11 Lowcountry organizations awarded a total of $618,000 in Impact Grants
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WSAV) – Community Foundation of the Lowcountry awarded $618,427.53 to 11 local organizations in its second Impact Grant cycle of Fiscal Year 2025.
These competitive grants are available to organizations serving people who live or work in southern Beaufort County. In this cycle, Impact Grants were awarded for projects and programs related to health, human services, education, entrepreneurship, self-sufficiency, and food insecurity.
The recipients of the spring 2025 Community Foundation of the Lowcountry Impact Grants are:
• Beaufort Memorial Hospital Endowment Foundation – $100,000 for developing a dedicated Crisis Stabilization Unit to serve individuals experiencing acute mental health crises.
• BlacQuity – $55,000 for a year-long, cohort-based business training program that offers practical education, mentorship, and access to startup resources for Black entrepreneurs.
• Bluffton Self Help -$55,000 to purchase a refrigerated box truck for the expansion of its Mobile Market and Fresh Xpress programs.
• Deep Well Project (in partnership with Bluffton Self Help) – $100,000 to support the creation of a new, shared service center on Hilton Head Island.
• HELP of Beaufort – $25,920 to launch a new transportation assistance initiative aimed at helping low-income residents living north of the Broad River maintain employment opportunities south of the Broad.
• Love House Learning Academy – $20,000 to launch a comprehensive abuse prevention and awareness program targeting youth and families in Beaufort County.
• Lowcountry Legal Volunteers – $65,000 for funding to launch a Wills and Heirs Property Program that will provide free legal services to help families secure generational landownership through estate planning and legal education.
• Memory Matters – $36,000 to expand its Bluffton-based dementia support programs, increasing respite day programming to three days per week and adding a fourth day for the early intervention class.
• Sandalwood Community Food Pantry – $100,000 to support facility costs for its new 'Resilient Pantry' on Hilton Head Island.
• The Sandbox Children's Museum – $11,507.53 for funds to fully implement a hands-on, interactive STEM exhibit for children ages 7–12.
• Volunteers in Medicine HHI – $50,000 to enhance the diagnostic capabilities of its Eye Clinic by acquiring two pieces of state-of-the-art equipment.
To learn more about these giving opportunities, visit the Community Foundation's Grants Catalog
So far in the 2025 Fiscal Year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025), Community Foundation of the Lowcountry has awarded a total of 19 Impact Grants for over $993,000.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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He bought the Seward Creamery Co-op building partly because it was along the American Indian Cultural Corridor, a prominent eight-block stretch where Sherman wants to create an anchor for Indigenous businesses. It was also a good opportunity to rename the building, he says. Now called Wóyute Thipi, meaning 'food building' in Dakota, the former Seward Creamery Co-op was named for William Henry Seward, President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. It was during that administration that Lincoln ordered the executions of 38 Dakota warriors in what is now Mankato, Minnesota — the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Seward also oversaw the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, a sale of stolen land that further degraded Indigenous sovereignty. 'So his name doesn't need to be on the building. Not at all,' Sherman says. Since launching the Sioux Chef in 2014, Sherman and his nonprofit have had the wind at their backs with new projects and collaborations. This spring, he published a new cookbook, Turtle Island , a follow-up to his James Beard Award-winning The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen . But now, Sherman is about to embark on one of his biggest projects yet, making good on a long-stewing vision to increase Indigenous representation in the dining industry and access to decolonized foods for tribal communities, not just within the U.S., but all over North America by expanding Indigenous Food Lab locations. Sherman plans to open up another Indigenous Food Lab location in Bozeman, Montana, ideally in late 2025 or early 2026. Sherman says they're getting ready to hire for a regional position who will manage the Montana expansion as a NATIFS employee, but with a lot of freedom to build their own team. Like its Twin Cities location, the Bozeman Indigenous Food Lab will offer food made by Indigenous makers like beans, wild rice, juniper ash, maple syrup, roasted crickets, kelp hot sauce, and teas, alongside game meats like elk and bison. Additionally, it will feature a counter serving tacos and grain bowls. The Bozeman branch will also process and ship wholesale Indigenous foods across the state to tribal communities for greater access to healthy, ancestral, culturally specific foods. Space will be provided for Indigenous food creators to make educational videos and hold cooking classes. Eventually, Sherman says, they'll open up a full-service restaurant in Bozeman. 'That's where the job creation and product movement will really come in. We'll be able to push a ton of food dollars to the producers we want to support. And it'll drive people to be proud and aware of having this Indigenous-focused restaurant in their community.' NATIFS is also planning to expand the Indigenous Food Lab to Anchorage, Alaska. NATIFS outreach manager, Rob Kinneen, is an Alaska native from the Tlingit tribe and his connections are playing a vital role in establishing the new location. Sherman is hoping for partnerships with community organizations like the Alaska Native Medical Center and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. 'Our goal was to build a nonprofit that was replicable so that we could expand and create support systems in regions everywhere.' Sherman would also like to add a location in Rapid City, South Dakota; it's a site that's especially important to him because it's closer to Pine Ridge Reservation, the fourth largest Native American reservation within U.S. borders. Pine Ridge also happens to be where he grew up. Other potential sites are also on the horizon: 'We have people in Seattle, Portland, parts of California that are very interested in us. I could see us easily in Albuquerque or Phoenix, and definitely someplace in the Northeast, although I'm not really sure which would be the best pinpoint out there.' He aims to expand past colonial borders and build deeper partnerships with Indigenous communities in Canada and Mexico. For Sherman, the importance of Indigenous solidarity expands past even this continent. 'I just want to go beyond because we're creating these really strong connections in South America, west and south Africa, and Australia, and New Zealand. There's a lot of opportunity to grow internationally in the future.' Related Brunch, Decolonized The biggest challenge, Sherman reiterates, is solidifying funding to grow their staff and start project rollouts. 'We're so close. I was trying to raise six million just to launch this space [for Šhotá], and I still have about one million left, which is not bad for starting in January. But I still have some ways to go.' Sherman's dreams are sky-high even in the best of climates, but it's hard to ignore that the Trump administration's budget cuts to DEI initiatives at universities, environmental programs, projects aimed at reducing racial inequities, and tribal programs might make Sherman's plans difficult, even though NATIFS doesn't rely too much on government funds. Still, Sherman has hope in NATIFS and its partners' abilities to weather the storm and keep creating transformative projects. 'It's not a friendly environment for people of color under this administration. But regardless of who is in office, the work remains the same, and we're going to keep doing it.' Šhotá Indigenous BBQ by Owamni is headed to 2601 Franklin Avenue, planned for a late 2025 or early 2026 opening. Sign up for our newsletter.
