Media Relations

Jenny Tinklepaugh
jtinklepaugh@goldenleaf.org
888-684-8404

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Press Release

Golden LEAF News - December 2011

Happy New Year!

In 2011, Golden LEAF awarded 127 grants totaling more than $46 million to support projects across North Carolina. Grants were awarded under the following programs: Economic Catalyst - 11 grants totaling $12.2 million, Open Grants Program - 49 grants totaling $6.1 million, Community Assistance Initiative – 35 grants totaling $13.5 million, Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Initiative – 15 grants totaling $5.3 million, Rural Hope – 8 grants totaling $1.7 million, and Golden LEAF Scholarships – 5 grants totaling $4.6 million with over 7,800 scholarships being awarded to North Carolina students. To learn more about Golden LEAF’s grant programs, visit http://www.goldenleaf.org/seekers.html.  

In this edition of "Golden LEAF News," read about job creation in Craven, Burke, Rockingham, and Gates counties. See an announcement about Wayne Community College Golden LEAF Scholarship recipients, and learn more about Golden LEAF scholarship opportunities for students from rural N.C. counties to attend many of the state’s post-secondary institutions. Learn more about a $15 million federal grant to support early college high schools in the state and a new tool developed to support the advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for N.C. schools. Also, read about workforce development projects in Cumberland and Robeson counties, broadband infrastructure progress in eastern and western N.C. and tourism projects in Burke and Swain counties. Finally, see how the Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative process is working in Beaufort and McDowell counties.

Best,

Jenny Tinklepaugh
Program/ Communications Officer
jtinklepaugh@goldenleaf.org
www.goldenleaf.org

In this edition of "Golden LEAF News":

New Bern appliance maker to add 100 jobs
WRAL
The Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group will add 100 jobs at its growing complex in New Bern over the next four years. The company plans to start a new dishwasher line at the plant. It also recently opened a customer service call center in New Bern, where 30 factory-trained representatives provide assistance to customers across North America. A grant from Golden LEAF, an economic development foundation, to Craven Community College will be used to purchase equipment that will train BSH employees, as well as employees of other industries in Craven and surrounding counties.

Apply now for Golden LEAF Scholarships
The Courier-Tribune
Information and applications for the 2012-13 Golden LEAF scholarship program are now available online at CFNC.org/goldenleaf. A total of 215 awards will be offered to first-time recipients to assist with tuition for the 2012-13 academic year. The application deadline is March 1, 2012. The awards are valued at $3,000 per year for up to four years for a total of $12,000 for students attending a qualifying North Carolina college or university and are funded by a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation. Golden LEAF also offers scholarships for students to attend participating N.C. community colleges. Details are posted at CFNC.org/goldenleaf. Contact the financial aid office at your local community college for more information about scholarship availability, application details and deadlines.

WCC Students Awarded Golden LEAF Scholarships
InsuranceNews.net
Sixteen students from Wayne Community College have been selected to receive fall semester scholarships through the Golden LEAF Scholarship program for the North Carolina Community College System. The Golden LEAF Scholarship program, which is designed to help North Carolinians attend the state's community colleges, is funded through a $750,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, an increase of $250,000 from previous years. To find a list of participating community colleges and eligible counties, visit www.nccommunitycolleges.edu or www.goldenleaf.org. Students interested in applying for a Golden LEAF Scholarship for spring or summer semesters should contact their community college’s financial aid office.

Tobacco funds education
Washington Daily News
Community leaders have been wrestling with a process: nailing down the recipients of $2 million in grant money set aside for Beaufort County by the Golden LEAF Foundation’s Community Assistance Initiative. Now the Golden LEAF Foundation has announced there is more assistance to be had for residents of Tier 1 counties across the state—scholarships. The Golden LEAF Foundation has awarded over $21 million to help 7,859 students from rural North Carolina attend the state’s public and private colleges and universities. Scholarships are also available to students planning to enroll at participating community colleges - up to $750 per semester, which includes summer sessions, for degree-seeking students, and up to $250 per semester for occupational education students. More information about Golden LEAF Scholars Programs and applications can be found at www.cfnc.org/goldenleaf.

