Eastern North Carolina just landed nearly $54 million in federal Community Project Funding, a cash wave that ranges from a massive military construction project to hyper-local fixes for roads, sewers and public safety gear. Congressman Don Davis stitched together the 15-project package across nine counties, pitching it as a targeted push for public safety, water infrastructure and rural health care. He spent March touring communities in the First District to hand out the news in person and hear from local officials.
According to a press release from Rep. Don Davis’ office, the biggest single slice is $41 million to replace the Combat Arms Training and Maintenance complex at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. The same release lays out seven and six figure awards for wastewater denitrification in Tarboro, sewer repairs in Sharpsburg and Northampton County, and new public safety equipment in Ahoskie and Hertford County. Davis’ office says the money was locked in through FY2026 appropriations using the Community Project Funding process.
Greene County’s government, in a March 9 notice, welcomed a $1,015,000 award to build a new senior center and said the funding will pay for a modern, accessible facility for older residents. WITN reported that Washington Regional Medical Center in Plymouth is receiving $1 million for medical equipment, technology and infrastructure intended to stabilize services at the critical access hospital. Local officials told reporters that these health and infrastructure grants are meant to blunt the trend of hospital closures and give small towns a fighting chance to repair aging systems.
Seymour Johnson gets the lion's share
The $41 million headed to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base will pay for a new 35 lane firing range, classrooms, weapons maintenance areas and an armory, a full replacement that Davis and base leaders have described as overdue. That allocation is detailed in a December release from Rep. Greg Murphy and also appears in military construction materials shared by Rep. Don Davis’ office, which note that the project lines up with broader defense spending priorities for FY2026.
Town-by-town: water, roads and public safety
Off base, the money is far more granular. Tarboro is set to receive $1,092,000 for denitrification upgrades at its wastewater treatment plant, work aimed at cutting nitrogen runoff into the Tar River. Sharpsburg and Northampton County were awarded funds for sewer system rehabilitation, the kind of unglamorous but essential repair work that can be hard to fund locally.
Williamston is in line for a $1,000,000 ladder truck for firefighters plus $250,000 for critical road repairs. Bertie County was allocated $1,000,000 for a new 911 center and another $1,000,000 for equipment to go in it. Ahoskie is slated to receive roughly $606,000 for patrol vehicles and safety gear. Those local line items appear in district materials and were highlighted in coverage from outlets including WRAL and regional reporting summarized by Yahoo News.
Where the money came from
The awards were written into the FY2026 appropriations cycle through Community Project Funding, the member directed spending often labeled as "earmarks," tucked inside several larger spending bills that cover both local initiatives and military construction. Congressional Research Service and appropriations documents note that THUD and other appropriations bills are regular vehicles for CPF projects and that FY2026 packages combined small infrastructure grants with big defense construction items. That is the legislative path that turned town level wish lists into specific funding lines.
Now the pressure shifts to counties and municipalities, which have to translate those line items into visible work. That means hiring engineers, running procurement and lining up any required local match before a single shovel hits the dirt. Officials say timelines will depend on how prepared each project already is, so communities with plans on the shelf are likely to move first. For residents across eastern North Carolina, the overall package represents a sizable, if uneven, infusion of federal dollars aimed at long-neglected infrastructure and public safety needs.
