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Press Release
Golden LEAF News - July 2010
Greetings!
Golden LEAF recently published its Annual Report detailing the Foundation’s activities for 2009. Click here to read about how Golden LEAF is funding projects to help cultivate an aerospace culture, market local foods, create and retain jobs, mobilize training, provide a 21st century education, assist communities in need, and provide training for available jobs through grant programs.
Golden LEAF’s current grant programs include:
• Golden LEAF’s Open Grants Program is open to all eligible entities [501(c)(3) nonprofits and governmental entities] seeking grants. Click here for more information about applying for an Open Grants Program grant.
• The Foundation’s Economic Catalyst Cycle awards job creation assistance grants to eligible entities who help industry locate or expand in the state through eligible activities. Click here for more information about applying for an Economic Catalyst Cycle grant.
• The Community Assistance Initiative is a facilitated grant process targeting the needs of communities designated “Tier 1” by the NC Department of Commerce. Click here to read more about the Community Assistance Initiative.
Best,
Jenny
Jenny Tinklepaugh
Program/ Communications Officer
jtinklepaugh@goldenleaf.org
www.goldenleaf.org
Feature articles in this edition of “Golden LEAF News”:
New clinic will relieve ER strain
Morganton News Herald
A $540,000 Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative grant was awarded to Blue Ridge Healthcare Foundation to create a primary medical practice for Medicaid recipients and to help relieve a high-rate of local emergency rooms visits. Blue Ridge HealthCare and the Good Samaritan Clinic are partnering with the Burke County Department of Social Services and AccessCare.
Laptops ready for students
Henderson Daily Dispatch
The 1-to-1 Innovate Project officially got under way earlier this week with the distribution of new Dell Latitude laptop computers to all ninth- and 10th-grade students at Vance County Early College High School. The Golden LEAF Foundation is funding the project in Vance County.
Pilot Mountain Pride helping smaller farmers process their produce as well as finding buyers
Winston-Salem Journal
Pilot Mountain Pride is helping small and mid-size farms by providing a market for their local produce, thanks in part to a Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative grant. About 52 farms, ranging from ¼ acre to 40 acres, are starting to supply produce to the center to be washed, graded, boxed and shipped to local markets. Pilot Mountain Pride also finds buyers for the produce.
Golden LEAF money presented
Kinston Free Press
Recently, the Golden LEAF Foundation visited Kinston to award ceremonial checks totaling more than $2 million to various nonprofits. The projects addressed needs in access to healthcare, workforce training, education and infrastructure.
Economic development that works for the region
Smoky Mountain News
The Buy Haywood initiative, funded in part by Golden LEAF Foundation, promotes Haywood County farms. It has helped market value-added products and produced a map so locals and tourists alike can find farms and farmer’s markets that sell produce. The 20-20-20 project is aims to connect 20 local growers with 20 chefs who will use 20 different food products. The project is part of an effort to create local economies that support businesses down the street instead of across the globe.
AMARK to benefit from new grants
The Daily Advance
Thanks in part to a Golden LEAF grant, Virginia-based AMARK Corp. plans to expand into Elizabeth City. Gov. Beverly Perdue announced that the company plans to create 43 jobs and invest $1.9 million in North Carolina over the next three years. The company fabricates steel and pipe for both general and industrial construction uses. For more information about AMARK Corp., including job opportunities with the company, go to: www.amarkcorp.com.
Foundation makes changes
Rockingham News
Golden LEAF made changes to deal with the challenging economy and the increasing needs for support. The annual grants cycle was replaced in 2009 with an open grants program to allow acceptance of proposals year-round and the Foundation’s administrative budget was cut by 20 percent to add more funds for grants. The Golden LEAF Foundation awarded 111 grants in 2009, totaling a little more than $35 million to economically distressed and rural counties in North Carolina.
Internet could link growers to higher profits
Whiteville News Reporter
Technology could be the bridge between Columbus County farmers and higher profits for their produce. While growers typically get less than 16 percent of the wholesale price for their crops, growers who utilize direct Internet sales to chefs through Foothills Connect are keeping 80 percent of the profit. Foothills Connect was awarded a $240,000 Local Foods Initiative grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to spread the model to other counties in the state.
Plans for $2 million take shape
Reidsville Review and Eden Daily News
Rockingham County residents were asked to come up with strengths and weaknesses in their community in the county’s first Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative meeting. The Initiative is a grantsmaking process asking citizens in Tier 1 counties all over North Carolina to prioritize needs and help decide how to use $2 million in grant funds for various projects. The first meeting focused primarily on the group making a list of issues and assets within the county.
