For many of RCP’s partners, the NC Rural Center is an essential resource that works to promote and implement sound economic development and improve the quality of life for rural North Carolinians and their communities.
Recently, the center has announced it will make $24.8 million available in grants to create jobs in NC’s 85 rural counties. The funds, made possible by appropriations from the N.C. General Assembly, will support job-generating building reuse and water-sewer projects and will be available through the center’s Economic Infrastructure Water and Sewer Grants Program and Building Reuse and Restoration Grants Program.
Here are some exciting pictures and stories of projects funded through the Building Reuse and Restoration Grants Program:
A worker at Nature’s Earth Pellets in Laurinburg prepares a shipment of Freedom Fuel, a renewable energy source made from wood pellets.
Nature’s Earth Products is a company based in West Palm Beach, Fla., that manufactures wood-based cat litter products. Scotland County received a $480,000 building reuse grant to renovate a former plant in Laurinburg to house Nature’s Earth Pellets, which manufactures wood pellets for use in litter, equine bedding and alternative fuel. In its first three years of operation, the company intends to employ up to 98 people at the North Carolina facility.
Over the last several years, Scotland County has consistently had one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.
Workers at Turkington USA in Clayton.
Turkington is a company based in the United Kingdom that manufactures and installs automated equipment for the bakery industry. Its clients include Pepperidge Farm, Sara Lee and Flowers Foods. Its United States subsidiary, Turkington USA, was forced to move out of its Wayne County facility in 2004. With the help of a $324,000 building reuse grant from the Rural Center, the Town of Clayton renovated a former plastic components manufacturing facility to house Turkington’s operations. The new plant, which opened in September 2009, enabled the company to retain 111 employees. Turkington expects to create 27 additional jobs. In January 2010, the company received the annual Clayton Community Enhancement Award for its outstanding contribution to the character and appearance of the town.
[Pictures and stories © NC Rural Center]
To learn more about the NC Rural Center or their programs, click on the links below:
RCP likes to hear from you! If you know of any grants or resource organizations that work towards the triple bottom line, please tell us about it in the comment space below.
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