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Press Release
Golden LEAF News - May 2010
Greetings!
Golden LEAF has been hard at work with partners, like you, across the state to champion rural economic growth. The Foundation staff has been visiting project sites, holding check presentation ceremonies and working with potential grantees on applications.
In June, look for the Foundation’s Annual Report in your inbox. The report will feature several stories of individuals and communities affected by Golden LEAF supported programs.
Please forward this update to anyone who is interested in building the economy of rural, tobacco-dependent and economically distressed North Carolina communities. If you would like to sign up to receive Golden LEAF news and updates, click here.
Best,
Jenny
Jenny Tinklepaugh
Program/ Communications Officer
jtinklepaugh@goldenleaf.org
http://www.goldenleaf.org
Feature articles in this edition of "Golden LEAF News":
Golden LEAF Foundation champions rural growth
The Daily Reflector
Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF President, joined about 80 people at the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce Power Luncheon recently. He talked to them about how Golden LEAF Foundation champions economic development in rural North Carolina and has a passion for making rural North Carolina better. The foundation supports economic and work force development in areas that were, or continue to be, heavily dependent on tobacco.
Golden LEAF grant brings broadband to Valley
Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald
The Golden LEAF Foundation recently awarded a $24 million grant to MCNC to help secure $78 million in federal funding to bring broadband to 69 North Carolina counties, including Halifax and Northampton counties. Gov. Bev Perdue said rural county broadband access expansion is critical to jobs, economic investment, education and communications, and Golden LEAF Foundation has provided the critical matching dollars, which will make this project possible.
LCC, Lenoir Co. Schools receive $595,000 in Golden LEAF grants
Kinston Free Press
The Golden LEAF Foundation presented Lenoir Community College and the Lenoir County school system with nearly $600,000 in grant funds to prepare local young people for a career in aerospace manufacturing. LCC's Aerospace Advanced Machining Center received $380,000 for the college’s Aerostructure Manufacturing and Repair Technology Program. The Lenoir County Public Schools received a $215,000 grant to expand the Project Lead the Way programs to get more students interested in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, which are fundamental in preparing students for aerospace careers.
'Hip, hip, hooray' Cheers greet call center's 250 jobs
Hickory Daily Record
The Golden LEAF Foundation joined other partners and government officials in Hickory to welcomed Fiserv, a technology provider to the financial services industry rated No. 1 among the largest. The Hickory location employs 266 people. It expects to have more than 400 employees on board over the next three years. Fiserv is currently hiring. To apply, go to www.fiserv.com/careers.
$24M grant will help bring broadband
The Daily Southerner
Edgecombe, Nash, Martin, Halifax, Pitt and Wilson will receive some much needed assistance with making broadband access available to the rural areas. Golden LEAF has awarded a $24 million grant to help secure $78 million in federal money to bring broadband fiber to 69 counties across North Carolina. More than 1,000 temporary jobs are expected to be created in engineering and construction jobs lasting on average one and a half years.
Vance students fortunate to receive laptops
The Daily Dispatch
Thanks to the Golden LEAF Foundation, all students in Vance County's four public high schools will receive laptop computers over the next four years. Ninth- and 10th-grade students at Northern, Southern, Western and the Early College high schools will get laptops through the schools' Innovate Project this summer. Several training sessions are scheduled for students and their parents.
Health center receives half million dollar grant
Kinston Free Press
The Kinston Community Health Center has recently received two grants from the Golden LEAF Foundation totaling $400,000 through the Foundation's Community Assistance Initiative (CAI) and Rural Hope Initiative and several other state and federal grants to support improvements and expansion of services. The $300,000 CAI grant will help the Center address an acute shortage of primary care physicians. The $100,000 Rural Hope Initiative grant will support the renovation and acquisition of equipment that will result in improvements in patient flow and access and allow the Center to expand its services. This project will result in the creation of 8 new jobs.
North Carolina Provides Fertile Ground for Biotech/Life Sciences Sector
NC Department of Commerce - website
North Carolina has good reason to be proud of its biotechnology workforce, a direct result from the state's investment in collaborative programs designed to maintain the state's competitive edge. NCBioImpact is a statewide partnership to prepare workers for careers in the sector and is funded by Golden LEAF, North Carolina’s universities and community colleges, the N.C. Biotechnology Center and NCBIO. Under the NCBioImpact umbrella are three training partners: Golden LEAF Biotechnology Training and Education Center (BTEC) at N.C. State University, Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Training Enterprise (BRITE) at N.C. Central University and BioNetwork, the N.C. Community Colleges' network of campus-based education and training programs located throughout the state.
BTEC Gives Students A Competitive Edge
IT Blog
Located on Centennial Campus, the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) is the largest facility of its kind in the nation and the state's hub of biomanufacturing research and training. Biotechnology students receive hands-on training at the Golden LEAF BTEC. Through partnerships between NC State, North Carolina Central University and the North Carolina Community College system, BTEC’s distance education and on-site programs will train as many as 2000 students, prospective and current employees per year. To see a video about the Golden LEAF BTEC center, click here.
