2026 State of Our Families

State of Our Families is Trident United Way’s signature annual gathering focused on the realities, challenges, and opportunities shaping families across the Tri-County region.

This event brings together business leaders, elected officials, educators, nonprofit partners, philanthropists, and community advocates for an honest and forward-looking conversation about what families in our region are experiencing—and what it will take to build a stronger future together.

Through powerful storytelling, local data, community insight, and meaningful dialogue, State of Our Families creates space to better understand the evolving needs of our workforce, neighborhoods, and economy while highlighting the collaborative solutions already making measurable impact across our community.

More than an event, this is a room filled with people who care deeply about the future of the Tri-County and are willing to help shape it.

Attendees can expect:

- Regional insight around workforce and family stability
- Opportunities to connect with business and civic leaders
- Meaningful conversations focused on impact and action
- A high-quality event experience designed to inform, engage, and inspire

Keynote Speaker: 

Brian Goldstone, Pulitzer Prize winning author of There Is No Place For Us

Journalist and anthropologist Brian Goldstone’s nonfiction debut There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America exposes the growing and troubling trend of “working homeless” in cities across America through the unforgettable stories of five Atlanta families.

Winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, one of The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2025 and a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, There Is No Place for Us is a “gripping, high-stakes account of America’s housing emergency” (Publisher’s Weekly) which follows parents and children sleeping in cars and squalid extended-stay hotel rooms in an increasingly unequal city where urban “revitalization” comes at the expense of its low-income residents.

THE BOOK, There Is No Place For Us, WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EVENT.

Panelists:

James Chatfield, Senior Vice President at Truist

Amy Stasiukaitis, Low Country Case & Millwork

Dr. Vicky Wood, President of Trident Technical College

Herbert Drayton, Founder and Managing Partner at HI MARK Capital

Patty Scarafile, retired CEO/President of Carolina One Real Estate and Board Chair at Tri-County Housing Futures Fund

Facilitator: Mike Tecosky, Pinnacle Financial Partners

Whether you are a long-time supporter or joining us for the first time, State of Our Families is an opportunity to be part of one of the region’s most important conversations.

Together, we can build stronger families, stronger workplaces, and a stronger community.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: