IACH explains key components of outreach programs

Furman’s Institute for the Advancement of Community Health (IACH) has posted explainers on its community health education programs and the Upstate Medical Legal Partnership.

In “Health Happens Here: How Furman is Bringing Community Health Education to People,” IACH lays out the multiple ways the group is laying a foundation for wellness across the community. The group hosts “Community Health Conversations,” a quarterly series that convenes Furman faculty researchers, health care partners and nonprofit leaders. The conversations, now in their second year, address topics like housing, social connection, and economic mobility, with an emphasis on building community resilience.  Free and open to the public, the series culminates in an annual conference, “Building Better Tomorrows.”

Adding to the educational offerings, IACH hosts “The Community Health Exchange,” a podcast intended for anyone curious about local health.

For those who want to dive deeper, IACH offers an online series of free, credentialed courses in community health that are particularly relevant to community members, social workers, community health workers, nurses and physicians.

When health challenges go beyond the walls of a doctor’s office and seep into the legal sphere, the Upstate Medical-Legal Partnership stands in the gap. Furman’s IACH is a key component of UMLP, which also includes Prisma Health and South Carolina Legal Services. Now beginning its second decade, the UMLP is the first alliance of its kind in the state. It brings together health care providers and legal professionals to help patients whose health is being harmed by civil legal problems such as housing instability, denial of benefits, unsafe living conditions and other issues that shape health outcomes.

In July 2025, IACH received a two-year grant from the South Carolina Bar Foundation to support three areas of growth: expanding community access, strengthening evaluation efforts and measuring the broader value of the work. Learn more in “Where Health and Justice Meet: Expanding the Impact of the Medical-Legal Partnership.”