The Golden LEAF Foundation has announced who will receive its grant money. The funds come to a total of $1,723,168, according to an e-mail dated June 8 from Pat Cabe, the vice president of programs/community assistance and outreach.

Organizations and local government entities applied for just over $2 million in funds.

Proposals were made after a series of public meetings last year 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.

Grant recipients must agree to a formal grant agreement package that usually includes terms and conditions to be met.

Anson County Schools received $501,788 for "College and Career Ready Graduates." HOLLA! received $250,000 for a "Resource and Community Development Center."

Anson County received $80,000 for the "Richmond Street Sewer Project." The Anson County Arts Council received $150,000 for the "Ansonia Theatre Renovation Project."

New Ventures Business Development received $55,000 for the "Community Commercial Kitchen Project." South Piedmont Community College received $556,380 for "Guaranteed Job-Ready Workforce."

Hands of Hope received $130,000 for the "Circles Initiative Pilot Program."

County manager Vance Gulledge said the sewer project was truly needed.

"They told us at the beginning they wanted brick and mortar type projects," he said.

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.

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."