Innovation and Demonstration

Centro de Enlace (Center of Connections) an immigrant resource and cultural center in Yancey County, used CNEF funding to help with start-up costs of a tortilleria. Run by a cooperative of Latino women, the tortilleria fills a niche market for fresh tortillas, while creating economic opportunities for immigrant women in the community.

Clean Water for North Carolina (CWFNC) created the Water and Energy for Justice Team last year in Durham, NC. Through the program, a team of African-American youth restored stream banks in their own community, participated in cooperative business planning, and installed energy-efficient improvements in low-income residences. This year, CNEF funding supports the continuation of the program in Durham and allows CWFNC to expand the program to a community in Asheville, NC.

Design Corps is a program that places recent architecture and planning graduates in low-wealth rural communities that traditionally do not have access to the skills these graduates bring. These “Community Design Fellows” have helped design and create Self-Help housing, job-training centers, community centers, and migrant housing. CNEF funds support a farmworker community garden and market in Newton Grove, NC in concert with RCP partner and CNEF grantee, Episcopal Farmworker Ministry. Farmworkers grow and preserve food for their own use, while learning skills in marketing and sales that allow them to gain financial self-sufficiency and relieve their dependence on low-paying seasonal work.

Episcopal Farmworker Ministry (EFM) leaders recognized the need for specialized training that would enable migrant farmworkers to fully understand their working rights and communicate more effectively about their needs. EFM’s unique English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum incorporates practical application of English reading and speaking skills, support on requirements for living conditions and workers’ rights, and instruction on use of chemicals and environmentally hazardous substances.

Job outsourcing has dealt a devastating blow to Mitchell County’s economy and community with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs since 2002. Traditional business recruitment is ineffective in this isolated mountain county. Building on the popularity of The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, a children’s book by Mitchell County native Gloria Houston, community leaders developed a plan to market the area as the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree. The project celebrates the cultural heritage of the area and taps the specialized skills of former manufacturing workers who are producing handcrafted products illustrated in the book for sale. A portion of sales royalties will fund the Mitchell County Mission of a Lifetime scholarship program, an effort to increase graduation rates in the area.

The North Carolina Rural Communities Assistance Project (NCRCAP) received CNEF funding to support their statewide Healthy Homes for All project, which provides in-home outreach and education to immigrant communities about environmental health and safety issues within the home such as safe drinking water, childhood lead poisoning prevention, wastewater disposal, household hazardous chemicals, pesticides, and the identification of indoor allergens and asthma triggers.

Sandhills Area Land Trust, dedicated to protecting land and water resources as well as preserving working lands, is partnering with Raft Swamp Farm in Hoke County to support the development of an organic farm incubator. Environmentally sound organic farm practices will protect the water resources and significant natural resources of Raft Swamp. The farm will help low-income residents learn organic farming practices and create new income opportunities.

The Smoky Mountain Native Plants Association (SMNPA) is located in Graham County, an economically distressed county in the mountains of North Carolina where few year-round jobs exist. The association, made up of largely Cherokee and Hispanic members, uses the propagation of native Appalachian plants to preserve native plant resources and cultural heritage, provide economic opportunity, develop job skills and develop alternative crops. CNEF funding is being used to support their Ramp Project, which provides income during the off-season, when few traditional jobs are available. Participants learn how to sustainably harvest ramps, make and store the product, package, inventory, market and deliver the locally grown USDA- and FDA- certified ramps. The Ramp Project was very successful, creating 64 seasonal jobs this past year.

Vecinos Unidos (“Neighbors United”) is a community group comprised of a diverse group of mobile home owners located in Burnsville, NC, a fast-growing community in the mountains. Faced with the sale of the mobile home park where they live, the neighbors united to form Vecinos Unidos, with the goal of purchasing the park and implementing a community land trust model to ensure the security and affordability of their mobile home park in the future. The CNEF grant enables the group to explore the community land trust model, get an appraisal for the property and plan the legal structure for their endeavor.

Process and Guidelines

Resourceful Communities partners (nonprofits and municipalities) are eligible to apply for CNEF grants.  Each participating organization is required to attend a technical assistance session prior to submitting a proposal.  Projects must integrate the triple bottom line -- sustainable economic development, social justice and environmental stewardship.  In addition, partners are encouraged to involve traditionally underserved communities in planning and implementation efforts and to collaborate with other area partners.  CNEF grants do not support deficit financing nor individuals or initiatives not associated with an organization or community.  CNEF funding supports projects within North Carolina.

Technical assistance sessions, which are required for new applicants, have been completed for the upcoming grant cycle.

Creating New Economies Fund (CNEF) Grant Program

Created to help our partners implement innovative triple bottom line projects, Resourceful Communities' Creating New Economies Fund grant program provides seed grants up to $15,000 for projects that might otherwise go unfunded.

History

The Creating New Economies Fund (CNEF) grant program was established with generous support from the Ford Foundation in 2001 to build local capacity and broaden community leaders' experience with sustainable development. 

Since those first awards, Resourceful Communities has awarded 165 grants totaling nearly $1.4 million. We are grateful to the Ford Foundation and funders who have subsequently joined in support of CNEF, including Anheuser-Busch Companies, the Appalachian Regional Commission, Burt's Bees Greater Good Foundation and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Goals

Providing resources and building capacity are primary goals of the CNEF program.  Each CNEF applicant is required to attend a technical assistance session prior to submitting a proposal where Resourceful Communities staff review grantwriting skills and the CNEF grant program.  Afterwards, staff continue to work with partners on an individual basis to design projects, compose grant proposals, develop budgets and evaluate accomplishments as needed.

In addition, Resourceful Communities works directly and "behind the scenes" to leverage additional support of triple bottom line projects.  To date, the program has leveraged more than $8 million for partner organizations and increased awareness of creative work going on throughout North Carolina's underserved communities.

CNEF Grantee Highlights

Across North Carolina, innovative Resourceful Communities partners are affecting change with their triple bottom line projects.  From inner city youth to organic farmers to community entrepreneurs, these partners are paving the way for sustainable change and stronger communities.  More highlights.

Click here for a complete list of CNEF grants.

If you'd like more information on applying to CNEF, click here.

If you are a 2008 CNEF grant recipient, download report form here.