Voices and Choices

Like most growing cities, Greenville, South Carolina residents deal daily with issues and choices related to housing, public transportation, roads, and protecting the environment. The Greenville Chamber of Commerce, the Greenville Area Development Corporation and the Upstate Alliance are some of the organizations that work on economic development initiatives to build overall community prosperity.

As Greenville, SC continues to grow, organizations like Upstate Forever are voices that promote sensible growth and the protection of special places in the Upstate region of South Carolina through initiatives that focus on clean air and water, land use and sustainable communities. Voices and choices in Greenville, SC also mean public policy.

By nature, South Carolinians are fiercely independent and passionate about their politics. The Greenville area has produced several South Carolina Governors including the late Carroll A. Campbell Jr. and Richard W. Riley, who served as U.S. Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton. In 1999, The Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics, and Public Leadership opened at Furman University as a multi-faceted, non-partisan institute to engage students in the various arenas of politics, public policy, and public leadership.

Public leadership extends to other voices in the community who work daily to combat hunger and homelessness, domestic violence, child neglect and abuse, and adult literacy. United Way of Greenville County currently funds 93 programs at 50 non-profit agencies that seek to improve people's lives and build a caring community.