The journey began Oct. 11.
Community leaders were called together to discuss the ultimate dispensation of $2 million in Golden LEAF Foundation grants set aside for Beaufort County. They arrived with projects in mind, all worthy ventures deserving of money originating from North Carolina’s share of the 1998 Master Settlement Act and Beaufort County’s legacy of tobacco.
They left that first meeting knowing the path would be long and difficult �� identifying the key issues facing Beaufort County residents would require thoughtful input from everyone in attendance. Deciding which projects would be funded with the available grant money would be even harder.
The second meeting, held Nov. 10, Golden LEAF Foundation’s Pat Cabe, vice president of programs, and Calvin Allen, program officer, took rapid-fire suggestions from the crowd: solving unemployment, attracting more people to the area, better educating Beaufort County students, improved mental-health services — a small sample of the concerns those congregated felt hold Beaufort County back, giving it a Tier 1 designation year after year. Tier 1 is the lowest ranking on the scale of North Carolina’s scale of economic well being.
But it was the third meeting, held Thursday in Building 8 at Beaufort County Community College, that the issues were whittled down. By doing so, the path to eventual community-wide consensus was laid.
Those in attendance were asked to split into separate groups in separate rooms, with each room representing one of three larger categories into which all issues had been assigned: economic development and infrastructure, education and workforce training and health and wellness. It was an unusual turn, as participants were asked not to interact with the facilitators, Cabe and Allen, as they had previously, but with one another instead.
In each room, one or two people volunteered to lead the conversation and, as a group, rid their lists of redundancy, narrowing down and combining issues. Later, more volunteers presented each group’s findings to the reassembled crowd. Community members were communicating needs, as had been done in earlier meetings, but this time, they communicated them to one another.
In the economic development and infrastructure room, the county’s unemployment rate was a primary topic, touching on the need for both skilled and unskilled workers.
“I know a company right now that needs two welders,” said Jimmy Edwards, representing Bath High School Preservation, who volunteered to lead the discussion. “That’s $25 an hour.”
The group went on to discuss what one called a “huge gap of unskilled workers in this county,” to which City Councilman William Pitt concurred, saying that “underemployment is almost as bad as unemployment.”
“Rather than everything being reactive, we need to give proactive services — exercise, nutrition …,” said Clement Gibbs, attending on behalf of Longevity and Wellness Services and part of the health and wellness group.
That group had little trouble finding the four main issues affecting the category: proactive holistic health services and healthful lifestyle education, affordability, accessibility and services needed but absent from the community — the last represented by a perceived lack of mental-health services in the county.
Patrick Abele with Beaufort County Schools, and speaking for the education and workforce development group, stressed the need to give Beaufort County students, and the community at large, education resources, especially access to technology, which would allow students and workers to be competitive in a global market.
“This train is moving right along,” said Cabe, as the presentations and the meeting wound up. “When you go to work, you’re efficient.”
State Sen. Stan White, D-Dare, in attendance for the second meeting in a row, was equally as complimentary.
“It’s a pleasure to come to these events. … Most of eastern North Carolina has these same issues,” White said. “You’ve identified them. I commend you for the leadership you provide.”
By the end of the meeting, ownership of the process had shifted from the Golden LEAF representatives to those community leaders of which White spoke. At the next meeting, slated for Jan. 12, they will continue to work toward consensus on goals they believe will best serve the entire county.
The subject of individual projects that could potentially receive grant money will be broached for the first time in the process. But in the end, only projects falling under the domain of those established goals — projects that “meet the goals you’ve set,” as Cabe said — will get consideration. Even then, few will be chosen.