Philip D. Brown

Richmond County Daily Journal

A decision is expected Thursday on Richmond County’s three grant proposals through the Golden LEAF Foundation’s Community Assistance Grant Program.

Richmond County is seeking $1 million to go toward building a wastewater line between Ellerbe and Rockingham; $665,000 for an East Rockingham sewer project and $500,000 for the expansion and renovation of the Forte Building on the campus of Richmond Community College.

The Golden Leaf Foundation’s Board of Governors will meet at the Doubletree Hotel in Rocky Mount to consider proposals from Richmond and other counties.

“I think these proposals are fairly straightforward,” said Golden Leaf President Dan Gerlach. “Our board has dealt with projects of this type before.”

He said that while representatives of the county are welcome to attend the proceedings, they typically do not.

Of the grant proposals up for consideration are one from Washington County and another from Bertie County. Both counties have already received some of their $2 million allotment, Gerlach said. Golden LEAF, which gets money from a tobacco settlement, has capped the dollar figure at $2 million.

“Richmond County has its full plate of proposals but it’s the only county with that status at this time,” he said. “... So Richmond County is kind of the star of the show at the moment in terms of the Community Initiative.”

He said the proposal from Washington County is an agriculture-related project.

A series of public forums preceded the submission of Richmond County’s proposals. Diverse elements of the community came together to identify the most pressing needs of the county as a whole. First, key issues were identified by consensus, then proposals were formulated to correspond to the issues.

For Richmond County, those issues involved infrastructure, quality of life, education and economic development.

This has been the standard operating procedure of GoldenLEAF’s Community Assistance Grant Initiative.

The forums were intended to not only identify the projects community’s wanted funded, but to also inspire a sense of cooperation and unity among these diverse elements, GoldenLEAF Vice President of Operations, Community Assistance and Outreach Pat Cabe told those who attended one of the forums.

Some of the projects that have already received funding from the Foundation in this program include a wastewater feasibility study in Gates County and a Rocky Mounty downtown beautification program in Nash County.

While the proposals Richmond County submitted are familiar to GoldenLEAF decision makers, Gerlach did not want to make any predictions as to whether they would gain funding or not.