The Innovation Grant supports creative ideas that foster strategic change within the Greenwood County community. This Grant generates collective excitement due to its originality and courageous approach to addressing root causes of systemic problems or deficiencies, or by contributing to a healthy, thriving community. Successful proposals will stretch the imagination and enrich lives. Collaboration and partnerships among organizations are expected and essential to assure lasting impact and success.

Programs should:

• Creatively address an identifiable community need or aspect of quality of life
• Meaningfully engage stakeholders and, whenever possible, include those directly affected by the problem
• Reflect effective collaboration with other community organizations
• Use existing resources and maximize current community assets
• Have the potential to generate broad community support and to become self-sustaining over time
• Include evaluation mechanism/metrics.