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Project Name: Public Health Scholarship Program (T52)
Applicant Title: University of South Carolina
Abstract Text: 1 University Blvd. Bluffton, SC 29909 Diana Reindl, PhD, CHES xxx-xxx-xxxx xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx www.uscb.edu $1,500,000.00 award to the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s (USCB’s) Public Health Scholarship Program with a request for preferred funding in response to the HRSA-22-122 Public Health Scholarship Program call for proposals. More than 90% of requested funds are allocated to future public-health student scholarships. USCB has invested in our Public Health Program to train future public health professionals since 2014. In 2021, the program had 110 students, with 39% of our 2020-2021 graduating class self-identifying as being from a minority background. In addition, at least one in three alumni work in medically underserved areas (MUAs) one-year post-graduation. USCB is the only public four-year university in the Lowcountry region. We know USCB students are 90% native South Carolinians, with nearly 40% living in communities from our five-county surrounding region that are educationally disadvantaged and medically underserved. The region’s recognition as a designated Health Professional Shortage Area (HSPA) in mental health and primary care because of income, rural geography, or high need helps illustrate the shortage of healthcare professionals who serve vulnerable populations in our area. These factors contribute significantly to the stressors impacting the health of our community. The financial burden of becoming a public health professional is a liability for our future public health workforce. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the need for an infrastructure of public health professionals. USCB’s Public Health Scholarship Program aims to increase access to higher education to train our future public health workforce in the South Carolina Lowcountry by decreasing the cost of higher education as part of a 13 strategy approach including six tiers of scholarships. USCB’s Public Health Scholarship Program proposes to award up to 474 scholarships across three years. An average of 158 scholarships are distributed per year and include full-ride scholarships, full tuition + fee scholarships, 80% tuition + fee scholarships, 60% tuition + fee scholarships, summer school, and book scholarships. The number of unique students served will be 90 each year, or 270 people across three years. USCB’s Public Health Scholarship Program intends to achieve the following objectives. 1. Objective 1: By 2025, knowledge and skills of 200 future public health workforce professionals in the Lowcountry will be enhanced as evidenced by program enrollment. • Subobjective 1.1: Annually through 2025, identify employment needs related to Public Health with local organizations. • Subobjective 1.2: Annually through 2025, four leadership speaker’s bureau events for USCB’s Public Health Scholarships occur. • Subobjective 1.3: By 2025, 10 employment facilitations occur due to the program or public health field experiences one-year post-graduation program. 2. Objective 2: Award 1.35 million dollars in scholarships to educate our future public health workforce by 2025. Trained students address public health inequities and health disparities by incorporating principles of Social Determinants of Health into practice through a bachelor’s degree curriculum in Public Health at USCB. 3. Objective 3: Realize a $300,000 return on investment by 2025 to our community through the prevention, preparation, and response to recovery activities related to public health by providing public health field experience opportunities. Dramatically decreasing the cost burden to achieve a bachelor’s degree in Public Health at USCB will benefit students for many years to come and change the trajectory of their lives. Likewise, HRSA-22-122 funding will increase our region’s public health capacity to meet core public health functions, including the Ten Essential Public Health Services, and decrease health inequities and disparities more quickly.