KINGDOM ALLIANCE
ORANGEBURG:
WHERE TO ACTUALLY LOOK.
A resource page, not a program brochure. Ben Lovro served five years. He is a few years ahead of this walk, not above it.
For the first-ninety-days walkthrough, see the Orangeburg coming-home guide.
The logistics of Orangeburg County
The city has fixed-route bus service, but the county is large and deeply rural, so where someone lands determines almost everything about how workable the situation is. Hiring runs to manufacturing shifts, food processing, agricultural work, warehousing and healthcare support. The technical college here runs short-term credentials that local plants genuinely recognize, and that is the most direct path from an entry wage to a living one.
The interstate between Columbia and Charleston runs through the county, there is fixed-route bus service in the city, and many workers drive in twenty to forty minutes from the small towns spread across the county.
None of that is a judgment about anybody. It is a logistics problem, and logistics problems have solutions if you know the terrain before you start.
The context, honestly
South Carolina's recidivism rate was 18% in 2019 — tied for third lowest in the nation, down from 31% in 2008 — according to figures published by the state's workforce and corrections agencies. Confirm the current figure before quoting it anywhere.
That is encouraging and it is not a promise about anyone. What it suggests is that the people who do not go back generally have three things: somewhere stable to sleep, income within the first couple of months, and at least one person paying genuine attention.
None of those three is out of reach and none of them is luck. They are the things worth building first, because they are what the numbers keep pointing at.
The two universities set the civic calendar, homecoming weekends reorganize the whole city, and the churches and the gardens along the river hold the rest. Local history here is remembered precisely, not vaguely.
Kingdom Alliance is Ben Lovro’s service work and Second Chance Kings sits under it. Neither is affiliated with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, which runs its own separately-named Second Chance Program, or with any other state agency.
This is one piece of a bigger picture; Ben Lovro's main site has the rest.
The realistic first job here
The first job is a bridge, not a verdict, and it helps to know in advance what kind of bridge this place offers.
Orangeburg is a manufacturing and university town in an agricultural county. Industry on the interstate corridor, two universities and row crop and timber farming are the three legs it stands on. The sectors that dominate here are manufacturing, higher education, agriculture and timber, healthcare and logistics, and entry-level hiring tends to follow them. South Carolina State University and Claflin University, the regional hospital, and a substantial industrial base including outdoor power equipment, aerospace components and specialty plastics manufacturing.
Orangeburg has one of the strongest concentrations of Black-owned business in the state, built up over generations around the universities. Retail, funeral homes, restaurants, insurance, trades and professional practices, much of it multi-generational. Smaller employers are often the ones who will actually sit with a candidate and hear the whole answer, because the decision is not being made by a screening system.
Two universities sit directly across the street from one another. That is unusual anywhere, and it means a city of this size carries an academic and cultural infrastructure well beyond its population.
The list worth keeping
Program details change. Call and confirm rather than trusting any website, this one included.
- SC Works centers. Run by the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. Job search help, interview practice and skills training, including services delivered to people still incarcerated.
- 211. The statewide United Way referral line — food, transportation, utilities and housing, by county.
- South Carolina Legal Services and the SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center for civil legal questions and plain-language guides.
- The Solicitor's office serving Orangeburg County for expungement applications on anything other than a non-conviction in Magistrate or Municipal Court.
- SC Probation, Parole and Pardon Services for supervision and pardon questions.
- 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; 911 if anyone is in immediate danger.
County records for this area are handled at Orangeburg County Courthouse, 190 Gibson St, Orangeburg, SC 29115.
Expungement and pardons
Expungement
The record is destroyed. Once it is done, the offense no longer shows up on a background check. It is available only for certain charges and certain convictions.
- Possibly eligible: dismissed charges, not-guilty verdicts, charges that ended through diversion, certain first-offense misdemeanors, and some drug possession convictions.
- Generally not: traffic convictions and fish-and-wildlife convictions.
- Timing: waits run from about one year up to twenty, counted once the sentence is finished, probation and parole included.
- Where: through the court itself for a non-conviction out of Magistrate or Municipal Court; through the Solicitor's office in the county where the charge or conviction occurred for everything else.
- Cost: published fees have been $250 to the Solicitor, $35 to the Clerk of Court and $25 to SLED. They vary by type, and some types are exempt.
Pardon
A different remedy entirely. The conviction stays on the record, marked as pardoned. Applications go to SC Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, and the decision is discretionary though the door is wider.
This is not legal advice. Records are specific and these rules are not intuitive. Take yours to the Solicitor's office, to South Carolina Legal Services, or to your own attorney.
The employer side of this
A split workforce. Industrial parks run shift schedules and hire through the technical college pipeline, while the university sector employs a credentialed professional class, and the two rarely trade people.
- Federal Bonding Program. Free fidelity bonds of $5,000, issued to employers who hire people considered high-risk to place. It is insurance against employee dishonesty and it costs the employer nothing. In South Carolina the contact is FederalBonding@dew.sc.gov.
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit. A federal tax credit worth up to $2,400 when an employer hires someone formerly incarcerated. South Carolina handles it at WOTC@dew.sc.gov.
- Check before relying on either. Terms change. DEW is the source, not a website.
- Neither one hires anybody. They remove a reason to say no. They do not make the case.
The case is commercial and it is short. A person who has come through this and means to stay out of it is frequently the most motivated applicant an employer will see.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Is there a reentry program in Orangeburg?
Second Chance Kings is Ben Lovro's work under Kingdom Alliance. It is not a government program or a facility. The agencies listed above are where formal services live — start with SC Works and 211.
Do I have to be religious to get help?
No. Ben's faith is his own and it is why he does this. Nobody has to share it, agree with it, or attend anything to be treated decently.
What is hardest about coming home to Orangeburg specifically?
The city has fixed-route bus service, but the county is large and deeply rural, so where someone lands determines almost everything about how workable the situation is. Hiring runs to manufacturing shifts, food processing, agricultural work, warehousing and healthcare support. The technical college here runs short-term credentials that local plants genuinely recognize, and that is the most direct path from an entry wage to a living one.
Where do I apply for expungement in Orangeburg County?
For a non-conviction in Magistrate or Municipal Court, through that court. For everything else, through the Solicitor's office in the county where the charge or conviction occurred.
I am an employer — what is my actual liability?
A question for your own attorney and insurer. The Federal Bonding Program exists specifically to address dishonesty exposure; ask DEW about bonding and WOTC eligibility before assuming anything either way.
How can my church or business help?
Consistency beats intensity. A standing ride, a skill taught, interview practice, or one job opened up is worth more than an event. Unreliable help is worse than none, so offer only what you can keep up.
Make your next move
A year from now, what will you be glad you started today?
You don't need another promise that everything will be easy. You need something useful to learn — and a next step you're willing to take.