In The Know
Habitat Begins Program To Aid Black Homeownership
Habitat for Humanity of Greenville has formed a community-led initiative to create pathways to homeownership for Black people in Greenville County.
The Advancing Black Homeownership Project is funded with a grant from Habitat for Humanity International.
“This is about more than Habitat for Humanity. This is about more than the city. More than the county. This is about changing historic patterns and creating economic justice,” said Monroe Free, President and CEO of Habitat Greenville.
The steering committee includes the Rev. Stacey Mills, pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church and Executive Director of Greenville Race Equity and Economic Mobility Commission; the Rev. Sean Dogan, pastor of Long Branch Baptist Church; Greenville Mayor Knox White; Tamela Spann, Vice President of Investments for Hollingsworth Funds; and Samantha Wallace, Upstate Market Executive for Bank of America.
The program will be overseen by Joseph Fields, the new Vice President of Habitat For Humanity Greenville County.
“This project aims to create a stronger and more inclusive Greenville,” Mills said. “We have come a long way in the past few years in ending many systematic racism problems, but we have a long way to go. This is a major step forward.”
Greenville County was chosen for the funding because Black families in the county are 30% less likely than white families to own a home.
Habitat resources for families who are not Black will not be reduced, Fields said.
TD SYNNEX Share the Magic Raises $2.6M For Charities
TD SYNNEX in Greenville recently raised $2.6 million for four Upstate charities at its 13th annual charity event, Share the Magic.
About 1,400 TD SYNNEX employees, customers, vendors, sponsors, charity representatives and community leaders attended the event, which was held in the Hartness community.
The TD SYNNEX Share the Magic in Greenville raises funds for A Child’s Haven, Clement’s Kindness, Make-A-Wish South Carolina, and Pendleton Place.
“We are grateful for the outcome of this year’s TD SYNNEX Share the Magic celebration and humbled by the extraordinary generosity of our sponsors, customer and vendor partners, co-workers and the Greenville community,” said Peter Larocque, President of North America at TD SYNNEX and founder of Share the Magic.
“We are incredibly grateful for TD SYNNEX Share the Magic, the largest funder of our organization since the inception of this partnership 13 years ago,” said Misty Farmer, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish South Carolina.
TD SYNNEX Share the Magic supports charities that focus on the needs and wellness of children, as well as unequal access to technology among children.
Share the Magic chapters have been established in Arizona, Canada, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Texas. A total of $22 million has been raised for charities across all markets.
TD SYNNEX is a global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem with more than 150,000 customers in 100 countries.
GADC Promotes Senior Staff
The Greenville Area Development Corp. has promoted two staff members, Tavia C.M. Gaddy and Tony Smith.
Both have been project managers and will become Senior Project Managers.
Gaddy has been a project manager since 2005. She has been involved in creating more than 12,800 jobs and $1.5 billion in capital investment in Greenville County. She has worked with Bausch & Lomb, Kyocera-AVX, Lima One Capital, T&S Brass and Esurance.
Gaddy is a board member of the S.C. Economic Developers Association and is an S.C. Certified Economic Developer. She is on the Board of Directors for the Greenville Technical College Foundation and Neighborhood Cancer Connection.
Smith joined the GADC in 2008. He has worked on projects totaling more than $1.5 billion in capital investment and 10,000 jobs, including recent announcements for Thermo King, Marleylilly, GE Appliances, Honeywell, and DC Blox.
Smith is the lead recruiter for the life sciences industry and serves as GADC project finance officer, advising staff on financing for clients and fostering relationships to support high-growth companies with capital needs.
As Senior Project Managers, Gaddy and Smith will work with existing and prospective businesses in Greenville County and collaborate with other economic development agencies.
GADC’s economic impact in Greenville County exceeds $6 billion annually, with a cumulative impact since 2001 of over $55 billion.
Work Starts On Battery Plant
Construction of BMW’s high-voltage battery assembly plant in Woodruff has begun. BMW management joined representatives from the City of Woodruff, Spartanburg County and Evans Construction for a ceremonial beam signing, celebrating the first steel erected at the site.
After the signing, workers installed the first beam and began construction.
“This BMW plant will play an important role for the future of electric mobility at Plant Spartanburg and in the United States,” said Dr. Robert Engelhorn, President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing.
