The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors announced a grant award of $1 million to Lenoir Community College for training equipment and professional development to support aviation programs and a new Aviation Center for Excellence at the North Carolina Global TransPark. The Center will house aviation, aircraft maintenance, advanced manufacturing programs, and others. It will also house an Aviation Academy that will serve high school students in Lenoir, Greene, and Jones Counties.

“We are appreciative for the support from the Golden LEAF Foundation,” LCC President Dr. Rusty Hunt said. The funding will support our expansion in the aviation sector to provide more opportunities to students in the industry. We are excited for the training opportunities the Aviation Center for Excellence will provide in our region,” he said.

“We are grateful for all our partners and their support for this project,” Hunt said. 

“Golden LEAF is such a valuable partner in North Carolina and we are especially appreciative of their investment in education and in Lenoir Community College in particular.”

Golden LEAF funding will leverage a $25 million state appropriation for the Aviation Center for Excellence. The College anticipates recruiting 80 students annually to be trained, earn industry credentials, and be eligible for jobs with aviation employers in the region. 

In a press release, Golden LEAF Foundation Board Chair Don Flow said, “Today, the Golden LEAF Board awarded projects that represent all three funding priorities of the foundation: job creation and economic investment, workforce preparedness, and agriculture. These projects will support the long-term economic advancement of rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities. We look forward to the impact these projects will make for years to come.”

The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors made the announcement at its February meeting awarding 13 Community-Based Grants Initiative projects totaling $10,248,815 in the Southeastern Prosperity Zone. These projects will support workforce preparedness and job creative and economic investment.

“Through the Community-Based Grants Initiative, Golden LEAF works directly in one Prosperity Zone annually to identify projects with the greatest potential to have a significant impact,” said Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer Scott T. Hamilton. “This competitive process focuses on projects that invest in the building blocks of economic growth with the ultimate goal of moving the economic needle in a community.”