. This service addresses similar areas as our free service; however, they’re typically more specific. An example is partnering with Healthy People Healthy Carolinas to help their grantees with achieving their goals. Another example is providing an advocacy training series, resources, and tools to the SC Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance to help them understand and begin advocacy work.
Remember, technical assistance plays a key role in developing and sustaining community coalitions and organizations into the future. It’s a way to use expert help to assess current capacity, build on strengths, and address underlying needs. If your community coalition or organization is interested in learning more about our technical assistance services, contact us at info@wholespire.org.
Group of friends on a walk & balancing on a tree trunk in the forest.
You may have heard of HEAL before. Hey, you may even know that it stands for healthy eating and active living (if so, kudos to you)! But what you may not know is that the mission of HEAL is a lot bigger than to promote healthy personal choices.
There are so many life factors that can lead to poor nutrition and low levels of physical activity in certain communities, particularly in those where income levels are low. These factors are important to learn about as they extend far beyond personal decision-making.
To gain a better understanding of the obstacles to healthy eating and active living as well as what the ultimate goals of HEAL really are, keep reading!
The Dangers of a Poor Diet and Idle Lifestyle
To understand what HEAL aims to achieve, you must know what it’s trying to combat, which is anything associated with or resulting from a poor diet and idle lifestyle choices, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, and a variety of other serious health complications.
HEAL recognizes the severity of these issues and attempts to reduce their impact on communities of all socioeconomic conditions by influencing relevant policies and addressing underlying causes. We hope our efforts can remove barriers to accessible exercise and provide greater access to healthy eating and active living options for all.
Healthy Eating
Did your parents ever ask you, “Honey, have you eaten your broccoli?” Most people would say yes. The first half of the acronym HEAL is something many of us learned about when we were very young. However, it takes more than some parental coaxing to get entire communities to eat healthy, and that’s because the root of the issue goes far beyond a distaste for veggies.
Many communities don’t have access to healthy food options. Or else, if they do, these options are far too expensive to buy. The lack of nutritious food in underserved communities does not just affect dinner tables but workplaces, schools, places of worship, and other eating locations, too.
One of the main goals of HEAL’s various community health initiatives is to address the underlying causes of food access issues. We help educate communities about nutrition and the dangers of a poor diet and ultimately provide them with greater access to affordable, fresh, and healthy food.
Active Living
Active living is a term intended to describe a daily living routine inclusive of physical activity whenever possible. It’s not just about getting in a regular workout, it’s about opting to walk or bike somewhere rather than drive, for example. In order to promote active living, HEAL coalitions seek to increase safe access to physical activities in communities that lack proper facilities, such as sidewalks and crosswalks, and equipment. Our goal is also to influence policy in order to create more community space where physical activity is possible.
In sum, we want to knock down barriers to healthy eating and active living and HEAL communities that suffer from poor nutrition and physical inactivity due to circumstances beyond their control.
Want more information on HEAL or have questions about how to help your community? Email us at info@wholespire.org.
Do you want to get outside and be more active but don’t know where to begin? It’s not always easy to stay energized about maintaining an active lifestyle when you’re stuck doing the same activities in the same places. Fortunately, there are plenty of outdoor activities in South Carolina where you can go to get your heart rate up and discover something new in the process.
Finding the right type of physical activity for you and doing it in a new scenic location—these are some of the best ways to be and stay active! When you’re truly enjoying yourself during physical activity, you won’t notice just how much exercise you’re getting. As a result, you’ll probably push yourself further than you would have if you were doing the same activity indoors or at the gym.
That’s right, fitness folks! Workouts don’t need to feel like work. In order to help you strike the perfect balance between enjoyment and exercise, let’s take a look at a few outdoor activities in South Carolina our team likes.
Hiking the Palmetto Trail
The best way to take in any beautiful place is on foot. On the Palmetto Trail, you’ll be able to soak up all the scenic grandeur of South Carolina—from the mountains and the lakes to the cities and the small towns—all on your own two feet, or on a bicycle seat if that’s your preference.
