2023 Poverty Summit - Thursday, October 19 | 8:30am-2:00pm

On Thursday, October 19 the Faith Initiative To End Child Poverty will host a summit focused on education, especially how congregations can best support students and educators. The Faith Initiative is a consortium of congregations working to end child poverty in Spartanburg. The Summit will be held at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Spartanburg (502 S. Daniel Morgan Ave., Spartanburg, SC 29306). A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. All are welcome.

The Faith Initiative Summit is in partnership with the Spartanburg Academic Movement's 10th anniversary conference the day before, on October 18. This article by Dr. Irvin Scott from the Harvard LIFE (Leadership Initiative for Faith and Education) Program is our framework for the October 19 Summit.

Please RSVP so we can have a good estimate of attendance for food and seating. The Faith Initiative would especially like to invite congregations and educators who are partnered to serve students in our schools throughout Spartanburg County. If you are aware of ministries or congregations that work in partnership with our schools, please share with us who to contact in order to invite them to the Summit.

Click the button below to RSVP for this year's Summit.


About the Initiative

Rationale: Poverty is an offense to God.

Objective: Build and foster interfaith and interracial relationships in order to confront the roots of poverty.

Vision: Every child in Spartanburg thrives.

Mission: Opportunity Spartanburg creates collaborative partnerships between members of faith communities, volunteers, and non-profit organizations in order to alleviate child poverty by confronting its root causes.

Goal: Decrease the number of children in Spartanburg County living at or below the Federal Poverty Line by 340 children (2%) in five years, 2025.[1]

Strategies: Using a lens of equity and economic mobility, place volunteers in non-profit programs which have documented success in aiding families with children move from economic instability into economic stability. Four areas have been identified as critical indicators contributing to moving into financial security:[2]

  • Childcare and Early Childhood Education
  • Generational Literacy
  • Living Wage
  • Neighborhood Isolation


[1] In 2016 it is estimated that more than 17,000 children in Spartanburg County were living below FPL. Source: US Census Report and REI, pg. 22.

[2] REI Report from the Metropolitan Studies Institute at USC Upstate (July 2018), the major non-profit funders in Spartanburg, and the Faith Poverty Summit (April 2019)

How do I get Involved?

Everyone is Welcome!

If you would like to be involved in this long-term initiative to end child poverty in Spartanburg, please contact Ian Ritchings ([email protected]).