The Town of Elizabethtown has been awarded almost half a million dollars from the Golden LEAF Foundation for a pair of community projects.
The grants announced last week by the nonprofit organization are part of nearly $10 million in funding to support projects throughout North Carolina. The foundation was established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers.
Elizabethtown will receive $364,896 under the Open Grants Program to help construct infrastructure in the Elizabethtown Industrial Park, and to perform some site development activities that will facilitate construction of seven commercial buildings and support the location of five businesses, including a new medical clinic, that have committed to Elizabethtown to invest and operate in this section of the industrial park.
The Open Grants Program supports workforce preparedness, job creation and economic investment.
The town also will receive $132,000 as part of the Flood Mitigation Program to develop a Stormwater Master Plan that includes updating the town’s asset inventory, field data collection, modeling of existing watersheds, development of concept plans, and a summary report that will include recommendations to address frequent flooding in the central subbasin, the eastern subbasin, and along Glenwood Drive in the western part of Elizabethtown.
The Golden LEAF Foundation was appropriated $25 million from the state for the program.
“The Golden LEAF Foundation thanks the N.C. General Assembly for entrusting us to administer this program for local governments seeking to mitigate flooding in their community,” said Scott T. Hamilton, Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to being a partner in this critical work to keep our communities resilient.”
The North Carolina Community College System was awarded $1.75 million by the Golden LEAF Board to support scholarships for students from rural, economically distressed counties to attend participating North Carolina community colleges. Curriculum students can receive up to $2,250 per year, and continuing education students can receive up to $1,850 per year. The Golden LEAF Foundation has awarded funds for scholarships to students attending North Carolina community colleges since 2000.
Last week’s funding awards were $5,046,526 to support projects through the second round of the SITE program, $1,398,657 through the Open Grants Program, $1,706,550 through the Flood Mitigation Program and $1,750,000 as part of the Golden LEAF Scholarship Program.
Since 1999, Golden LEAF has funded 2,011 projects totaling $1.18 billion supporting the mission of advancing economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities.
Click here for details about all the statewide awards.
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