On 350 miles out of the planned 500-mile-long cross-state trail, the foundation designated 26 different passages. These passages range in length from 1.3 to nearly 50 miles. Hikers and backpackers can enjoy the entire trail, and certain areas are open to mountain biking and even horseback riding, too.
Whether you’re looking for a breezy day trip or a challenging thru-hike, the Palmetto Trail is a great place to get your heart rate going. Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be able to say you covered all 500 miles of the trial, from Walhalla to Awendaw!
Cycling on Highway 11
Some fitness fans prefer fast-paced activity. If that’s you, check out Highway 11, also known as the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway. If you cycle along this road, you can see up to eight of South Carolina’s beautiful state parks in just one day. (You might have to plan a separate trip back to each park so you don’t miss any exciting natural landmarks.) Dust off that bike and hit the road!
Birdwatching in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge
Remember when we said that if you make physical fitness fun you may not notice just how much exercise you’re getting? Well, if you’re a lover of wildlife, then birdwatching may just be that “fun” workout you need.
South Carolina has a wide array of parks and wildlife refuges where you can go to catch a glimpse of rare and endangered bird species, with Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge being among the most popular. Go there intending to find plovers and pelicans and leave with a new record step count on your fitness band.
By now, you’ve probably heard about or seen our new name. But, what exactly does it mean? There’s a complete ideology behind the Wholespire name and logo. And, we’re going to explain it to you!
Why did we rebrand?
When an organization or business wants to change its name and logo, there’s a reason behind that decision to move forward. Wholespire’s decision was based on the evolution of its work from only healthy eating and active living (HEAL) to HEAL plus other public health issues like chronic disease prevention and management. The new brand also allows Wholespire to support partner initiatives related to HEAL like school lunch debt, pay equity, fair housing, poverty, and other social and economic factors that impact access to healthy opportunities and choices.
How did we do it?
After issuing a rebrand Request for Proposal and interviewing several qualified candidates, Wholespire chose to work with TRIO Solutions, Inc. out of Mt. Pleasant, SC. TRIO hit the ground running and researched all of our existing marketing resources, interviewed a diverse group of partners, provided reports of their findings, and pointed out our strengths and weaknesses. It was clear that we made the right decision to rebrand.
What’s in a name?
When you look at any organization or business name and logo, there’s a meaning behind those elements. There’s a meaning behind ours.
The name and logo creation phase resulted in a name and logo that represented all our wishes. We wanted something short and purposeful. Something impactful and unique. Something representative of what we do. TRIO set out on a brainstorming journey that included many ideas, making our decision not so easy. We chose Wholespire!
Wholespire combines the word “whole” (referring to all of something; in good health) with the words “aspire” (what you’re striving for) and “inspire” (what you hope to evoke in people). Wholespire is the state in which a complete and harmonious community is achieved.
Is there meaning in a logo?
Yes, there is a meaning behind the elements of logos. For Wholespire, we wanted something colorful, energizing, and memorable. TRIO, again, provided multiple logo drafts, making our decision even harder than choosing the name.
The image below depicts the meaning behind each element of the Wholespire logo:
What about the colors?
Through the rebranding process, we learned that choosing colors have meaning too. People associate different emotions with colors. We wanted our new colors to speak harmoniously to our partners and audiences.
Our new brand more effectively illuminates our support of local initiatives and advocacy that inspire wellness in all communities. We believe our new name reflects how coming together to increase access to wellness in communities creates unification and wholeness.
We are Wholespire and we’re here to serve communities as we have for the past 14 years! Contact us if you have questions about our rebrand journey.
Do you want to get outside and be more active but don’t know where to begin? It’s not always easy to stay energized about maintaining an active lifestyle when you’re stuck doing the same activities in the same places. Fortunately, there are plenty of outdoor activities in South Carolina where you can go to get your heart rate up and discover something new in the process.
