Connecting Greene CountyRural Eastern NC.ppt

Connecting Greene CountyRural Eastern NC Beyond Tobacco Misty Chase Director Background Project History The Beyond Tobacco initiative was a plan to help to improve a small rural county in eastern North Carolina. The initiative will help allow the historically agrarian community to adapt to a changing economy by increased agricultural and non-agricultural related entrepreneurial opportunities, job training and access to broader health care programs through online resources and computer access through the increased exposure of network availability to homes and business in Greene County. With Greene County being so dependent on tobacco and realizing with the federal cuts in quotas, decline in the number of farmers, and the buyout of tobacco taking placed in our community was going to suffer with increased unemployment. Our community embraced all of these issues and initiated an innovative and grassroots approach to education by providing every middle school and high school student, and teacher with an Apple Laptop computer. Project ITECH aims to prepare the workforce of the future through bilingual technology training beginning at the middle school level. The Beyond Tobacco project reaches all areas of the county that include both students, citizens, and business. We purchased a mobile lab of laptop computers that we train in the community which include a large population of senior citizens. The Beyond Tobacco project also aimed and has improved the economic well-being of our rural community. The project has changed lives in Greene County. It has had an impact on many families who now have a vision of the future. Greene County applied and received a TOP grant to assist with the cost of providing wireless network service to a population that less than 40% had any type of access to the Internet. A partnership with Wavelength Technologies, The UNC School of Government, North Carolina State University, Lenoir Community College, One Economy Corporation and o