April 19, 2001 — The Eau Claire community in north Columbia is getting some national exposure for its revitalization efforts.

The community and 11 others across the United States are the subject of a national documentary project by Duke University and the University of Arizona that explores community life. Eau Claire is the only South Carolina community included in the project, "Indivisible: Stories of American Community."

Nationally renowned photographers and oral historians spent a couple of weeks in each area, recording residents' stories and taking photographs to show their community involvement. The point wasn't to find 12 model communities, said Tom Rankin, a co-director for the project.

"We were looking for communities that showed vitality and uniqueness in solving community problems," he said. "We wanted to profile people who came together of their own accord."

Rankin said organizers chose the north Columbia community of about 30,000 because of its religious-based efforts and also because people of different races were working together.

Eau Claire residents say it's odd to have a brush with fame.

"It's a strange thing to be trailed by a photographer for a couple of days," said the Rev. Wiley Cooper, who was photographed talking to a group of children at his church, College Place Methodist Church. "But one of the things this project has done is to enhance our sense of pride in the community and its health."

Cooper also serves as co-chairman of the Eau Claire Community of Shalom. The faith-based group has members from a variety of religious backgrounds who work to enhance Eau Claire.

Shalom members have helped to restore residents' homes that were in disrepair and to sponsor summer programs for Eau Claire's youth.

The Shalom group is also pleased that more prospective home buyers are seeing the area as a good place to live.

Rhett Anders, a real estate agent and president of the Eau Claire Community Council, said school test scores, crime statistics and perceived crime have been marks on Eau Claire's image for several years.

But Anders, who is also featured in the exhibit, and other members of the community council work to fight false stereotypes of Eau Claire.

The group has also worked to bring physical change to the area, including the renovation of the "town hall" building in 1998.

Eau Claire has undergone quite a bit of change since its beginnings as a predominately white, middle class community.

The 1960s brought a racial shift as many African-Americans moved out of Columbia's core and into Eau Claire. Meanwhile, many whites moved to the growing suburbs of the Midlands.

Today, both blacks and whites are moving into the community. Its residents describe it as a picture of diversity, with people of different colors and faiths working together to bring about positive change.

Part of the community's history and its regrowth is told in the Indivisible project through photographs by Eli Reed, a renowned photojournalist and author. Interviews were conducted by George King, a writer and producer of nonfiction projects in radio, film, theater, and television.

The photographs and quotes from Eau Claire residents are included on the project's Web site, www.indivisible.org, as well as in a book, "Local Heroes Changing America" and a traveling post card exhibit and museum exhibit.

The postcard exhibit will be open at the Eau Claire Print Building until April 27. It will reopen April 30 in the grand foyer of the Breed Leadership Center at Columbia College and run through May 18.

Last week, visitors picked up free post cards of the exhibit's photographs at an opening reception for the exhibit in Eau Claire. There was also an interactive component in which visitors could record their own stories of community involvement and hear the stories of people from other places across the nation.

One participant, Edith Miller, a 30-year resident of Eau Claire, said there's just one word to describe the exhibit.

"Fantastic," she said with a big smile. "It makes you proud to see where we are and how far we've come."

And this isn't the end of the project.

Duke University will teach Eau Claire students how to take photos and document events in the community. Residents hope to start the new program in the fall.

"There's a gift to the whole country that says individuals who care can make a difference, can change things," Cooper said. "This is a marvelous microcosm of American here. It's a treasure. It's probably the most diverse area in the Midlands, and it's beginning to be appreciated for that."