ZSR Awards $1.4 Million to Rural NC Organizations Working for Local Progress
During our May board meeting, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation (ZSR) Board of Trustees awarded 35 grants totaling $1.4 million to organizations working for local progress in rural communities across North Carolina.
The funded projects span the state, from Cherokee County in the far west to Alexander County in the Piedmont to Gates County in the northeast.
These grants fall under ZSR’s Community Progress Fund strategy. This year, Community Progress Fund grants were open only to organizations with primary offices located in one of NC’s 78 rural counties, as defined by the NC Rural Center. This was a change from previous years and was implemented to ensure ZSR’s resources get to our rural communities, which are often underfunded.
The organizations funded are improving their communities in diverse ways. For example:
- A Better Chance A Better Community in Enfield (Halifax County) is empowering youth to protect the Roanoke River through its Junior Riverkeeper program. Participating students learn how to conduct water quality monitoring, river cleanups and advocacy campaigns.
- Community Hope Alliance (CHA) in Asheboro (Randolph County) is providing opioid overdose prevention services, distributing Naloxone to reverse overdoses and save lives.
- The Dunn Police Athletic and Activities League (Harnett County) is providing afterschool programs and summer camps – including a perennially competitive travel basketball program, wrestling team and chess club – living into its motto of “Fill Playgrounds, Not Prisons.”
- Partners Aligned Toward Health in Burnsville (Yancey County) is helping the Latine community access critical resources, from food and essentials to mental health services, as they recover from Helene and navigate threats of deportation.
- Scotland Memorial Foundation in Laurinburg (Scotland County) is providing free mammograms for women who face barriers to accessing care.
These are just five examples of how nonprofits will use new funding to continue or expand their critical work.
ZSR’s Community Progress Fund provides an infusion of short-term funding ($20,000 – $30,000 per year for one or two years) for local nonprofits in rural North Carolina to meet direct community needs, test new ideas or expand promising efforts. These organizations were already doing incredible work to improve their communities, and ZSR grants will help them build on existing momentum to take their work to the next level.
ZSR accepts applications annually, and grant amounts range from $20,000-$30,000 per year for one or two years.
Here is the full list of funded organizations:
- A Better Chance A Better Community (Halifax County)
- Alliance Bible Fellowship (Watauga County)
- Boys and Girls Clubs of the Albemarle (Chowan County)
- Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tar River Region (Edgecombe County)
- Center for Native Health (Jackson County)
- Chatham County Arts Council (Chatham County)
- City of Lumberton (Robeson County)
- Communities Supporting Schools of Wayne County (Wayne County)
- Community Hope Alliance (Randolph County)
- Compassion Health Care (Caswell County)
- CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) (Robeson County)
- Dunn Police Athletic & Activities League (Harnett County)
- Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit (Madison County)
- Freedom Org (Edgecombe County)
- Gates County Community Partnership (Gates County)
- Grahamtown Team (Rutherford County)
- Greater Bolton Outreach Services (Columbus County)
- Habitat for Humanity of Alexander County (Alexander County)
- Health Foundation (Wilkes County)
- Imagine Pamlico (Pamlico County)
- Mary C. Jenkins Community and Cultural Center (Transylvania County)
- McQueen Chapel United Methodist Church (Lee County)
- Mephibosheth Project (Wayne County)
- New Hope Clinic (Brunswick County)
- Partners Aligned Toward Health (Yancey County)
- RhinoLeap Productions (Randolph County)
- Samaritan Colony (Richmond County)
- Scotland Memorial Foundation (Scotland County)
- Tate Farm by the Pond Community Garden (Pender County)
- Town of Kingstown (Cleveland County)
- Tried by Fire (Craven County)
- Turning Point Community Development Corporation (Vance County)
- ULECAN (Union de Latinos del Este de Carolina del Norte) (Craven County)
- Unaka Community Development Club (Cherokee County)
- Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe (Bladen County)
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