Replacement Worker, Not Included
Composites Manufacturing magazine
The Golden LEAF-funded North Carolina A&T State University Advanced Composite Research and Training Center focuses on training displaced workers to provide them the training they need for new jobs by instructors from the composites industry, NASA, military and academic centers. Students have already found jobs at a variety of well-established companies. In an effort to raise the next crop of composite manufacturers and aerospace engineers, the Center created the SOAR (Summer Orientation to Aerospace/Engineering/Sciences/Technology Retreat) program to progress the level of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.
MCNC looking for broadband project information from vendors
Local Tech Wire
MCNC, which has received a $28.2 million federal grant to build more broadband access in North Carolina by growing the N.C. Research and Education Network, is looking for information from vendors related to its expansion program. MCNC will accept responses through May 28. Applicants must register online at the MCNC Web site where the project information page is located. MCNC is seeking an additional $78 million in federal funds in a project called the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative. If funded, this proposal will bring broadband infrastructure to 69 more rural areas.
Wired Watauga
Mountain Times
Watauga County is among 69 rural counties that will soon be wired for broadband access under money from the tobacco settlement funds. The Golden LEAF Foundation has awarded a $24 million grant in order to help secure $78 million in federal funds and leverage other private and public resources to bring broadband fiber to "underserved or partially underserved" counties across North Carolina. The expansion will help bring federal matching funds and increase technology, which has been listed as a top need in economic development.
The Pilot Center is officially open
Mount Airy News
After two years of planning and 13 months of on-site work, The Pilot Center, which will house a satellite facility for Surry Community College, officially opened for business. More than $700,000 was awarded through Golden LEAF's Community Assistance Initiative to assist the Towns of Pilot Mountain and Elkin with the establishment of a Surry Community College satellite training location in each town. Each satellite campus will offer workforce retraining, GED classes and distance learning, along with other identified local training needs.
Pilot Mountain Pride is open for business
Mount Airy News
More than 300 people came out Thursday night to celebrate the opening of the new Pilot Mountain Pride center that will provide local farmers with a way to distribute their produce for sale, thanks in part to a Golden LEAF Local Foods Initiative grant. The Golden LEAF Board decided last year that one way to help communities affected by the decline of tobacco is to promote local agriculture. The center is working with 52 local farmers to get their produce out to the community and to Lowes Foods stores, which has agreed to purchase and distribute some of the produce.
Outer Banks Catch program set to launch in June
Outer Banks Sentinel
A partnership between Currituck, Dare, Hyde and Tyrrell counties to help increase the demand for, add value to, and strengthen recognition of locally-caught seafood has resulted in the launch of a marketing and communications program called Outer Banks Catch. The Outer Banks Catch program recently received a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation through its Local Foods Initiative. The Outer Banks Catch project builds on two of our coast's strongest economic drivers: the commercial seafood industry and tourism.
Tourism Coalition Seeks Proposals on Tourism Development Contract
NC Department of Cultural Resources
Eastern North Carolina's three regional economic development commissions are joining with local tourism officials to seek National Heritage Area designation status for an area of up to 40 counties. A National Heritage Area designation will pave the way for federal funds to develop, package and promote historical, natural and cultural sites and unleash the full potential of the area’s tourism economy. A Golden LEAF grant will provide funding to create a directory of heritage tourism assets across Eastern North Carolina.
'2nd Saturdays' first-rate artist and farmer opportunity
The Daily Advance
Historic Edenton State Historic Site is calling artists of Edenton and Chowan County to exhibit and sell art work this summer as part of the Department of Cultural Resources 2nd Saturdays: History, Heritage, Arts & Fun events scheduled on June 12, July 10 and August 14. The 2nd Saturdays, funded in part by Golden LEAF, combine the unique power of the arts and heritage with lots of hands on fun each 2nd Saturday during the peak summertime vacation months of June, July and August and is designed for families on a budget looking for fun things to do.
Camden gets grants for eco-park near Chesapeake
The Virginian-Pilot
Camden County Government has been awarded over $3.7 million dollars in grants from several organizations for an eco-park proposed for Camden County. Golden LEAF has awarded almost $2 million through its Community Assistance Initiative for public water and sewer lines. The green industrial park will cover 100-acre, and grants will help with road construction, public water and sewer, and marketing.
Farmers jump at chance to attempt to grow hops
Charlotte Observer
NCSU received a $28,000, one-year grant this year from the Golden LEAF Foundation to investigate the commercial viability of growing hops in North Carolina. Hoping to build on the craft-brewing and local food movements, N.C. State University researchers in Raleigh and a handful of farmers in the mountains are growing experimental plots of hops, the cone-shaped flower clusters that brewers add to beer for bitterness, aroma and as a natural preservative.
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