Spartanburg Educators for Empowered Communities

SEEC consists of educators who believe that education can and should lead to engaged citizenship for a more just and sustainable world. We are positioned in a rapidly developing Upstate South Carolina area in the heart of the modern “New South”—the first “Global South.” Within this context:

• We see the dire need for social change in an area where industrial exploitation and environmental degradation, landlessness, a history of union busting, a continued legacy of racial injustice, religious intolerance, and other forms of economic and social oppression have worked to hinder the development of true community.

• We believe that true education liberates, empowers, and motivates individuals and communities to act upon injustice.

• We affirm the belief that strong communities are crucial to strengthening the rights of individuals and creating a just world.

• We believe that local efforts to affect change must work in alliance with global social justice and environmental sustainability movements, and that educational models for social and environmental change can help make this happen most effectively.

SEEC’s Mission and Model

SEEC’s mission is to bring educators, students, and communities together to affect social change in Spartanburg County, SC.  By taking educators and students from abstract academic concepts to local social realities, we hope to transform education so that it serves as a medium for building community.  As educators, we hope to introduce progressive curriculum and co-curricular models that equip learners with social awareness and tools for action. As organizers, we help build communities’ capacity to become active stakeholders in changes that will affect them. We hope to build a common ground on which all people can share their knowledge and perspectives to create a better Spartanburg.

Our Current Situation

SEEC changed its strategy in May 2009 from working primarily with educators and students to working directly with community members. We work primarily in the community of Glendale, a small textile village located on the outskirts of the City of Spartanburg. SEEC’s basic goal is to help the unincorporated village form into a more powerful organization that can participate equally in the decisions that are affecting it.

A first step towards this goal was achieved on March 14, 2010 with the formation of Glendale Community Action, a citizens group formed by Glendale residents. Please see press release on main page for more information.

SEEC staff consists of Lindy Bunch and Allyn Steele.

Lindy Bunch

Lindy is the lead organizer for the SEEC’s work in the community of Glendale and manages much of SEEC’s operational affairs.

Allyn Steele

Allyn functions primarily as SEEC’s lead educator for SEEC’s work in institutions of learning and oversees Board development and long-term planning.

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