Theme: Small Grants, Big Futures

If you only watched the headlines, you’d think everything is on fire.

Look a little closer and a different pattern shows up.
Quiet grants. Student challenges. Community funds. Prototype medicines.
Small checks and small teams doing work that reshapes what tomorrow can look like.

This week is a love letter to the people who get a little bit of support and make a lot out of it.

🌿 This Week’s Bright Spots

• Gingerbread artists from 25 states bring a beloved Asheville tradition back after Helene.
• 19 small business recovery projects across WNC get a $13.8M boost.
• Regional education and human service nonprofits share $1.8M in new support.
• A small HBCU on the coast pulls nearly $2M for research and first-gen students.
• Colleges nationwide receive flexible climate-action grants.
• 12 community-led projects across North America get funded to advance climate justice.

🏡 Local — Western NC

Gingerbread Comes Back to Asheville

The National Gingerbread House Competition made a full, festive return to The Omni Grove Park Inn after being cancelled in 2024 because of Hurricane Helene. This year brought 235 entries from 25 states, new awards for community spirit and rising talent, and a life-size gingerbread house in the hotel’s great hall.

Why it matters: It is pure delight and serious craft: hundreds of hours of work, collaborative builds, and a regional economy of bakers, makers, and visitors.

👉 Learn More: Southern Living​

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​$13.8M for WNC Small Business Recovery

Governor Josh Stein announced that 19 new small business recovery projects in Western North Carolina have been awarded $13.8 million through the Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program.

The money goes toward things like water lines, sidewalks, and basic infrastructure that small businesses need to function. Many of the funded projects are in towns still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

Why it matters: Small, boring line items on paper. Massive quality-of-life upgrades in real life.

👉 Read More: NC Commerce​

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Local Education & Human Services Get a Lift

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina approved grants totaling $1.8 million to support education and human services across its 18-county service area, including $573,585 for education and $1.26 million for human services, with significant co-investment layered in.

Why it matters: These funds back early childhood programs, K–12 learning, adult education, and direct support for neighbors who are economically stretched. It is the unglamorous backbone work that keeps kids learning and families afloat.

👉 Learn More: CFWNC​

🌱 Statewide — North Carolina

ECSU Stacks Wins for Health, Environment, and First-Gen Students

On the other side of the state, Elizabeth City State University, a small HBCU, quietly had a big month:

• $260,000 in NC Collaboratory grants for faculty research on health, environmental sustainability, and community resilience (Eastern Connecticut State University)
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• $1.9 million Federal TRIO grant to support first-generation and underserved students with advising, tutoring, and college success services (Eastern Connecticut State University)

Why it matters: For a regional public university, those numbers are meaningful. This is what it looks like when research, student support, and community care get fuel at the same time.

✏️ From Our Corner

Designing for the Quiet Builders

Most of the partners we thrive with are doing exactly what shows up in this issue:

• Running small but mighty organizations
• Holding communities together in unflashy ways
• Stretching every grant dollar into something that actually changes lives
• Building programs that will bear fruit years from now

Our work at Hornsby Creative Group is to give that kind of work the clarity, presence, and environments it deserves so it is easier to fund, easier to talk about, and easier to grow.

If you are in a season where your impact outgrows your story, or your offers do not yet match the depth of your work, and your environment is ready to (re)build aligned to create outcomes that reflect your vision, it might be time for a Clarity Session.

👉 https://www.hornsbycreativegroup.com/contact-us/scheduler/​

​All-Weather Style: Why the Women’s Valencia 3-in-1 Jacket Is a Smart Choice for Branded Gifting​

Published on December 9, 2025

🌎 National & Global

Catalyst Grants for Campus Climate Action

Second Nature announced its 2025 Catalyst Grant recipients: eight colleges and universities receiving flexible funding to accelerate projects like decarbonization, campus resilience, and climate justice partnerships with their surrounding communities.

Why it matters: These are not showpiece buildings. They are practical projects that make real places and student lives better.

👉 Read More: Second Nature​

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Community-led Climate Justice Projects Across North America

The CEC’s EJ4Climate Grant Program awarded nearly C$2 million to 12 community-led projects across North America. The focus: environmental justice, climate adaptation education, and resilience in communities that usually feel the impact first and the support last.

Why it matters: These projects range from youth climate education to culturally grounded adaptation strategies. The money is modest. The leverage is not.

👉 Learn More: Commission for Environmental Cooperation​

🌌 Cosmic & Possible

TY1: A Small RNA Drug That Helps the Body Repair Itself

Cedars-Sinai researchers announced early results on TY1, an experimental synthetic RNA drug that helps the body repair damaged DNA and reduce scarring after events like heart attacks and autoimmune flare-ups.

The team studied natural “healing messages” released by heart cells, then engineered a powerful version that appears to boost the body’s own repair pathways. It is still in pre-clinical stages, but if it performs in humans like it has in lab studies, it could become a new class of medicine for tissue damage.

Why it matters: Tiny molecule. Massive potential.

👉 Read More: ScienceDaily​

🧠 Learning & Youth — Future Builders in Training

AI Innovator Studio + Challenge

ISTE’s AI Innovator Studio + Challenge invites students and teachers to use AI for creativity, problem-solving, and positive change, not just content churn. It pairs project-based work with resources for educators who want to guide innovation with intention.

Why it matters: The brief is simple and aligned with our whole ethos:
Use Strategy, Design, Space and AI to solve real problems, with purposeful inclusivity.

👉 Read More: ISTE+ASCD​

P.S. If you are mentoring teens or connected to local schools, this is one to pass along.

🔍 Featured Intersection

Across all of these stories, a shared pattern:

• Small grants, big leverage.
• Modest teams, serious problems.
• Micro-scale creativity with macro-scale implications.

The future is being built by people who got just enough support to try something real.

That should feel familiar.

💭 Closing Spark

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”
— Albert Einstein

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The way we handle the small things is how we prepare for the big ones.

⚙ Grow on Purpose with Us

🔍 Clarity sessions for strategic brand alignment → Book here
​🎨 Logo, Branding, Experience Design? → That’s our jam!
​🧢 Intentional merch that matters → Explore Peak Promo​

Thanks for building what matters in community together.

By the way I’m John.​
Designing brands that actually mean something. Founder at Hornsby Creative Group. We lead with strategy, build with clarity, and partner with mission-driven teams ready to grow on purpose.

P.S. 🎧 Fall Feels and Cozy Chills — Seasonal Playlist

Warm, resonant, slow-building — the soundtrack for deep work and winter strategy.

Dec 2025 by Hornsby Creative... Aurora • A Slower Tempo PREVIEW   ​

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