What is Sumter County Active Lifestyles?

Sumter County Active Lifestyles (SCAL) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public charity organization in Sumter, South Carolina. Our membership is composed of concerned citizens and representatives from city and county agencies, local businesses, health care, law enforcement, the military, schools, other nonprofit organizations and neighborhood associations, working to make it easier to be physically active in Sumter County.

SCAL advocates for places to exercise for all people of Sumter County, such as parks, trails, sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. We work to increase awareness about the things the county has to offer that make it easier to be more active. We promote the message that physical activity includes routine, day-to-day activities like walking, biking, washing your car or gardening.

Mission Statement

Promote health and quality of life in Sumter County by advocating for a community environment that supports physically active lifestyles for all citizens.

Overall Goal

Priority Issues:

• Promote a bicycle-friendly community
• Promote a pedestrian-friendly community environment
• Promote an overall active community environment
• Expand outreach to underserved areas to address disparities in supports for physical activity
• Maintain community education activities and general advocacy efforts
• Achieve sustainability of the coalition to promote active community environments

Background Information

SCAL was organized in 1998 as the community advisory board for, and the lead partner of, a community-based participatory research project being conducted in Sumter County, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center (USC PRC), called "Policy and Environmental Change to Promote Physical Activity: A participatory, university-community partnership." The partnership's main focus has been creating an "active community environment" through changes in the physical environment and related policies that help residents incorporate physical activity into their daily lives.

Early in the research collaboration, SCAL conducted numerous community audits, key informant interviews, surveys and assessments to obtain county residents' opinions on the status of environmental and policy supports for physical activity and suggestions on how to promote physically active lifestyles. With this information, we set our goals and began forming various partnerships to address the community's needs and desires relative to physical activity. More than 45 groups have partnered with us over the past 11 years; many of these partnerships remain intact. We continue to periodically assess the status of environmental and policy supports for physical activity in Sumter County and develop partnerships with additional groups in the community to provide safe and enjoyable places to exercise and to develop community programs.

SCAL's long-standing research partnership with the USC PRC will continue at least through 2014. On September 30, 2009, SCAL and the USC PRC began two new, five-year, community-based participatory research projects in Sumter County. These projects are in their formative stages. One of the projects is to create, implement, evaluate and replicate a community advocacy and leadership program (CALP) that will develop and enhance the skills of grassroots community leaders in underserved communities in Sumter County who are interested in and committed to improving the health and physical activity opportunities in their local communities. Within the five-year project timeline, CALP will be offered to communities across South Carolina.

The other project is a multi-level, tailored walking intervention for adults living in underserved communities in Sumter County to determine its effect on walking behavior and individual health outcomes. It will also explore the impact of the walking intervention on the social context for physical activity (that is, how the walking intervention might influence the physical activity levels of the participants' family members, friends, coworkers and neighbors).

The USC PRC receives funding for CALP and the walking intervention from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and, in turn, gives SCAL funds to carry out the project activities and help achieve our goals in the Sumter County community. From 1998-2005, the Sumter County Health Department-SC Department of Health and Environmental Control received funds from the USC PRC to support and house the SCAL executive director and executive assistant. Since 2006, the USC PRC has been providing funds to the Sumter County Recreation and Parks Department to be SCAL's supporting agency.

SCAL currently operates through three committees:

• Accessibility and Outreach focuses on assisting communities with limited resources in determining ways to improve and increase physical activity opportunities for their residents.
• Bike-Walk works on plans to make Sumter County's physical environment easier for people to be physically active by walking and bicycling (examples: more and improved sidewalks, bike lanes alongside roadways, parks and trails). It also hosts outdoor physical activity events throughout the year.
• Fund Development assists SCAL with raising funds that help support our mission as a nonprofit organization.

If you would like more information or want to join
Sumter County Active Lifestyles, please contact:
Linda Pekuri at (803) 774-3861 or lpekuri@sumtercountysc.org
OR
Catherine Blumberg at (803) 774-3860 or cblumberg@sumtercountysc.org

Members as of February 2010

Executive Director: Linda Pekuri
Sumter County Recreation & Parks Department