The Golden LEAF money awarded after the beginning of a process begun nearly a year ago will fund programs with a variety of goals here in Anson County.

The organization provides information about each project on its Web site.

Currently, $556,380 has been awarded to South Piedmont Community College for the Anson Guaranteed Job Ready Workforce program.

"The grant will assist South Piedmont Community College with increasing the number of qualified workers in Anson County through a targeted workforce outreach strategy," the Web site said.

The program plans to identify potential workers and use a mobile career lab to provide staff that can assess, instruct and otherwise assist individuals. Workers earn a certificate and the program plans to have one-third of a planned 300 participants certified within two years.

New Ventures Business Development, Inc. was awarded $55,000 for a Community Commercial Kitchen. The kitchen will be available at the Lockhart-Taylor Center for use by caterers and local growers. Kitchen use will require a fee.

The county itself was awarded $80,000 for the Richmond Street sewer project. The funds supplement other sources that will be used to complete the project.

Fifty homes will receive sewer service. Three tracts of undeveloped land will also have sewer available for future economic development.

County Manager Vance Gulledge said in June the project was truly needed.

"[Golden LEAF] told us at the beginning they wanted brick and mortar type projects," he said.

The Anson County Arts Council received $150,000 for the Ansonia Renovation Project. The funds will provide the final 13 percent of necessary funding to complete the facility's renovation.

HOLLA! was awarded $250,000 for a Resource and Community Development Center in Morven. The facility will provide job preparation, parenting workshops, tutoring, mentoring and other opportunities.

A media center, conference room and kitchen are also planned for the facility.

Hands of Hope was awarded $130,000 for the Circles Initiative Pilot Program. The program helps create support networks for individuals and families.

The program was created by Move the Mountain Leadership Center, which describes the program on its website.

"The mission of the Circles Campaign is to transform communities by building relationships that inspire and equip people to end poverty," the website said.

According to data from the 2007 Census Bureau, 21.3 percent of Anson citizens live below the poverty line. Statewide the figure is 14.3 percent.

Anson County Schools was awarded $501,788 for College and Career Ready Graduates.

Students will graduate with certificates of their "career readiness." The Fast Forward program will assist underclassmen who are performing below grade-level.

Upperclassmen will have laptops available. Teachers will receive training for the use of laptops and other methods of instruction.

The programs address many of the concerns citizens identified as problems last year during the public meetings. Most concerns fell under the umbrella of economic development, education, human resources and quality of life.

Proposals were made after a series of public meetings last year that helped determine what the community saw as problems, along with ways to address those problems. Each meeting forced citizens to make choices about what deserved the most attention and how to best address those issues.

Information about the grants is available at http://www.goldenleaf.org/grants/search.

According to its Web site, "the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, was created in 1999 to receive one-half of the funds coming to North Carolina from the master settlement agreement with cigarette manufacturers."