SC State joins national GirlTREK health movement for Black women

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – South Carolina State University has established a new campus organization affiliated with GirlTREK, a national movement dedicated to empowering Black women toward better health.

SC State will kick off GirlTREK on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in the Presidents State Room beginning at 6 p.m. Women in the campus community are encouraged to attend. South Carolina State Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter will be the guest speaker.

The campus affiliate organization’s advisors are Dr. Dior Konate, professor of history; Sarah Priester, an instructor of English and communications; and Cathi Mack, assistant to the dean, coordinator of technical services and instructor at the Miller F. Whittaker Library.

GirlTREK’s mission is “health justice.”

“Energized by the discipline of daily walking, we will collectively organize to shift policy, change systems and — at scale — solve the seemingly intractable problems facing our daughters,” GirlTEK’s website states. “We will not ask permission to save our own lives.”

GirlTREK’s 5-point health justice plan

1. Disrupt disease. “We will mobilize millions to walk, talk, and solve problems together. Black women are the best caregivers in the world. Rather than hemorrhaging care to others, GirlTREK will mobilize its members to scale ‘care to the caregivers’ and to serve Black communities through traditional on-the-ground direct action each Saturday that addresses the root causes of disease. You will find GirlTREK field staff and members leading wellness walks at prisons, volunteering at domestic abuse shelters, serving as foster parents, delivering mental health first aid, and harvesting urban gardens.”
2. Mobilize political power. “GirlTREK members will become super-voters in every election—from local school boards to US president.  We will vote and we will mobilize our communities to vote.  We will canvass our neighborhoods, register new voters, lead walks to the polls and volunteer as pollsters.:
3. Safeguard Black culture. “Our stories hold our solutions. GirlTREK members will work together to map and protect Black history, culture, and sites of significance worldwide through direct service, preservation grants, historic walking tours and “on-the-trail” education for every age demographic. We will plot points of significance, stand up monuments, rename streets, trails and parks, care for historic sites, and lend woman-power to any organization preserving Black culture.”
4. Build new economies and fight for labor rights. “Physical inactivity is a labor issue. GirlTREK will protect black bodies and labor.  Black women are exhausted. We are being exploited by our jobs and paid pennies on the white man’s dollar.  In the footsteps of A. Phillip Randolph and many great labor organizers, GirlTREK will disrupt economies by training and unionizing frontline public health workers.  We are committed to protecting Black bodies and labor rights.  GirlTREK will start by building an online university that develops a new workforce of its members to secure and serve in wage-earning, frontline jobs. Then, at scale, will advocate for fair pay, workers’ rights, and unleash our own capital pipelines to employ Black women on the frontlines of a wellness revolution.”
5. Protect our planet. “Climate change is the biggest threat to Black women on the planet. From sea-level rise to devastating drought, our very way of life and cultural connection to the Earth is threatened. GirlTREK will fight for environmental justice. We will amplify real solutions from our foremothers, the oldest caretakers of the planet. We will start in our own backyards. We will plant gardens, track the reduction in our members’ carbon footprints from walking instead of driving, organize collective action for conservation, host hikes to reconnect with and care for nature, and serve on delegations to learn, promote and support sustainability practices across the diaspora.” 

More information about GirlTREK is available at www.girltrek.org.

About South Carolina State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter

Cobb-Hunter was the first African American woman in Orangeburg County elected to a statewide office as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.

She became the first freshman appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee, on which she is ranking member and 1st vice chair. She also is a member of the Joint Bond Review Committee.

Cobb-Hunter became the first person of color, male or female, to lead a legislative caucus when elected House Minority Leader. She is the longest serving Representative in the House ranked first among 124 members. Widely respected on both sides of the aisle Cobb-Hunter has been dubbed “the conscience of the House.”

As vice-chair of the African American History Monument Commission, Cobb-Hunter led the historic effort to build the first monument to African Americans on the grounds of any state capitol. For 20 years, she represented South Carolina as the National Committeewoman to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), became a member of the DNC’s Executive Committee and served as chair of the DNC’s Southern Regional Caucus, the first woman of color elected to that position. 

Cobb-Hunter is a former president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) and a former member of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Executive Committee.  She has been honored for her legislative leadership by numerous organizations and is sought out by many for her sage advice and strategic thinking.  

Cobb-Hunter is the chief executive officer of CASA/Family Systems, a family violence agency serving Orangeburg, Bamberg and Calhoun counties. She has spent most of her adult life working at the state and national level advocating for marginalized communities and families.

A native of Gifford, Florida, Cobb-Hunter holds a Bachelor of Science in Afro-American history from Florida A&M University and a Master of Arts in American history from Florida State University. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker. She received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Medical University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston and Francis Marion University. She is a recipient of the David Wilkins Legislative Leadership Award from the Riley Institute at Furman University.  Cobb-Hunter is one of the 12 African Americans named as a South Carolina 2021 African American History Calendar honoree.

She was named 2022 Person of the Year by the Times and Democrat newspaper in recognition of her legislative advocacy in creating a partnership between the Medical University of South Carolina and the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg that saved the local hospital.

She is married to Dr. Terry K. Hunter, executive director of the Fine Arts Cultural Enrichment Teaching Studios (FACETS), and they reside in Orangeburg.