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Golden LEAF Foundation Community-Based Grants Initiative - County Manager Endorsement Process (20 Minutes)
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Date of BOCC Meeting: August 4, 2025
Request for Board Action:
Agenda Text
The Board is requested to receive an informational briefing on the process for the County Manager to endorse projects for the Golden LEAF Foundation's Community-Based Grants Initiative. Founded by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1999 to receive and manage a portion of the State of North Carolina's disbursement under the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998, the Golden LEAF Foundation was created to provide economic impact assistance to economically affected or tobacco-dependent regions of North Carolina in the form of grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and other activities.
Of its grantmaking efforts, one of Golden LEAF's most important grant programs is its Community-Based Grants Initiative (CBGI), through which the organization annually makes $11 million available for grants to public sector organizations (501(c)(3) nonprofits, local governmental entities, and institutes of higher education) within one of the North Carolina Department of Commerce Prosperity Zones. For Fiscal Year 2026, local governments and other eligible organizations located within Prosperity Zone 11 - which includes Durham County - will be eligible to apply for funding. Under the program, Golden LEAF will award up to three projects in any one County, with total funding allocated per County not exceeding $1.5 million. Generally, grants are awarded for projects that address one or more of the three Golden LEAF priority areas - Job Creation and Economic Investment, Workforce Preparedness, and Agriculture.
As part of the Golden LEAF CBGI application process, a project must be endorsed by the County Manager of the County within which an organization is located. In order to facilitate this endorsement process for organizations within Durham County, the County has issued a ...
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