Jobs announced throughout year
Morganton News Herald
Burke Business Loan Program awarded $250,000 in loans to Burke County businesses. Valdese Economic Development Investment Corporation (VEDIC) launched BBLP December 2010 with a Golden LEAF grant. It continues to administer the program with the help of local agencies. BBLP assists small businesses in the county by providing access to a flexible source of capital. The program aims to help the county by creating or retaining jobs, increasing economic opportunity, strengthening the business sector and creating partnerships with local commercial banks and other private sector lenders and investors. Twelve businesses across the county received loans ranging from $10,000 to $35,000 and expect to create 65 full-time jobs and 37 part-time jobs. Gov. Bev Perdue recognized VEDIC in November for its efforts to create jobs with one of nine inaugural Governor’s Innovative Small Business Community Awards.

NC New Schools Project gets pledges for $15M grant
Rocky Mount Telegram
The North Carolina New Schools Project announced Thursday it had secured enough pledges over the past month to get a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the federal Investing in Innovation grant competition. N.C. education advocates raised $1.5 million in outside money so the program can get 10 times that amount from the federal government. The Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit created by the Legislature that manages half of the state's expected share of the national tobacco settlement pledged the largest single amount at $500,000. The five-year grant seeks to build upon the 74 "early college" high schools already in the state. These campuses — often small and with a technology-themed curriculum — give students the ability to graduate with two years of college and a high school diploma in five years.

NC STEM Releases New Tool
NC Tech News
A free downloadable rubric has been developed to help schools in North Carolina determine the steps needed to develop quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. This rubric was developed by N.C. State University’s Friday Institute for Educational Innovation in collaboration with the NC STEM Community Collaborative and N.C. Department of Public Instruction, as a part of the Golden LEAF Foundation’s STEM Initiative. All districts and schools will have access to the tool. The Golden LEAF Foundation funded the development of the rubric. The STEM rubric can be downloaded by clicking here.

Cancer center adds planning step
Greensboro News & Record
Cancer patients in and around Eden will no longer have to make the 35-mile drive to Greensboro for radiation therapy planning. The final component for a complete cancer treatment program is being put in place at Morehead Memorial Hospital, thanks in part to a $100,000 Rural Hope grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation. With the services centralized, the patient will be able to start treatment sooner. The Golden LEAF-funded project will increase revenues for the hospital and result in the creation of four jobs.

Meeting to wrap up plans for Ellerbe sewer line
Richmond County Daily Journal
The Ellerbe-Rockingham-Richmond County Wastewater Regionalization Project is an endeavor to retire Ellerbe’s outdated lagoon treatment system and expand a sewer line from Ellerbe to Rockingham along Highway 220. Rockingham is prepared to take on the extra influx of sewage, and the sewer line expansion to allow for more development along Highway 220. The Golden LEAF Foundation awarded a $1 million Community Assistance Initiative grant to support the project.

Grant process shifting
Washington Daily News
The Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative is currently being implemented in Beaufort County. On Oct. 11, community leaders gathered to discuss the ultimate dispensation of $2 million in Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative grants. They arrived with projects in mind and left knowing identifying the key issues facing Beaufort County residents would require thoughtful input from everyone attending the set of public meetings. At the second meeting, attendees suggested solving unemployment, attracting more people to the area, better educating Beaufort County students, improved mental-health services with the grant funds. At the third meeting, a community-wide consensus was formed that the issues affecting the county fell under these categories: economic development and infrastructure, education and workforce training and health and wellness. On January 12, the community will create a list of goals they believe will best serve the county and start thinking about individual projects to serve these goals.

Editorial: Weekly Wrap - These grants mean jobs; no smoking at hospitals
Fayetteville Observer
The Golden LEAF Foundation has awarded two grants totaling more than $750,000 that will help schools in Cumberland County train the tech-savvy employees of the future. The foundation, which disburses funds from the national tobacco settlement, gave Cumberland County schools $300,000 to run the Project Lead the Way Gateway to Technology program at seven middle schools. The program develops science, technology, engineering and math skills - exactly what American employers need. The second grant - $463,000 to Fayetteville Technical Community College - will establish an airframe and power plant certification program for former service members, to train them for work at Fort Bragg and in the private sector. Both grants are certain to pay big dividends in our community.

