The Cooperative Ministry (TCM) was founded in 1982 and became a 501(3)(c) in 1986. In 1982 TCM's emphasis was providing direct assistance to low-income people in economic crisis in Columbia, South Carolina. Since 1982, this emphasis has changed to the broader mission of improving the quality of life for the needy. The geographic area has expanded to the Midlands of South Carolina including urban and rural areas in four counties. TCM has become a recognized leader, coordinator and facilitator among the helping agencies, the business community, the public and the religious community.

The purpose of TCM has always been to help people help themselves, not to foster dependency. As times have changed this purpose has had to expand as TCM realized that helping someone help themselves includes giving people the opportunity and needed resources to increase their capabilities and knowledge. In order to become economically independent, people have to have the necessary tools to work. These tools include:

• emergency financial assistance,
• counseling to prevent crisis situations in the future,
• transportation to get and keep jobs,
• emotional support for families without any support structure, and
• material goods such as clothing and furniture to start over.

At TCM, an integral part of this help is matching the needs of people who can donate goods, services and other help with the needs of low income people in crisis, to provide an holistic approach to facilitating independence.

• Emergency Assistance - provides financial assistance, food vouchers, information and referrals, job and budget counseling to people in crisis. In 1995, 3,920 unduplicated households were served, from the chronically homeless man on the street to middle class families experiencing unemployment.
• Project Independence - matches low-income families with committed volunteer groups for one year to work together on the family's long and short-term goals for economic self-sufficiency. This is a structured program with responsibilities and specific duties for both the family and the sponsoring group, which provides a mentoring relationship, not material goods. There are nine families in the program at the current time.
• The C.A.R. Program accepts cars in good working condition and gives them to people who need transportation to get or keep a job. Recipients are well screened and must complete a three hour course covering preventative auto maintenance and budgeting. The program has received a grant to explore the feasibility of developing a small subsidized loan program with strong educational components. In the last four years 180 cars have been given to families.
• Clothing/Furniture Bank - acts as a centralized collection and distribution center providing clothing to over 100 agencies for their clients. The Bank also furnishes homes for the clients of these agencies who are transitioning from homelessness. In 1995, over 155,000 articles of clothing were distributed to individual families or to stock clothing closets for other agencies; 45 homes were furnished.
• Computer Clearinghouse - In 1995 the Bank began a computer clearinghouse to collect, repair and distribute donated computers to other agencies for tutoring programs and to increase their ability to serve their clients.