For more than two decades, the Mitchell County Development Foundation (MCDF) has supported the people, businesses, and community organizations of Mitchell County, North Carolina. We improve the quality of life by reducing poverty and improving the physical, environmental and business conditions of Mitchell County.
The Mitchell County Development Foundation is a community-based organization that raises tax deductible funds to support businesses in Mitchell County. The MCDF improves the well-being of Mitchell County as a whole by helping to implement the long-range planning of the county and municipal governments by working to bring together the various public and private groups necessary to promote job creation, business promotion and economic development.
Supporting Mitchell County, NC
MCDF SPOTLIGHT: REBUILDING AFTER HURRICANE HELENE
Hurricane Helene devastated Mitchell County in September 2024. Since that time, the Mitchell County Development Foundation's Small Business Resiliency Fund has awarded $1,451,700 in grants to 60 Mitchell County Businesses impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The Foundation wishes to thank the Duke Energy Foundation, the State Employees Combined Campaign, Hilloween, the Samuel L. Phillips Foundation, HCA Healthcare/Blue Ridge Regional Hospital and generous individual donors for their recent support.
With this fourth and final round of grant awards, the Mitchell County Development Foundation closes out its Small Business Resiliency Grant Program.
The Small Business Resiliency Grant Program awarded a total of $1,451,700 in grants to sixty businesses in Mitchell County affected by the storm. Grants were used to repair buildings, equipment and fixtures providing much needed financial assistance to Mitchell County. Despite concluding its Small Business Resiliency Grant program, the larger work of the MCDF will continue—as it has for more than 20 years.
OUR STORY: TOLD BY THOSE WHO LIVED THROUGH THE STORM
While it is hard to describe the devastation Helene left, the irrepressible spirt of mountain people is also impossible to ignore. This video shares what we’ve made it through and—even more importantly—our call to action regarding what lies ahead.
THE NEED
The devastation to Mitchell County has been widely documented by FEMA (Disaster #4827), the US Small Business Administration (Disaster #NC-20007) and the national media—including NPR, 60 Minutes, Forbes as well as other outlets.
Unless we take bold action, the economic fallout to our community could be catastrophic. For example, almost half (43%) of small businesses affected by a disaster never reopen, and an additional 29% go out of business within 2 years according to FEMA.
Despite these sobering statistics, we know that there is hope for Mitchell County. Thanks to the gifts and support of generous donors, business leaders, and longtime friends of the our community, we are changing this story to help the small, independent businesses that make the Mitchell County so unique.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Mountaineers have always rallied to help their friends and neighbors; never more than during a crisis. This spirit—combined with the kindness of friends and strangers from afar—means that our community has come a long way in a very short period of time after the storm. But there is still so much work to be done.
The Mitchell County Development Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit entity and gifts to our efforts are tax-deductible. Our post-hurricane rebuilding effort bring together a vibrant cross-section of our community focused on supporting all of Mitchell County. This includes community leaders, education leaders, and business leaders. To learn more about our work, click here. To apply for funding, click here.
As mentioned above, we are happy to say that as of September 2025 we have distributed $1,273,700 to 53 businesses across Mitchell County. For complete details about this work, please click here. For information about upcoming grant cycles please click here.
We hope you will consider joining us by making a donation below. 100% of received funds will support post-hurricane rebuilding efforts across Mitchell County.
