South Carolina is our home
PalmettoPride coordinates Keep South Carolina Beautiful, which is the state of South Carolina’s affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. PalmettoPride supports volunteers and local affiliates within the Keep America Beautiful network in our state and assists in the founding and creation of additional affiliates statewide. Since PalmettoPride brought KSCB under its umbrella of programs in 2006, the number of active affiliates has grown from four to thirty-eight.
With support from this growing network, PalmettoPride is able to implement localized solutions for addressing litter in communities throughout the state. In exchange, PalmettoPride offers funding, training, professional development, and policy-based education to affiliates.
Currently, there are two pre-certified affiliates, Keep Fort Mill Beautiful and Keep Winyah Bay Beautiful.
Want to make a lasting impact in your community but not sure where to start?
By creating or joining a local Keep America Beautiful affiliate, you’ll gain the resources and support needed to inspire change and beautify neighborhoods, cities, and counties.
As an affiliate, you’ll connect with a strong national network of like-minded community leaders, gain access to specialized training, tools, and programs, and have the opportunity to apply for exclusive grants.
What if there isn’t an affiliate in my area?
Anyone can start an affiliate! If you have the desire, KSCB will support your efforts in creating a local affiliate. Affiliates are normally set up as a government entity or a nonprofit. They can be housed in various local government departments or serve in its own department. Affiliates can also be found in a chamber of commerce or soil and water conservation districts.
What about funding?
Keep South Carolina Beautiful, PalmettoPride and Keep America Beautiful offer various grant funding opportunities to address most of your projects related to litter, beautification and recycling.
KSCB offers a startup grant to cover affiliate certification costs. The best part—KSCB covers the initial costs to Keep America Beautiful upfront so you can focus on starting the affiliate locally. Once you become certified, KSCB pays the remainder of the grant directly to your new affiliate.
How do I get started?
First, contact your state affiliate, Keep South Carolina Beautiful. They will navigate the application process with you, connect you with an affiliate mentor and assist with funding processes. KSCB will support your new affiliate during each step.
The affiliate certification process consists of two training sessions from your Keep America Beautiful Certified Trainer. The affiliate certification assists the director, team leaders, local governments and volunteers through each step for approximately one year.
During this time, the certification team will develop bylaws, a logo, a budget, a mission statement and other governance documents. The team will also select an advisory Board of Directors, study the local community litter issues, and develop solutions across multi-year plans.
On your last day of training, your affiliate birthday, you’ll be set with ideas of all the beautiful things that can take place in your community.
To get started or for more information on the affiliate certification process, contact the PalmettoPride KSCB Affiliate Services Manager Joseph Berry at jberry@palmettopride.org.
