North Carolina Fund, 1963-1972

The North Carolina Fund was an independent, non-profit, charitable corporation that sought and dispensed funds to fight poverty in North Carolina established by Governor Terry Sanford in 1963. With a grant of $7 million from the Ford Foundation, along with funding from Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation; the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation; the U.S. Dept. of Labor; U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare; U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development; and the Office of Economic Opportunity--enabled the Fund to support a broad program of education, community action, manpower development, research and planning, and other efforts to fight poverty.

Governor Sanford appointed Wheeler to the board of directors in 1963. This series consists of administrative and financial records, including policy statements, Board of Directors minutes, correspondence with executive director George Esser, speeches, records of meetings and conferences; proposals and grants; materials documenting the Fund's relationship with other organizations, clippings, audit reports, and financial correspondence and other financial records. Also included are proposals and grant applications for housing, education, community development, job training, leadership, and rural development programs.