Workforce Development Workforce development staff and partner agencies are highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as 18,385 workers in the Upper Savannah Workforce Area have applied for unemployment benefits through May 9, according to numbers released by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW). Predictions indicate that about 18 percent of COVID-19 laid off […]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is making funding available to assist local governments with their public health and emergency management activities supporting the prevention of, preparation for, and response to the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency. Through this funding opportunity, FEMA will award funding to support planning and operational readiness for […]
Government Services Social distancing requirements have changed the Census 2020 schedule and the way public meetings are held, according to Government Services Director Rick Green. The Census Bureau temporarily suspended Census 2020 field data collection activities in March, according to Green. Steps are already being taken to reactivate field offices beginning June 1, 2020, in […]
Upper Savannah Government Services Director Rick Green is urging residents of the Region to fill out their Census 2020 forms after seeing the latest response rates in the 20-25 percent range for all six counties. “Census information is very important to all our communities and to all our work here at the Upper Savannah Council […]
Greenwood County Emergency Management Coordinator George McKinney gave a Coronavirus update at the Public Administrators meeting Wednesday at Upper Savannah COG. “The biggest things we can do right now are education and preparation,” McKinney told the seven administrators who attended. At the time McKinney was speaking, there were 60 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in […]
With Census 2020 Day looming less than two months away, U.S. Census Bureau Partnership Specialist Linda Shell is asking county and municipal clerks to get the word out in their communities. Shell was a guest speaker at the county and municipal clerks meeting at USCOG Feb. 11. Census Day is April 1, 2020, the reference […]
The Upper Savannah COG’s national award-winning workforce development project Ready to Roll has been recognized again, this time receiving the prestigious SC COGs Regional Project of the Year honors for 2019. The award was announced at the SC COGs Annual Training Conference held Nov. 24-26 in Myrtle Beach. The state’s COGs were eligible to submit […]
The Upper Savannah region received three grant awards in the Fall 2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Community Enrichment, Neighborhood Revitalization and Special Projects Round, the S.C. Department of Commerce announced Nov. 14. Upper Savannah COG Community Development staff submitted three grant applications in the round and all three were awarded. Twenty-one grants were awarded […]
The Upper Savannah COG has received a 2019 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the Ready to Roll Project which has helped train several truck drivers in the region. In October 2017, the USCOG Board of Directors heard S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Secretary Christy Hall’s detailed overview […]
“It is our mission to count everyone once… and only once.” That was a line repeated several times when the Upper Savannah COG hosted a Census 2020 kickoff meeting recently. U.S. Census Bureau Partnership Specialist Linda Shell stressed the importance of an accurate count to those who attended the Sept. 26 meeting. Those in attendance […]