Golden LEAF grant awarded
Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald
In December, the Golden LEAF Foundation awarded Gates County a $200,000 grant for a wastewater project along US 158. Golden LEAF provided $60,000 in funding through the Community Assistance Initiative to conduct a wastewater feasibility study. The wastewater expansion project is expected to cost between $2.5 and $3 million. The purpose of the grant is to support construction of public sewer infrastructure that will serve a new commercial development located along US 158. Two companies have committed to locate in the park and create 70 jobs if the sewer is available.

Asheville area getting more fiber for Internet access
Asheville Citizen-Times
Economic developers can ease the way to better broadband access for businesses and rural customers by finding the gaps in their communities that commercial providers can profitably serve. Work is set to begin next month on some 100 miles of new fiber optic lines in Buncombe, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell and Avery counties, said Hunter Goosmann, head of ERC Broadband, a nonprofit that oversees a regional Internet network based in Asheville. The additional fiber is financed through a grant from the federal stimulus program as well as money from Golden LEAF Foundation. Those are “middle miles” that bring the Internet from major pipelines down to the regional level. With cheaper access, more private companies should be able to bring the last mile of connectivity to homes and businesses at a more affordable price.

ECU network boost to benefit all of eastern North Carolina
WRAL Tech Wire
East Carolina University (ECU) received a 10gig connection to NCREN this fall replacing its 1gig connection. ECU now serves as the main network hub for most community anchor institutions in North Carolina east of I-95. The upgrade was completed through the first phase of the $144 million Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative. This historic project for North Carolina is funded through the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) in addition to several private grants and investments including $24 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation and $8 million from the MCNC Endowment. ECU Director of IT Infrastructure Tom Lamb said the upgrade provides essential bandwidth and broadband capacity to service the school’s online and distance learning programs, videoconferencing, economic development, and other essential services.

County sees bump in visitors
Morganton News Herald
The Burke County Tourism Development Authority (BCTDA) is attracting more visitors with its advertising efforts. More people have entered the visitor center in Morganton month-to-month when compared to last year. The BCTDA attributes the increase in visitors to a media campaign effort, funded in part by a $328,600 Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative grant. BCTDA created trail guide, began publishing advertisements in statewide magazines and created a commercial for the Charlotte area. They also hosted a group of travel writers that have written about the lure of Burke. The county also was featured on “Life in the Carolinas.”

School board will join county on Golden LEAF proposal
McDowell News
At their most recent meeting, the McDowell County Board of Education discussed different grant proposals they hope to submit to Golden LEAF. Golden LEAF Foundation’s Community Assistance Initiative is a grant-making process targeting economically distressed counties across North Carolina and is currently being implemented in McDowell County, which could get approximately $2 million. One of the two ideas joins with the county to move the vocational department currently at McDowell Tech to the former Universal building. The move would free up classroom space at McDowell Tech for high school students in the career and college ready program. Another proposal the board hopes to submit Golden LEAF is one to expand the One-to-One program.

New 'Wave' on the Nantahala
Feature part of prep for World Championships
Asheville Citizen-Times
Andrew Holcombe, a champion whitewater kayaker and former U.S. Freestyle Kayak Team member, performed stunning freestyle tricks as part of the grand opening of the Wave Shaper feature on the Nantahala, which will be the site of the 2013 International Canoe Federation’s Kayak Freestyle World Championships. The Wave is part of a $300,000 project that organizers are expecting will attract 500 international athletes and up to 10,000 spectators on peak days during the weeklong World Championships set for Sept. 2-8, 2013. The construction was financed with a $195,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation. Partners include the Nantahala Gorge Organizing Committee, Swain County Tourism Development Authority, USA Canoe and Kayak, U.S. Forest Service, the Nantahala Outdoor Center and community members.

Past year stressful, eventful
The Robesonian
Despite budget reductions, Robeson Community College has had a good year. The college opened its Advanced Manufacturing Laboratories, a collaborative effort that funded in part by the Golden LEAF Foundation. Local citizens deserve a lot of credit for ranking this project among three to four that deserved funding when the Golden LEAF Foundation brought its Community Assistance Initiative grant to Robeson County. State and county funds helped complete the monies needed to make the labs a reality. The total value of the RCC Advanced Manufacturing Laboratories is approximately $1.25 million.