Golden LEAF announces $5.4M in funding at October meeting | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    ROCKY MOUNT, N.C., (October 6, 2022) - Today, the Golden LEAF Board of Directors awarded $443,000 in funding to support projects through the Open Grants Program. The Golden LEAF Board approved $3,119,660 in funding for the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority to administer the Golden LEAF Colleges and University Scholarship. The Golden LEAF Board also awarded $1,869,760 in funding for projects through the Flood Mitigation Program.

    At the meeting, the Board received a report on the activities of Golden LEAF over the past fiscal year.

    "The Board was pleased to hear how the job creation and economic investment awards made last year are expected to create at least 9,712 jobs and a capital investment of more than $5.6 billion over the next several years," said Don Flow, Golden LEAF Board Chair. "These extraordinary projections are the result of decades of economic development planning and substantial investments in both infrastructure and workforce preparedness. North Carolina is reaping the outcomes of this strategic and collaborative long-term approach."

    The Golden LEAF Board awarded $443,000 in the Open Grants Program to Johnston Community College Foundation to purchase two trucks and a simulator to support the expansion of the college's current Truck Driver Training program. The expansion will allow the college to grow its annual enrollment of 185 to 241 and to also enroll 30 incumbent workers in new continuing education courses and 20 high school students through a new CTE Pathway through the Career and College Promise program.

    Additionally, the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority was awarded $3,119,660 by the Golden LEAF Board to administer the Golden LEAF Colleges and University Scholarship. This award will support 215 new scholarships and 635 renewal scholarships. Golden LEAF scholarship recipients are eligible for up to $3,500 per year.

    "The Golden LEAF Scholarship improves access to education and workforce training to support the long-term economic advancement of our state," said Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer Scott T. Hamilton. "These scholarships provide opportunities for students from rural North Carolina to attend our state's four-year colleges and universities to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to help build the economy."

    The Golden LEAF Foundation was appropriated $25 million from the State of North Carolina for a Flood Mitigation Program. The Flood Mitigation Program will award funding up to $250,000 per project. Funds may only be awarded to units of local government.

    The Golden LEAF Board awarded $1,867,760 in funding to nine projects through the Flood Mitigation Program in Buncombe, Burke, Chatham, Craven, Dare, Forsyth, Johnston, Robeson, and Stanly counties.

  • $250,000 to the City of Albemarle for a watershed study for the Little Long Creek 2 sub-basin as part of development of a watershed master plan and implementation strategy.
  • $150,000 to the City of Asheville to evaluate identified strategies to mitigate flooding and reduce flood damage, update the Structure Inventory Database, develop a conceptual plan and feasibility analysis, and establish cost estimates for the floodplain modifications.
  • $250,000 to the County of Dare to upsize pipes downstream of and to reconfigure ditches, culverts, and pipes affecting the Roanoke Colony neighborhood to improve drainage and mitigate flooding in and upstream of the neighborhood.
  • $250,000 to the Town of Kernersville to replace the damaged culvert at the crossing on Thomas Drake Court, to avert failure that could cause sinkhole development, loss of the road, and area flooding.
  • $122,500 to the Town of Maxton to develop a stormwater assessment and plan for the eastern half of the town, to identify then address flooding caused by damage to stormwater infrastructure.
  • $250,000 to the City of Morganton to implement a plan to restore a section of East Prong Hunting Creek and perform related infrastructure activities to mitigate flooding in the highly utilized Bethel Park.
  • $249,760 to the City of New Bern to modify an existing stormwater pump to better mitigate against larger storm events and lower the water levels in the Duffyfield community of New Bern. The city will also clean excess sediment from the entrance to the pump station and replace nearby culverts.
  • $137,500 to the Town of Selma to develop a stormwater master plan for Selma's eastern quadrant that experiences flooding during heavy, non-named rain events.
  • $210,000 to the Town of Siler City for data collection and watershed modeling to identify priority projects for flood and stormwater mitigation that addresses flooding along Loves Creek Tributary 2 several times a year during heavy rain events.

    Since 1999, Golden LEAF has funded 2,039 projects totaling $1.2 billion supporting the mission of advancing economic opportunity in North Carolina's rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities.

    About Golden LEAF

    The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina's funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers. For more than 20 years, Golden LEAF has worked to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina's rural and tobacco-dependent communities through leadership in grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation.

    The Foundation has provided lasting impact to tobacco-dependent, economically distressed, and rural areas of the state by helping create 67,000 jobs, more than $720 million in new payrolls, and more than 95,000 workers trained or retrained for higher wages.

    For more information about Golden LEAF and our programs, please visit our website at www.goldenleaf.org.
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