Community Leaders Launch Education Center to Address Needs in SC's "Corridor of Shame"
BDP Foundation Funds After-School Mentoring, Counseling, Meals
SUMMERTON, S.C., May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Rural Clarendon County, SC, is marked by flat, sandy roads mixed with ashes of pain but today lead to new hope for generations of impoverished young students.
On Saturday, May 24, the Briggs, DeLaine, Pearson Foundation (BDP) will host an open house from 11 am to 4 pm for its new, 4,000 sq. ft. Education Center at 9355 Alex Harvin Hwy. in Summerton, SC. The center will provide after-school mentoring, homework help, vocational opportunities, counseling, and nutritious meals for students of all ages. Partners include Classic Remodeling & Construction, CPI Security, the S.C. Education Alliance and Clemson University's "Call Me MiSTER" Foundation.
BDP Board Chairman Marguirite DeLaine, a retired SC teacher who grew up in Clarendon, says support is desperately needed for the region's challenged school system. The new center is next door to Dr. Rose H. Wilder Elementary and Scotts Branch High School. Students are 95% African American, most of whom are eligible for free lunch programs and live in poverty. Scotts Branch ranks at 40% in mathematics proficiency and 63% in reading in S.C. The region is the epicenter of S.C.'s I-95 "Corridor of Shame," the title of a shocking 2005 PBS documentary that exposed decaying schools, inadequate funding, failing test scores and generational despair.
When asked what has changed in the 20 years since the documentary, DeLaine shakes her head, "nothing." With one exception: "Hope reigns," she says.
"There is potential in every student," she says. "Our faith and possibilities keep us going. They always have. We have a tradition of rolling up of our sleeves, addressing education ourselves, instead of throwing up our hands."
In the 1950's and 60's, persistent calls for improved schools met with violence, job losses, evictions, and intimidation. The home and church of community leader Rev. J.A. DeLaine (Marguirite's uncle) were burned to rubble.
But today, meaningful change is underway, says DeLaine. BDP's board consists of educators and professionals, many of whom were raised in Clarendon. Objectives of BDP programs include improving test scores, raising education standards, and creating pathways out of poverty.
"We are the pebble thrown into a pond," she says. "The ripples of this work will spread in all directions."
BDP Foundation
BDP was founded in 1993 to memorialize the Briggs v. Elliott legal challenge to bring quality education to the region. The 1953 case was the first of its kind to argue the constitutionality of racially segregated schools. It became the cornerstone of legal arguments for Brown v. Board of Education, which won a U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision in 1954. Today, the foundation honors its legacy with the launch of a new Education Center to mentor, teach and feed local students.
Links:
BDP Foundation
SC Education Alliance
Call Me MiSTER
Corridor of Shame
Contact: Marguirite DeLaine, 919-612-6154, 395297@email4pr.com
Or, J. Dean Foster – 843-810-0346, 395297@email4pr.com
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SOURCE BDP Foundation
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