Latest news with #GROWNC
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Governor Stein announces new additions to GROW NC team
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCT) — Governor Josh Stein announced that two individuals from western North Carolina will join the GROW NC team. Sharon Decker will serve as Senior Advisor for Long-Term Recovery, and Forrest Gilliam will serve as Legislative Director for GROW NC – both are based out of and live in western North Carolina. Decker, alongside her nonprofit Tapestry Collaborative, will contract with GROW NC to help lead a collaborative effort that produces a framework and plan for long-term economic recovery as the region rebuilds. She will also serve as an advisor to the Governor, GROW NC, and the Department of Commerce on long-term economic recovery, and will liaise with public, private, and social sector institutions to identify opportunities for cross-sector partnerships that advance recovery efforts. 'The devastation has been horrific, but the fortitude and perseverance of western North Carolinians is extraordinary,' Sharon Decker said. 'We will come back, and better than before. A strong plan, with actionable steps built on improved health care, more available and affordable housing, a strong education network across the region, planned economic development, strengthened infrastructure, and collaborative community engagement is essential for ensuring our recovery leads us on a sure path for the future.' Gilliam has nearly two decades of experience across all levels of government, including work on Capitol Hill for Congressman Heath Shuler, as a legislative and committee assistant at the North Carolina General Assembly for Representative Ray Rapp, as a member of Governor Bev Perdue's legislative affairs team, and as director of the Governor's Western Regional Office. Since 2020, he has contracted with the Town of Marshal as a town administrator, where he focused on efforts to find water and sewer infrastructure, with a recent focus on Hurricane Helene response and recovery. As a part of the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC), they will both play a key role in Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. 'I am committed to bringing leaders to the GROW NC team who will prioritize urgency, focus, transparency, and accountability to help rebuild western North Carolina,' Governor Josh Stein said. 'I welcome to the team Sharon Decker, a former Secretary of Commerce, to serve as a Senior Advisor, and Forrest Gilliam, a former Madison County manager and legislative liaison, as Legislative Director. I am grateful for their continued service to the people of western North Carolina.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC's new governor: Stein, Trump and the Helene recovery
Welcome to the governor edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. I'm Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer's Capitol bureau chief. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein had his first interaction with President Donald Trump since Trump began his second term less than a week ago. Trump stopped in Western North Carolina and met Stein on the tarmac of the Asheville airport. Trump criticized FEMA's Helene response in North Carolina, saying he wanted the states to handle it. 'I like, frankly, the concept that, North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. ... Meaning the state takes care of it,' Trump said. At one point while taking reporter questions at the airport, Trump turned to Stein and said that the state would need to chip in, too, 'like 25% or whatever,' video from C-SPAN showed. You can read more of our coverage of Trump's visit from my Charlotte Observer colleague Mary Ramsey, including him talking about getting rid of FEMA. While Trump was still in North Carolina, Stein sent out a statement: 'It's a positive signal that President Trump made his first visit outside the capital as President to our mountains. I thanked the President for coming and asked for his support of $20 billion in additional disaster relief and for 100% reimbursement of eligible FEMA expenses for another six months,' Stein said. 'Families, businesses, and communities are struggling and need these urgent resources to help them rebuild. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration in the coming weeks and months to get people what they need to rebuild and recover,' he said. Helene recovery is the first order of business when the General Assembly reconvenes on Wednesday to start the work of the long legislative session. Republican House Speaker Destin Hall said earlier this month that he'd like to pass a 'mini' budget bill for Helene. The House's Helene recovery committee meets Wednesday, followed a day later by the hurricane subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, known as Gov Ops. Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger chair Gov Ops, with Republican Rep. Brenden Jones and Sen. Brent Jackson as the hurricane subcommittee chairs. Gov Ops will bring in Stein staff to talk about his new Helene recovery office, the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, or GROW NC, as well as the troubled N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency. NCORR was heavily scrutinized by Republicans during former Gov. Roy Cooper's administration. The hearing is expected to include information about how Stein's new GROW NC will operate as well as the latest financial situation with NCORR, which requested more money in late 2024. 'Simply creating a new group to oversee hurricane recovery will not cure the ills of the previous administration,' Berger said in a statement. When Stein took office Jan. 1, he also took over Cooper's social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and X. As X continues to lose users to Bluesky, which operates more like X did when it was still Twitter, Stein has accounts there, too. Beyond his own Bluesky account, Stein launched an official governor account this past week, @ The cities of Raleigh and Durham both have official accounts on Bluesky, but I haven't seen state agencies there yet. You can find The News & Observer at @ Under the Dome at @ and me at @ Listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. On our new episode posting Monday, I'm joined by my legislative team colleagues, Avi Bajpai and Kyle Ingram, as we discuss the start of the General Assembly's long session and Trump's influence. You can sign up to receive the Under the Dome newsletter at
