Allen Blash
Foundation A2E
How ABF's Academic Achievement to Empowerment initiative used Dream Chaser Kids to achieve 100% completion, 100% high-confidence ratings, and 8 career connections in a single one-hour workshop — funded by United Way of the Piedmont's Youth Philanthropy Board.
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Why Spartanburg. Why now.
Spartanburg is a city in motion — new investment, population growth, a manufacturing economy expanding faster than its talent pipeline can keep up with. But underneath that momentum, a parallel story has been unfolding in neighborhoods like the Southside: a community with deep roots, strong residents, and a persistent gap between the opportunity being created in the county and the young people being prepared to access it.
That gap is what ABF was built to close. And it is the gap Dream Chaser Kids is designed to address — one student, one talent profile, one project idea at a time.
The opportunity gap is real — and it starts before high school.
Spartanburg County has set an ambitious target: 70% of graduates attaining a postsecondary credential by 2030. Today the county sits at 61%. The gap is largest in underserved neighborhoods, where students lack early exposure to career pathways, structured leadership development, and language for their own strengths — the exact foundations Dream Chaser Kids builds in a single session.
The Southside is a historically Black community with generations of leadership — and persistent underinvestment in education, infrastructure, and youth programming. Residents helped develop the "Rebuilding Southside" plan. SAM's Southside Promise initiative now coordinates grants, services, and youth development investments across the neighborhood. ABF works directly inside this ecosystem.
Spartanburg's economy is growing faster than its workforce can supply. A 2024 Talent Gap Analysis flagged the urgent need to connect K–12 students to career options earlier. The county's top workforce need is not credentials alone — it's students who can articulate their strengths, see themselves in careers, and take initiative. That is precisely what this workshop measures and builds.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 (poverty rate); Spartanburg Academic Movement Movement 2030 targets; SC Dept. of Employment & Workforce Data Trends 2024; OneSpartanburg / Lightcast Talent Gap Analysis 2024; Post & Courier Southside reporting 2025.
A foundation built for exactly this moment
The Allen Blash Foundation's Academic Achievement to Empowerment (A2E) initiative serves underserved youth in Spartanburg, SC — a community where access to structured leadership development and career exploration programming is limited. ABF runs mentorship, academic support, and enrichment programming tied to the Southside Promise Blueprint and aligned with Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) priorities.
The March 21, 2026 workshop was a pilot event — the first time Dream Chaser Kids was deployed in Spartanburg. The goal was proof of concept: could a single, short-format session produce measurable confidence gains and tangible career awareness among youth who had never engaged with strengths-based programming before?
It was funded at $200 total ($25 per student) by United Way of the Piedmont's Youth Philanthropy Board — a youth-led grantmaking body that funds programs demonstrating measurable community impact. The results exceeded every target set for the pilot.
Six blocks. One facilitator. Zero gaps.
Facilitator Nick Blash led the workshop with an on-site team using the complete Dream Chaser facilitator kit. The session moved students through six structured blocks designed to take them from first introduction to actionable project ideas within the hour.
100% completion. 100% high confidence. Every United Way target exceeded.
Every student completed the full workshop sequence. Every student submitted a reflection survey. Every student named a career connected to their talent and generated a project idea for their community. Against United Way of the Piedmont's reporting benchmarks — targets designed for longer, multi-session programs — this one-hour pilot exceeded every metric.
Five distinct profiles. A cohort with range.
The talent distribution across the ABF cohort reflects the diverse strengths present in Spartanburg's A2E youth — not a single dominant profile, but a balanced spread of creative, exploratory, learning-focused, and service-oriented talent. This data gives ABF and SAM a baseline to inform mentorship matching, future programming design, and STEM pathway development.
Eight students. Eight real ideas for Spartanburg.
The project brainstorm block surfaced ideas that went beyond individual ambition — students connected their talents to real community needs. Several ideas align directly with Southside Promise Blueprint priorities: youth mentorship, accessible teen spaces, career pathway exposure, and community service. These aren't hypothetical. They're the raw material for follow-up programming.
"Mentorship — cause I'm trying to get the youth on the right track."
"Making a hang-out spot just for teens."
"Firefighter Academy Training Center."
"Designing entrepreneur."
"Speaking to veterinarians."
"Gardening."
From pilot to Spartanburg's youth development infrastructure.
This workshop was step one. ABF, SAM, and Dream Chaser Kids have a documented path from this pilot to a scalable, multi-site model embedded in Spartanburg's school and community ecosystem — at a cost that fits existing United Way and Southside Promise grant structures.
"This pilot exceeded all United Way reporting targets and demonstrated strong feasibility for expansion into ABF's summer camp programming, after-school labs, and future Southside Promise school partnerships."
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$200 total investment. 33% below regional half-day rates. 81% below specialty STEM camp pricing. Includes full facilitator kit, TalentExplorer access, and this post-workshop impact report.
One workshop proved the model.
The next grant scales it.
ABF's A2E initiative demonstrated 100% outcomes in a single hour, at $25 per student. The summer camp strand and Southside Promise school-based pilot are ready for your funding cycle — with a complete proposal, cost breakdown, and outcome plan in 3 business days.