The BMW Group plans to invest $1.7 billion in its U.S. operations, including $1 billion to prepare the Spartanburg plant to produce fully electric vehicles and $700 million to build a high-voltage battery assembly plant in Woodruff. The plant will be completed in 2026.
TreesUpstate Needs Volunteers
TreesUpstate needs volunteers to help plant trees at the following events:
West Greenville Community Tree Planting, 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 28, a neighborhood beautification effort with neighbors, Reedy River Rotary Club, BMW, and others. Volunteers and staff will plant 150 trees. A block party will follow. TreesUpstate is seeking 100 volunteers.
High Point Academy Tree Planting, 9 to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 11. TreesUpstate and Noble Tree Foundation are planting 25 trees at High Point Academy. This is the final year of a five-year program to plant 1,000 trees at schools in Spartanburg County. TreesUpstate is seeking 30 volunteers.
Clemson Green Crescent Trail Tree Planting, 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 9. TreesUpstate, the City of Clemson and Green Crescent Trail will plant 25 trees along the Green Crescent Trail at Clemson Park. TreesUpstate is seeking 40 volunteers.
Turkey Day Run, Nov. 22 and 23. Volunteers are needed for various time slots beginning Nov. 22 and continuing through noon Nov. 23. The run is in downtown Greenville.
Upstate Attorney Earns Highest Ratings For DUI Law
Greenville attorney Steve Sumner recently received AV Preeminent status from Martindale Hubbell, a peer-review ratings organization for lawyers.
The Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent is given to attorneys who are ranked by their peers at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal expertise and ethical standards.
In 1997, Sumner opened his practice as a criminal defense attorney, with a focus on defending clients accused of DUI, Felony DUI, driving offenses and drug cases.
Ten At The Top Hosts 13th Celebrating Successes
Ten at the Top will present its 13th Annual Celebrating Successes Event from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 15 at Greenville Convention Center, 1 Exposition Drive.
Ten at the Top will recognize businesses, organizations and individuals who help make the Upstate a leading place to live, learn, do business and raise a family.
Finalists for the 2023 Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Vibrancy Grants will make their presentations. Recipients of the Burdette Leadership Award and the Welling Award for Regional Collaboration also will be honored.
After the program, participants can have lunch and refreshments while networking.
Retired FBI Agent Becomes Mauldin Police Captain
Mauldin native and retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Tab Clardy has been sworn in as captain of the Mauldin Police Department’s Field Operations Division.
Clardy will oversee day-to-day operations of the patrol and traffic safety functions and be responsible for the department’s professional standards, internal affairs, recruitment and policies.
He replaces Capt. Kara Boyd, who retired in September after 26 years with the department.
Clardy has 33 years of experience in law enforcement. He has worked as a special agent for the FBI since 2003. He has served as a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s office in Columbia since 2015. He began his career in 1988 with the Greenville Police Department as a 911 dispatcher. Since then, he has served with four SWAT teams, and he has been an FBI-certified crisis negotiator since 2016.
Clardy is a 1988 graduate of Mauldin High School. He is a fifth-generation law enforcement professional; his father, the late James C. Clardy, retired from the state Highway Patrol after 30 years of service.
“When I lost my father at the age of 15, the police officers in Mauldin surrounded me and kept me out of trouble. I’m looking forward to giving back to the community that has given me so much,” Clardy said.
Hughes Agency Adds To Team
Hughes Agency, a public relations, marketing, advertising and event management firm in Greenville, has hired two team members: Hays Bacon and Hallie Rae Jones.
Bacon joins Hughes Agency as a senior account executive. She has more than six years of experience in event logistics, communications, and marketing.
Jones will be assistant director of Avenue, an event venue owned by Velda Hughes, founder of the Hughes Agency, and Jackson Hughes, owner and CEO of Hughes Commercial Properties. Jones has more than six years of event planning experience.
Sportsclub Fitness & Wellness Raise Breast Cancer Awareness
Sportsclub Fitness & Wellness Simpsonville, 667 S.E. Main Street, recently supported breast cancer awareness with mammogram screenings and a Zumba Glow Dance Party to benefit the Pearlie Harris Center for Breast Health.
The Pearlie Harris Center for Breast Health offers services in one place, at Building 131 on the campus of St. Francis Eastside.
Sportsclub Fitness & Wellness has locations in Five Forks, Greenville, and Simpsonville.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: In The Know
