North Carolina Emergency Management has opened applications for a new $35 million grant round aimed at nonprofit organizations still rebuilding and repairing homes damaged nearly two years ago by Tropical Storm Helene. Nonprofits have until 5 p.m. EDT on October 16 to submit applications for the Volunteer Organization Recovery Fund Grant, known as VORG Round 3, which targets housing projects already underway across the storm-hit western part of the state.
The agency announced the funding opportunity Tuesday, according to NC Emergency Management, which is based in Raleigh and works to help North Carolinians prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies. To qualify, nonprofits must already be engaged in ongoing repair and reconstruction projects tied to Helene, and those projects must be located within North Carolina counties covered by the federal disaster declaration. Per NC DPS, the initial funding for this third round is anticipated to total $35 million.
The terms are notably flexible. The program imposes no maximum grant request ceiling, covers 100% of project costs with no local cost share required, and reimburses recipients rather than paying upfront, the department's announcement notes. State officials say the arrangement is designed to help volunteer organizations scale up construction capacity without taking on local debt — though because reimbursement comes after work is completed, nonprofits still need enough cash on hand to front the cost of materials and labor before the state pays them back.
How the Grant Program Has Grown Since 2025
VORG Round 3 is the latest expansion of a program that began modestly. An earlier phase of the volunteer disaster recovery grant effort launched in April 2025 with $10 million in initial funding under Session Law 2025-2, also known as House Bill 47, part of the state's early legislative relief push after the hurricane, per the same agency's records. Two months later, in June 2025, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1012, appropriating $18 million from the state's Helene Fund to NC Emergency Management specifically for grants supporting Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, according to BillTrack50. That bill allocated $500 million overall across multiple state agencies for Helene relief.
The scale of the underlying disaster helps explain why the state keeps expanding this funding stream. North Carolina officials estimated total storm damage across Western North Carolina at up to $60 billion, prompting the General Assembly to commit more than $1.1 billion in state recovery funds within five months of the storm, according to the North Carolina Housing Coalition. The federal disaster declaration for Tropical Storm Helene, designated DR-4827-NC, ultimately expanded to cover 39 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Where the Damage Is Concentrated
Volunteer repair crews are focused heavily on mountain counties where manufactured homes make up a large share of the housing stock. State disaster recovery planners noted this year that federal housing recovery funds heavily target counties such as Alexander, Burke, and McDowell, where manufactured homes represent more than 20% of local housing and suffered severe damage during the 2024 flooding and mudslides, per the NC Department of Commerce Division of Community Revitalization.
VORG Round 3 fits into a much larger web of state and federal recovery spending still flowing into the region nearly two years after the storm. As of mid-July, federal disaster relief obligations for DR-4827-NC exceeded $2.37 billion in FEMA Public Assistance funding and $201 million through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, according to FEMA. That money largely covers public infrastructure and safety projects, leaving nonprofits as the primary hands-on force for repairing individual homes.
Part of a Broader Rebuilding Push
The grant round also lands alongside other major state housing initiatives already underway in Western North Carolina. Last month, Governor Josh Stein announced a separate $53.38 million award through the Renew NC Workforce Housing for Ownership program, which uses federal HUD funds to support affordable homeownership for low- and moderate-income families in Stein's $53M homeownership fund for storm-hit counties.
The state has also worked to fill gaps left by federal eligibility rules. Last September, North Carolina launched a $50 million grant program managed by the Office of State Budget and Management to help local governments and tribes fund infrastructure projects denied FEMA Public Assistance reimbursement, a move detailed in Hoodline's earlier coverage of the $50 million infrastructure grant program.
Nonprofit organizations interested in applying for VORG Round 3 can find the full notice of funding opportunity at ncdps.gov/VORGrantround3, with applications due to NC Emergency Management no later than 5 p.m. EDT on October 16.
