Two Elon University students from North Carolina – James Carter of Rockingham County and Faiger Blackwell of Caswell County – each received a $3,000 scholarship this spring from a joint partnership between the Golden LEAF Foundation and the nonprofit North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities.
The awards were part of a $210,000 award that NCICU distributed to 35 member institutions on behalf of the Golden LEAF Foundation, established in 1999 to help transform North Carolina’s economy using funds from the a master legal settlement with cigarette manufacturers. The organization places special emphasis on assisting tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and/or rural communities across the state.
Over the past dozen years, the Golden LEAF Foundation has contributed more than $6 million to local economies by aiding more than 1,200 students attend private colleges and universities. Recipients must reside in rural counties that are tobacco-dependent or economically distressed. The overall goal of the program is that these students will return home after receiving their degree and help their rural communities.
“The Golden LEAF Foundation is committed to building the talent, knowledge and skill of North Carolina students,” said Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF president. “The Golden LEAF Scholarship program assists in providing the vital funds needed for a quality education, and therefore, helps level the playing field for economic success in our rural, tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities.”
Hope Williams, president of North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, expressed deep appreciation to the Golden LEAF Foundation.
“The Golden LEAF Scholarships are critical to providing college access for rural North Carolinians,” she said. “Most of these scholarship recipients are first-generation college students, so attending college on a small campus with individual attention can play an important role in their overall success and to their graduation from college.”
North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities is an organization whose mission is to support, represent, and advocate for North Carolina independent higher education. NCICU is comprised of North Carolina’s 36 private, non-profit liberal arts, comprehensive, and research colleges and universities accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. NCICU represents independent higher education in the areas of state and federal public policy and on education issues with the other sectors of education in the state.