Grant to boost construction of new Morganton campus for The Industrial Commons

A $10 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has helped propel Burke County’s The Industrial Commons (TIC) to the halfway point of its $45.6 million goal for the creation of an innovative manufacturing, education, and training campus in Morganton.

Known as the Innovation Campus, the emerging project is on the 27-acre site once occupied by Drexel Furniture Plant 3 and 5 on Morganton’s East Fleming Drive bypass. 

ARC’s $10 million grant specifically supports the construction of one component of the Campus – a 40,000-square-foot facility focused on new textile manufacturing processes and related employee training.

This facility will create 80 new jobs, retain 530 existing jobs, train hundreds of students and workers about advanced manufacturing, and strengthen the textile supply chain, said Sara Chester, Co-Executive Director of TIC.

Founded in 2015, TIC is a non-profit specializing in founding and scaling employee-owned social enterprises, creating industry networks, and delivering a suite of workforce development and youth engagement programs. 

Construction on the new campus is scheduled to begin in late 2024. The current TIC campus is located off Hopewell Road. 

 ARC’s grant was conditional on matching contributions, Chester said. To meet the requirement, Chester and her team secured another $10 million in blended donations.

The matching funds included:

• The Kendeda Fund — $8 million

• Cannon Foundation — $250,000

• An in-kind match from TIC through donation of real estate

• NC General Assembly — $5 million

To date, TIC has secured $23,290,000 towards Phase One’s projected budget of $45,600,000, Chester said.

ARC’s grant pulls from its Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) funding opportunities. This initiative drives large-scale economic transformation through multi-state collaboration. 

An important component in ARISE eligibility is commitment to bringing the benefits of a clean energy economy to communities in Southern Appalachia, according to ARC documents. 

The Innovation Campus will showcase green innovation, Chester said.

TIC’s Innovation Campus connects “entrepreneurs in Appalachian North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee,” according to ARC documents. “Through its workforce and education training approach, the project will prepare the next generation of workers to grow the upcycling textile industry in Southern Appalachia.” 

In the works since last year, the grant is the largest TIC has received in its eight years of operation, Chester said. 

“We’re very excited and it means a lot to us that this much support comes from ARC,” Chester said. “We have worked with them since the very beginning. Our very first grant was from ARC.”

“ARC announced the ARISE grant in Summer 2022,” Chester said. “We reached out immediately and said we wanted to apply. It took months to get the application to the finish line.”

ARC is an economic development partnership entity of the federal government and 13 state governments focusing on 423 counties across the Appalachian Region. 

Chester said the ARC grant would not have been possible without the Kendeda Fund.

“We also owe a huge thanks to the Kendeda Fund,” Chester said. “Right now there is a lot of money coming down from the federal government… but you always have to match. They are the ones that stepped up.”

Since 1993 the Kendeda Fund has supported “the dignity of individuals and the sustainability of communities through investments in transformative leaders and ideas,” according to the Fund’s website. 

Chester said that after three decades, the Fund will spend out at the end of 2023 and close.

News of the grant spurred a steady stream of congratulatory emails to TIC co-founders Sara Chester and Molly Hemstreet from businesses and community leaders across the state. 

"The Industrial Commons is doing amazing work in and for Burke County," said Alan Wood, Executive Director of Burke Development Inc., upon hearing the news. "Their work is acknowledged worldwide and we are privileged to have them in our community."

Allen VanNoppen is the publisher of The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or via email at allen@thepaper.media.