At mid-morning on Wednesday, Nov. 15, the fountain at the heart of Western Carolina University’s campus is a thoroughfare.

Mainspring Conservation Trust has received $175,000 to clean up and restore a brownfield site near Nikwasi Mound in Franklin. The money will help Mainspring remediate petroleum-contaminated soils on a vacant gravel lot in downtown Franklin.

Haywood County Commissioners got some great news Oct. 16 that will help the community ameliorate the effects of a red-hot real estate market on local housing affordability and availability.

Funding is available to help homeowners fix failing septic systems, preventing both financial and environmental hardship.

A $100,000 grant from the Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority has put a $2 million project to build a red spruce nursery past the halfway mark of its fundraising goal.

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Sara Snyder Hopkins, assistant professor and director of the Cherokee Language Program at Western Carolina University, a grant of $64,905 for her ongoing translation project, Eastern Cherokee Histories in Translation. 

A total of 20 organizations located across the western region have received grants from Made X Mtns in support of their work to increase outdoor recreation access and economic opportunity.

A $36,500 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will fuel education efforts on the wonders of the French Broad River Basin over the next several years.

Legal Aid of North Carolina announced it has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission, the chief advisory body on crime and justice issues to North Carolina’s Governor and Secretary of Public Safety, to support survivors of domestic violence, while also increasing awareness and education statewide. 

MADE X MTNS announced grant recipients of its Outdoor Equity Fund.