June 13
Upstate Air Quality Advisory Committee Meeting
9:30-11:30am
Upstate Alliance/Ten at the Top Office 124 Verdae Boulevard Suite 202 Greenville, SC 29607
 Click to Register 

Ten at the Top (TATT), through a funding commitment from Phil Hughes and Hughes Investments Inc., has established the Hughes Investments Vibrancy Initiative: ELEVATE UPSTATE Grants (EU).

The purpose of the ELEVATE UPSTATE Grants is to identify and provide initial funding support for community based programs that promote community and economic vibrancy in local areas across the Upstate. The initiative will award two grants annually with each being for up to $5,000 (total of $10,000 per year for five years) from 2013-2017 to entities including neighborhood associations, civic or community based organizations, non-profit organizations or local governments that are committed to developing and implementing programs designed to increase local vibrancy in communities within the Upstate. The TATT Community Vibrancy Task Force will provide some guidance through the project implementation process if it is needed.

Applicants must be located in and do their work within communities in one of the ten Upstate counties: Abbeville, Anderson, Gaffney, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, or Union. Successful proposals for projects funded by EU should be able to clearly demonstrate how the implementation of the initiative that they propose will benefit and provide vibrancy in the local community. These proposals may seek to produce a physical result, such as a mural, sculpture or signage that will increase the vibrancy and sense of place within a community, or implement the first of a reoccurring or annual event or program that helps grow vibrancy within a community. Examples of projects that have provided vibrancy within communities across South Carolina and the United States are being highlighted as part of the Community Vibrancy Workshops and a list of nearly 50 vibrancy projects is available on the TATT web site (www.tenatthetop.org).

The application for the first ELEVATE UPSTATE Grants is available on the TATT web site or click here to download the PDF here. The first grants will be announced at the final TATT Forum of 2013. The judges will include: Phil Hughes, President of Hughes Investments, Inc., Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Fleming, President of Converse College,  and Terence Roberts, Mayor of the City of Anderson.

The Duke Energy Foundation presented the Upstate Air Quality Advisory Committee, which is coordinated by Ten at the Top, with a $75,000 grant to support the Clean Air Upstate outreach, education and action strategy in the region.

The grant will be split into two components with a portion used to expand current no-idling programs in the region and the remainder used to develop a public outreach and education initiative. Specifics on each program are highlighted below.

South Carolina's Upstate currently meets EPA's minimum ozone attainment levels, but EPA is expected to announce tighter standards later this year (for implementation in 2014) that could potentially put most of the Upstate, as well as Columbia and Charleston, out of attainment and result in tighter regulations on industries looking to locate or grow in the Upstate while also limiting how highway funds are spent and potentially requiring vehicle inspections and other emission reducing measures.

The voluntary actions identified by the Upstate Air Quality Advisory Committee in the Clean Air Upstate program serve as a proactive regional approach to try and reduce emission levels before the region is potentially impacted by additional EPA regulations. For more information, check out the Clean Air Upstate website.