Golden LEAF Foundation awards $18.9 million across North Carolina
The Golden LEAF Foundation in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, has announced grants totaling $18.9 million to nonprofits across the state in support of programs and investments to boost local economies, job opportunities, and health services.
The grants, focused on the economically distressed and tobacco-dependent regions of the state, include $8 million to Methodist University for instructional equipment and costs related to the launch of MU’s Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine—which will create 260 permanent jobs and graduate 120 doctors annually—as well as a combined $1.3 million in workforce development grants to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cleveland, Martin, and Stanly community colleges.
In addition, the foundation distributed seven grants totaling $9.6 million as part of its Shell Building Pilot Program in partnership with the State of North Carolina. The investments across seven counties (Ashe, Bladen, Columbus, Franklin, Halifax, Robeson, and Scotland) aim to increase access to publicly owned industrial space for new or expanding businesses to promote economic development and local job creation.
“Today, the Golden LEAF board made awards to projects that will support the long-term economic advancement of rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities,” said Golden LEAF Foundation president Scott T. Hamilton. “We look forward to the impact these job creation and economic advancement and workforce preparedness projects will make for years to come.”
(Photo credit: Getty Images/ SDI-Productions)