Rockingham ponders area’s needs
Greensboro News-Record
The Golden LEAF Foundation has started its Community Assistance Initiative in Rockingham County. At its first meeting, participants spent several hours discussing the county’s weaknesses and strengths. Golden LEAF will continue to hold meetings in the county to help residents develop a list of priorities and then projects for funding consideration.
Rockingham County seeks more jobs, doctors
Greensboro News & Record
The lack of jobs and doctors for Rockingham County residents is on a long list of challenges that a group of community and health leaders hopes to address over the next several years. A group formed to reduce the county’s relatively high rate of health issues hopes to take advantage of grants being offered to Rockingham County projects through the Golden LEAF Community Assistance Initiative. Foundation representatives started holding public forums in Rockingham County in May to determine how to best allocate $2 million.
Spirit AeroSystems opens N.C. plant to do work on Airbus A350
The Wichita Eagle
Spirit AeroSystems recently had a ceremony to formally start production of parts for Airbus' new A350 XWB airliner at its new plant at the Global TransPark in Kinston, N.C. Employees will design and manufacture the composite center fuselage's upper and lower shells and the front wing spar of the plane. The Golden LEAF Foundation awarded a $100 million grant to the Global TransPark Authority to build the facility that Spirit is leasing.
In flight: Spirit AeroSystems takes off in Kinston venture
Kinston Free Press
This special section of the Kinston Free Press ran in the Sunday, July 11th edition and details how Spirit AeroSystems was attracted to the Global TransPark. Several of the articles mention Golden LEAF’s support of the aerospace industry, including grants to the Global TransPark, the NC Aerospace Alliance, Lenoir Community College, Lenoir County Public Schools and NC Aerospace Workforce Needs Assessment.
Efforts coordinated on greenway along river
Winston-Salem Journal
The Golden LEAF Foundation awarded $165,000 to the County of Wilkes for part of the marketing efforts for Yadkin Valley Heritage Corridor. The grant will help Wilkes, Caldwell, Surry, and Yadkin Counties brand and market the Yakin Valley Region as a cultural heritage and eco-tourism destination. The pilot program will identify and connect major assets through electronic signs downloadable through technology devices such as iPods.
Digital driving will teach dangerous scenarios safely
The Dispatch
Davidson County Community College recently announced it received a new driving simulator thanks in part to a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation. The instructional simulator allows drivers to practice and learn emergency driving skills on hazardous road conditions. Instructors in the Basic Law Enforcement Training program, the truck driving school and with the firefighting, rescue and first response program will be given primary use of the simulator.
COA, ECSU turn to grants
The Daily Advance
The College of the Albemarle will take part in the Golden LEAF Engineering Pathways Grant, a grant that aims to address the scarcity of engineers in rural North Carolina. Billy Younger, assistant professor of math and science at COA, will develop a course that could be taken by students from multiple community colleges that will give them the credits that they need to be attractive to a four-year college’s engineering program, and serve a wide range of students.
WNC schools hooked up with fiber
Smoky Mountain News
Thanks to a collaborative project called WNC EdNet, funded in part by a more than $2.2 million Golden LEAF grant award, nearly every student in the six westernmost counties will have unprecedented access to technology in the classroom. Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties will have access to high-speed internet through over 300 miles of fiber.
Haywood hops farmer sets the bar high
Smoky Mountain News
Haywood County farmer Scott Grahl is growing hops and helping improve market opportunities for North Carolina hops farmers. He received a grant to diversify from growing tobacco to other means of sustainable agriculture and is working with the NCSU Soil Science and Horticulture Departments, thanks to a Golden LEAF grant, to better the yield and quality of North Carolina grown hops.
New Watauga High School Opens Doors to Public for First Time July 30
High Country Press
A dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Watauga High School will take place on Friday, July 30, at 10 a.m. N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue will deliver the keynote address and Golden LEAF and school representatives will all speak briefly during the grand opening celebration. Golden LEAF awarded Watauga County Schools a $150,000 grant for laptops for the new high school.
See Your New Watauga High School Friday
High Country Press
The new Watauga High School was opened to the public for tours during a recent dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Gov. Perdue delivered the keynote address, and officials received a ceremonial check from the Golden LEAF Foundation for its laptop project.
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