City of Rock Hill and Clinton College receive $3.5 million to improve healthcare
The city of Rock Hill, in partnership with Clinton College, has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, officials announced Monday.
The grant will be used to create a wellness and community health institute at Clinton College, a historically Black university of about 200 students. Clinton is one of the oldest fixtures in Rock Hill -- it was founded 128 years ago.
Clinton College and the city will partner on the project, which aims to improve health services in some of Rock Hill’s most vulnerable areas.
“Today is the story of success, of this $3.5 million grant given to come in and make healthier lifestyles for more of our people than ever before,” Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys said.
With this grant, “Clinton College’s focus now will be on wellness and community health,” the college’s president, Rev. Lester A. McCorn said. He was hired in 2018. McCorn said at that time said his focus was on Clinton’s growth.
The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the need for this project, he said.
“We saw what COVID-19 has done to our nation, and our most vulnerable citizens have taken the brunt of that,” McCorn said. “And many of them are African Americans and people of color.”
There are three main goals of the health institute project. It will be developed over the course of three years, McCorn said.
The first goal of the project is service provider professional development, McCorn said. The program will offer training on health literacy, which is the ability to understand basic health information and make choices regarding one’s health. Health literacy is lowest among older adults, minority populations and those with low socioeconomic status, according to the Health Resources and Services organization.
The second goal is to create health promotion partnerships, where Clinton College will work with local organizations -- churches, healthcare providers and businesses -- on projects that promote health literacy and healthy behavior.
The third goal is to increase community engagement in creating projects that “support residents and (make) their healthy choices easier and more accessible.”
McCorn said “There are gaps in information and education. It’s really about educating people about what’s available to them.”
“It’s not that there aren’t health services, it’s that people don’t know, or don’t know how to access them,” he said. “There are barriers, whether they are transportation barriers, or cultural barriers, that are keeping people from getting to the services and resources that they need.”
Education efforts will focus on vulnerable areas identified by census data, Gettys said.
“You can’t be a better community if you can’t be a healthier community,” he said, “We will see a lot of good come out of this. It will continue to bring us closer together as a community.”
To develop the vision for this project and secure the grant, McCorn worked with Gettys and the city of Rock Hill, as well as partners throughout the community, including members of the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, North Central Family Medicine and Affinity Health, and Mt. Olivet AME Zion Church.
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 5:17 PM.
