HOPKINS, S.C. — Robert Reese has called Hopkins home for as long as he can remember.
"Went away to [Morehouse College] thinking I was going to find something better than Hopkins," Reese said, "but what I realized was that growing up in this neighborhood, growing up in this community, was the best thing that ever happened to me."
He now joins a group of state and local leaders working with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to protect Columbia's Lower Richland Community.
DHEC received a grant from the federal government for environmental justice projects that benefit low-income and minority communities in South Carolina.
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The $200,000 grant will go toward helping the neighborhood prepare to respond to and recover from disasters like hurricanes, floods, chemical releases, and pandemics.
Keisha Long presented the news to Lower Richland residents by Zoom Thursday.
"What do you do, and who's in charge, and what are the plans?" Long said. "The intent of this project is to have that partnership and collaboration so everybody's seeing from the same page."
Reese advocated for the study to come to Lower Richland after it was conducted in North Charleston.
"...because we have the potential for manmade disasters," Reese said. "We've got military installations in our community, and we've got the propensity for natural disasters, flooding, earthquakes, and we know hurricanes, it was important for me to then have our community be one of the ones in which we could do some disaster planning."
The study will be conducted on Nov. 4 and 5.
"We all have a stake in risk reduction measures," Long said. "The intent is to have this process, take it, and have it used throughout the country."
Lower Richland residents interested in participating in the study can contact Reese at 803-312-3086.