RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina has received a $157 million payment from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which first occurred in 1998.
Per Attorney General Josh Stein, the settlement happened in 1998 after the state claimed that tobacco companies targeted advertisements at children and hid the harmful impacts of cigarettes.
The funds will go to the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to support infrastructure, workforce development and education resource projects in rural communities that were dependent on the tobacco industry.
“I want to thank my colleagues at the Department of Justice for working diligently every year to ensure North Carolina receives the funds it’s due from this agreement,” Stein said in a news release. “I’m grateful to the Golden LEAF Foundation for making sure that this money is invested in projects that give North Carolinians the tools and resources they need to build strong, stable jobs and lives.”