Low-income families with children whose health is adversely affected by substandard housing and food insecurity now have a new resource to help them.
USC Upstate officially launched the CHAMPS Beatty Center Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) on Jan. 29. A celebration was held at the George Dean Johnson Jr. School of Business and Economics.
Three organizations – USC School of Law’s Carolina Health Advocacy Medicolegal Partnership (CHAMPS), USC Upstate’s Beatty Center for Justice and Society, and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System – will collaborate on improving the well-being of Spartanburg-area families by bridging the gap between medical and legal needs. The partnership was made possible by a $1.35 million grant from The Duke Endowment.
William C. Hubbard, dean of the USC School of Law, said that about 90% of Americans’ unmet legal needs pertain to housing, food, and other basic necessities. South Carolina isn’t an exception to that statistic, he said, but the state is addressing these needs in an exceptional way. The new medical-legal partnership is the first in the nation to reach all campuses of a university system, bringing the total number of counties served to 33 out of 46.
Emily Suski, the director of CHAMPS, highlighted some of the victories CHAMPS has achieved for families. In one case, a family was able to bring an infant home from the NICU after CHAMPS helped them get the electrical infrastructure they needed to support the baby’s medical equipment.
Beyond the assistance it provides, the partnership is an innovative way to prepare USC Upstate students for community service in their careers, said Allison Ellis, director of the Beatty Center. “At its core, the center is about experience — giving students opportunities to engage with real people, real systems, and real challenges in ways that matter,” Ellis said.
Such experiences shaped the career of the center’s namesake, retired South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald W. Beatty. At the event, Beatty spoke of the public service work he did while attending law school in Columbia. He volunteered at the Columbia Legal Services Office and did legal services work back home in Spartanburg over the summer.
Many of his cases involved medical needs related to external factors, which inspired him to pursue public interest law. “To launch the MLP here, in the Beatty Center … It brings my life full circle back to a very meaningful chapter in my life,” he said.
USC Upstate Chancellor Bennie L. Harris said the CHAMPS Beatty Center partnership “stands at the cutting edge of how we think about health, justice, and community well-being.” Through its work, “barriers that have long stood between families and stability will be dismantled.”
The CHAMPS Beatty Center is located on the third floor of the George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics. Contact Dr. Allison Ellis for more information.
Find more photos on our Flickr album.
Photography by: Terry Manning, Multimedia Content Producer
Story by: Samuel Hermanson, UMC Spring 2026 Intern
Edited By: Elizabeth Anderson, Director of Integrated Communications and Christina Cleveland, Digital Content Coordinator