Mission: To ensure that youth have the knowledge and skills needed to become responsible adults.
Vision: To provide an environment in which children in Anderson County will become responsible adults who contribute to the betterment of the community.
How Women's Leadership is making an impact!
Established in 2001, the Women’s Leadership Council was created to enhance women’s involvement in the community through philanthropy, leadership and advocacy. With a vision to provide an environment in which children can become responsible adults, and a mission to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to do so, the Women’s Leadership Council chose to focus on a single issue – teen pregnancy prevention. Through a partnership with Anderson County School Districts 3 and 4, and with IMPACT!, a teen pregnancy prevention agency, close to $1,000,000 has been raised and strategically invested to help prevent teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Using comprehensive, evidence based, nationally recognized curricula in grades 6, 7, and 8, the program is demonstrating remarkable results. In 2015, the S. C. Campaign to Prevent Teen pregnancy included the United Way of Anderson County in a 5 year federal grant which provides the program in every middle school in the county – the ultimate goal of the Women’s Leadership Council and the means to creating long-term positive changes in the lives of our youth. The results of the program have been remarkable, with a reduction in teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. However, it is essential that parents, practitioners, policymakers, and anyone who cares about our youth remembers that the U.S. still has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and births among comparable countries. South Carolina has the 11th highest teen birth rate in the nation among 15-19 year old females and Anderson County ranks 17 out of the 46 S.C. counties in teen pregnancies. Each year, teen child-bearing costs Anderson County taxpayers over $7,000,000.
The results of the program are staggering and the impact is powerful: changing lives and creating opportunities for a better life for all by focusing on teen pregnancy prevention.