COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new hotel in Columbia is partnering with the University of South Carolina to offer opportunities for people with disabilities to enter the workforce.
The Lantern, a boutique hotel housed in what was once the historic Columbia Central Fire Station, opened earlier this year. Located at 1001 Senate Street with hopes of being “Columbia’s living room,” The Lantern Hotel has nearly 60 rooms between three interconnected buildings, complete with an upscale restaurant and bar.
The Raines Company, a developer, initially broke ground for construction in November 2024. The company is partnering with the University of South Carolina’s CarolinaLIFE program and the university’s college of hospitality for career development initiatives.
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CarolinaLIFE is an individualized program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities at USC. Students live on campus independently and participate in university academic instruction based on their interests and needs. They also receive career education and training, which offers opportunities for part-time employment and support.
Concepts for the partnership have been in the works for several years.
“It (was) within my first month of being here that we had our first meeting at what is now The Lantern Hotel,” said CarolinaLIFE Director Erica Milliron, who started at the university in 2023. “At the time it was still very much a closed-down Thai restaurant and an abandoned firehouse.”
The partnership mirrors The Shepherd Hotel in Clemson, which employs students participating in Clemson University’s ClemsonLIFE, a program similar to CarolinaLIFE. That hotel was created following a conversation between hospitality professional Rick Hayduk and Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, Milliron said.
Hayduk, who Milliron said has two children with Down syndrome, left The Shepherd to work with the Raines Company, which has plans for three more hotels with goals of being inclusive hiring spaces.
“Rick brought that mission to them,” Milliron said. The Lantern had about 100 positions open, and about 1,800 applications to fill those positions. CarolinaLIFE partners with the hotel, but anyone with a disability can work there. About 34% of the hotel’s workforce has a disability.
“You can run a four-star hotel that is top of the line, top of market, and still employ those individuals at a high rate,” Milliron said.
CarolinaLIFE students can choose to work at The Lantern, if it is something that interests them or if it matches their career goals, but it is entirely optional, Milliron said. About a third of the program is interested in pursuing a position there, and they can try out different jobs, from the concierge to housekeeping. CarolinaLIFE alumni are also currently working at The Lantern.
“You may or may not even know they are a CarolinaLIFE student,” Milliron said. “We don’t want them to necessarily be identified that way, because that’s the point. They’re just there as a Lantern employee, a teammate of the organization.”
Those with disabilities are compensated the same as any other employee, Milliron said.
“One in four people in South Carolina has a disability. It’s a minority group that you can join at any time,” Milliron said. “If we, as a society, aren’t planning to be inclusive in hiring practices, then we’re going to start really limiting what we are able to do with our businesses.”
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