Focus Area Grants totaling $495,000 awarded

A proactive $200,000 Human Services grant was awarded to OnTrack Financial Education and Counseling to continue the SECURE Matched Savings program that offers a 4:1 match and financial education to low-income people to help them build emergency savings and financial literacy. CFWNC provided seed funding for SECURE in 2016.

SECURE is available to people with household incomes between 30% – 80% of Area Median Income, $25,750 (30%) to $64,250 (80%) for a family of four. SECURE’s structure enhances incentives and accountability for participants to make lasting changes to their financial habits. Graduates experience a 125% increase in their ability to save and a 166% increase in feelings of financial security.

“SECURE has a waiting list of more than 400 people, and this grant will allow an additional 142 to participate,” said CFWNC President Elizabeth Brazas. “SECURE is now offered in Spanish, has increased its services to diverse communities, and is in 12 WNC counties.”

The last cohort’s retention rate was significantly higher than that of previous cohorts, which led to a gap in funding for those completing the steps and savings. CFWNC’s Brown Family Fund closed the gap with a $38,000 grant recognizing the commitment and savings of 42 additional participants. With this grant, CFWNC and its co-investors will have awarded nearly $950,000 to the program.

The Rick and Bridget Eckerd Charitable Fund, Dogwood Charitable Endowment Fund and an anonymous fund provided co-investment for this grant.

Natural Resources – $295,000

American Rivers received $150,000 over two years to build a queue of ready-to-fund dam removal projects leading to design and implementation stages of river restoration efforts. Dam removal provides climate change resiliency, as well as community safety and health, ecological and economic benefits. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act provides $800M in federal funding for dam removal nationwide. This project will help WNC access some of those funds.

The Mandler / Tambor Family Fund, White Pine Fund and Little Acorn Fund – W provided co-investment for this grant.

Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) Foundation received $50,000 to support collaborative efforts to analyze land in 11 North Carolina counties and the Qualla Boundary connected to the biologically-rich BRP to help prioritize landowner outreach and voluntary land conservation. This work is part of a larger effort to analyze non-federal lands in all 29 Parkway counties in Virginia and North Carolina. BRP protected lands are often narrow, and the scenic views that inspire visitation are often private lands open to development. The future of the BRP’s plants, animals, migration corridors, and scenic views depends significantly on thousands of private land parcels.

The John and Janet Garrett Charitable Fund, White Pine Fund, Little Acorn Fund – W, Trillium Fund, Rick and Bridget Eckerd Charitable Fund and Stewart Fund for Life & Love provided co-investment for this grant.

Camp Grier (CG) received $44,000 to build out a Salesforce customer relationship management system (CRM) to manage volunteers, donors, customers, and partners, thereby increasing constituent engagement and stewardship of public lands in WNC. CG has been a key partner in leading the redevelopment and revitalization effort in Old Fort. This effort is centered on growing the outdoor recreation economy in a sustainable and equitable way to not only grow and diversify the local economy but also to support local wealth creation, highlight local history and heritage, and encourage stewardship of local public land resources. The CRM will enable CG to coordinate information with CG’s collaborative partners: the G5 Trail Collective, the Worx Project, Tanawha Adventures, Pisgah Productions, and the future Grier Village development.

The Dogwood Charitable Endowment Fund provided co-investment for this grant.

MountainTrue received $51,000 to develop a Long-Term Conservation Plan for Jackson County’s District 4, which includes six Townships: Caney Fork, Canada, River, Mountain, Hamburg, and Cashiers. In 2019, Jackson County Commissioners adopted the Cashiers Small Area Plan (CSAP) to guide development in a way that promotes positive growth while maintaining the rich natural environment. In 2022, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) was hired to study development trends in the Cashiers region. Its top recommendation was the creation of a long-term conservation plan identifying critical natural areas, steep slopes, green spaces, and scenic views that should be permanently protected. In 2023, Commissioners expanded the study’s scope to include all of District 4, incorporating the headwaters of three critical watersheds.