Announcements
Resilient Futures Co-Lab Announces 22 Grant Recipients Across North Carolina
April 7, 2026
Resilient Futures Co-Lab announces 22 grant recipients across North Carolina, marking the first phase of capital deployment in a broader effort to build a regenerative, resilient regional economy.
The grant program represents an early-stage investment strategy designed to surface fundable opportunities, build relationships across sectors, and generate real-time intelligence about emerging economic activity across the region. These grants function as a pipeline-building mechanism, revealing where capital can be deployed next and what conditions are required to support long-term, systems-level change in the region.
The program received over 100 applications spanning food systems, circular materials, housing, land stewardship, and community governance, demonstrating both the depth of activity already underway and the current gap between available capital and locally rooted initiatives ready to grow.
"We're delighted to provide initial support to this remarkable cohort of 22 initiatives, who together represent just the tip of the iceberg of initiatives across the region working toward stronger local food systems, a more circular economy, community health and prosperity, and stable living conditions. What excites us most is how much opportunity exists to interconnect and reinforce these efforts, and we look forward to structuring larger, coordinated capital deployments that can help this ecosystem scale what it is already building."Eva Gladek, CEO and Founder of Metabolic, a founding partner of the Co-Lab.
The grant program is the first of three capital deployment stages, to be followed by a catalytic capital layer and a blended finance vehicle aimed at scaling clusters of interconnected initiatives across North Carolina.
"This was a strong applicant pool. What stood out immediately is that circular, regenerative, and community-rooted economic models are already happening across North Carolina. These grants allowed us to begin building relationships with the people leading that work. We're looking forward to continuing to connect these efforts and build a more coordinated ecosystem across the state."Jennifer Germaine, Director of Finance at Blueprint for Impact and a founding partner of the Co-Lab.
The 2026 cohort includes 22 initiatives working across multiple sectors and geographies. Each represents an early signal of the broader transition underway.
Rada Foundation Inc. (RAD Studios)
Creates affordable studio space for artists and makers, strengthening the region's creative economy. This grant supports RAD Studios, which currently supports 12+ working artists displaced from the River Arts District.
Stony Knob Farm
Revitalizes a working farm through regenerative practices and infrastructure investment. This grant supports on-farm cold storage powered by solar energy, infrastructure that can be replicated on other farms in the region.
Mainspring Conservation Trust (WNC Wildseed Library)
Preserves and distributes native plant seeds to support biodiversity and community education. The Wildseed Library empowers residents to practice micro-conservation with locally sourced wild seeds.
WNC Food Coalition
Builds coordination across the regional food system from production to distribution. This grant supports an institutional buying network to shift procurement toward local food, starting with anchor institutions in healthcare and local government.
WNC From the Ground Up (Nourished Jackson)
Expands community-led food access in Jackson County. Nourished Jackson operates a food-as-medicine program, delivering food from 40+ local farms to patients referred by healthcare providers.
Crown Town Compost
Scales community composting to reduce food waste and return nutrients to local soils. The Residential Co-Op Pilot places shared, app-monitored collection bins in neighborhoods to lower cost and emissions.
Transplanting Traditions Community Farm
Trains and supports immigrant and refugee farmers. This grant supports the Seeds of Migration Producer Hub, providing shared accounting, logistics, and infrastructure so farms can focus on their core business.
UpCycle Fiber Inc.
Transforms textile waste into building insulation, advancing circular materials. This grant advances formulation, testing, and certification for insulation made from post-consumer textiles that cannot be reused otherwise.
RiverLink (River Cane Restoration Project)
Restores native river cane ecosystems to strengthen biodiversity, watershed health, and cultural heritage by developing a network of growers to propagate river cane at a larger scale.
Bounty & Soul (Rooted Resilience)
Expands equitable food access while supporting local farmers. Funding supports cold storage, shared tools, inputs, and seedling production for the farms and gardens supplying no-cost community markets.
Hospitality House of Northwest NC
Provides housing and support services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, surveying residents across seven counties on transportation barriers and local food access.
HERS LLC
Advances community-based programming that expands access and economic empowerment, supporting Community Health Workers who help people navigate healthcare, housing support, and key resources.
Blue Ridge Foodshed Commons (Foodshed Cultivator)
Supports food system enterprises through an incubator model. The first cohort brings 4 to 6 regional food hubs together for six months to co-develop diversified, mission-aligned revenue streams.
Watauga Community Housing Trust
Develops permanently affordable housing through community land stewardship. Having completed its first 99-year ground lease home sale, this grant funds a campaign to replicate the model.
Charlotte Super Fab Lab
Expands access to fabrication tools and circular production, investigating low-cost methods for grinding consumer plastic waste into feedstock for 3D printing with recycled plastics.
NEST (Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team)
Engages residents in hands-on environmental stewardship. This grant supports phase 2 of a food waste diversion program that collected 10+ tons from 160 households, adding smart-bin enclosures with fill-level monitoring.
Utopian Seed Project
Develops regional seed processing infrastructure to increase seed sovereignty, funding the initial stages of off-grid construction for seed cleaning, drying, and storage.
Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (Farm to ECE)
Connects local farms to early childhood education centers. Purchasing flows through the High Country Food Hub, creating a new market channel for small farmers while diversifying children's diets.
Mechanism
Fosters local production ecosystems, mapping food and beverage production capacity, contract manufacturers, and underutilized processing spaces across 25 counties in Western North Carolina.
Uncle Zev's Kudzu Bitters
Transforms invasive kudzu into a value-added product, turning an ecological challenge into economic opportunity while establishing a stronger organizational structure and expanded product range.
Seed2Shirt LLC
Develops a regional fiber-to-fashion system reconnecting agriculture and manufacturing. In partnership with Gaston College, it will explore refining blended yarns from recycled waste and regeneratively grown NC cotton.
Protea Design LLC (Circulocity)
Explores circular economy opportunities for material reuse. This feasibility study assesses spatial planning, infrastructure, and renovation costs to expand the Innovation Barn in Charlotte.
