The boards of county commissioners and county supervisors in the 17 counties in North Carolina and 12 counties in Virginia that host the Blue Ridge Parkway have passed resolutions of support calling for funding to repair the national park and implement the Blue Ridge Rising Action Plan.

On Jan. 12, Yancey County in North Carolina became the 29th county in the national park’s corridor to adopt the resolution. 

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has secured a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Dogwood Health Trust to support regional strategies to advance tourism and related economic development. The grant activities will benefit workers and businesses in numerous gateway communities along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. 

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) named George Ivey, North Carolina Development Director for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, to participate in the 2024-2025 class of the Appalachian Leadership Institute, a leadership training opportunity that equips Appalachian community leaders to use economic development as a tool to drive positive change. 

Six new recipients in Western North Carolina have been awarded grants to participate in the MADE X MTNS Partnership’s Building Outdoor Communities Program. 

The $100,000 grant to Haywood Community College from the Appalachian Regional Commission wasn’t the first made by the ARC in the area, but since the election of President Donald Trump in late 2016, there’s been an ongoing fear that any grant from ARC could be the last grant from ARC. 

North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, is known as a staunch fiscal conservative, opposing expansive federal fiscal policy set forth by his Democratic colleagues — except when it comes to his own district.