Local nonprofit organizations and a business and industry center have received grant funding to improve food security, economic development and job training.
The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors awarded more than $14 million in grants earlier this month, part of its bimonthly distribution of funding designed to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities.
Nash County received $34,000 for the Whitaker Business and Industry Center from Golden LEAF’s SITE Program, which offers resources to help communities identify potential sites for economic development, provides funding to complete due diligence on publicly controlled sites and provides funding to extend public utilities to publicly controlled sites or to conduct clearing and rough grading of publicly owned sites.
“The need for industrial sites, especially in rural areas, is no longer a luxury but a necessity to meet demand,” said Golden LEAF Board Chair Ralph Strayhorn. “We are excited to see how these projects will help prepare counties for new and expanding companies in North Carolina.”
The funding for the business and industry center will be used to conduct due diligence on a site the center wants to develop as a business park, said Andy Hagy, Nash County’s economic development director.
A review is needed to determine what is developable land and how much of the land can be built on, Hagy said.
“We’re really excited about this grant and teeing up that site to attract another new business to Nash County,” Hagy said.
The business and industry center is off N.C. 48 and close to I-95 in the northeastern part of the county.
Two local nonprofit organizations also were awarded Golden LEAF grants.
The Strategic Twin Counties Education Partnership received a $200,000 award that will support staff salary, program-related marketing and outreach and participant support for a local internship pilot program that facilitates collaboration among school districts, community colleges, community-based organizations and employers in the Twin Counties.
Since its founding in 2012, the partnership has held career awareness and career exploration events for elementary, middle and high school students, said Pamela Gould, executive director of the organization.
The partnership also has facilitated relationships that have allowed employees to talk with schools and higher education institutions about the skills workers need, which has helped schools modify curriculum programs to better meet the needs of the workforce.
“This grant is really laser-focused on the far end of that continuum, which is job shadowing, paid internships, apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships,” Gould said.
Last summer, the partnership launched an internship pilot program working with Hitachi-Astemo, which makes operating systems for Honda vehicles. That pilot program has so far trained 24 students, Gould said.
With the grant in place, the partnership will increase the number of participating students, with the goal of linking 45 individuals to a work-based learning opportunity over the two-year grant period.
“It will be an array of our employer partners, everything from health care to manufacturing to trade skills,” Gould said. “We are trying to meet our local labor market demands in this area.”
Also receiving funding was A Touch of the Father’s Love Inc., a nonprofit organization that received $34,736 from Golden LEAF’s Food Distribution Assistance Program. The money will allow the organization to purchase a new cold storage unit and pay for its installation.
Most Popular
Comments / 0