South Carolina

The American Heart Association, a global force for longer, healthier lives is committed to driving equitable health impact in South Carolina through five key priority areas: women, readiness, tobacco and vaping, patients and healthy living.

With focus on these impact areas, we are working to improve the health and well-being of South Carolinians by collaborating with others who serve our communities.

In Charleston, we are helping to improve healthy food access to downtown residents. We collaborated with The Green Heart Project, which serves as a 1/2-acre Urban Farm in a USDA designated “low income, low access” food desert. Through funding, the American Heart Association has helped provide raised garden beds at Charleston County Public Schools, as well as a walk-in cooler at the Urban Farm. This has allowed The Green Heart Project to increase the amount of fresh produce that is readily available. This organization now serves as a healthy food access point to over 2500 children and families throughout the Charleston area. The Farm Stand at the Urban Farm serves over 100 households a week and produces over 8,000 pounds of produce each year.

In the Upstate, we are working with leading medical professionals with Bon Secours St. Francis Health system. We hosted a community conversation on the vaping epidemic of today’s youth. Tobacco is now in the new form of vaping, and 1 in 5 highschoolers are vaping. The community conversation brought awareness to this issue and shared information to the Upstate community in efforts to end tobacco use for all.

In CSRA, we are committed to addressing food insecurity in our communities. One in seven people in the CSRA are faced with chronic hunger every day and 54% of our community does not have access to healthy food options. The Laney Walker Farmer’s Market provides screenings, multiple farmers and vendors offering a variety of healthy, local food options. The market also doubles SNAP benefits, meaning when shoppers swipe their SNAP card at the market manager booth, they will receive $2 in market tokens for every $1 spent. Maintaining a healthy diet and controlling blood pressure are two ways to prevent heart disease. The Laney Walker Farmer’s Market represents a collaboration between the American Heart Association, Augusta Locally Grown and Augusta-Richmond County Housing and Community Development. This market is designed to increase social and economic access to our community’s healthiest foods for community members of all income levels, but specifically the market will help to provide proper nourishment to our historically under-resourced communities.

Throughout South Carolina, we’ve seen our community impact work grow, including efforts not only around healthy food access, but also greater access to care, blood pressure education, building a network of first responders through CPR kits in schools, and tobacco and e-cigarette education and prevention.

Through support of our South Carolina communities, the American Heart Association will continue to drive change, and be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.

Advocacy has had a mission-critical role in the Association's work for more than 40 years. Our legislative and regulatory priorities help to mitigate risk factors and protect survivors in communities across the country. We support the enactment of evidence-based public policies that lead to longer, healthier lives.

Public policy advocacy is an essential strategy used by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to affect necessary and sustainable policy, system and environmental changes that help Americans build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.