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Catholic News Herald

Serving Christ and Connecting Catholics in Western North Carolina
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052220 PPE2MORGANTON — An organization that has been a multi-year recipient of a National CCHD Economic Development grant is now at the forefront of efforts to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) in North Carolina.

Coordinating production of PPE in the central foothills region of the state is the Carolina Textile District, an enterprise of The Industrial Commons, headquartered in Morganton. The Carolina Textile District has been working over the past two months to integrate the manufacturing efforts of varied companies that are retooling to adapt to healthcare needs. The rapid adaptation that the Carolina Textile District has promoted among its member companies recently received national notice in the April Nonprofit Quarterly article “Masks, Mutual Aid, and Our Broken Supply Chains: A North Carolina Story.”

A variety of manufacturers in North Carolina – including Opportunity Threads, a founding member of the Carolina Textile District and a recipient of CCHD grant funding – have responded to the need for PPE supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These manufacturers are working with North Carolina’s Task Force for Emergency Repurposing of Manufacturing, which has been charged with assisting local manufacturers to help increase local production of protective gear to fight the spread of COVID-19.

The varied collaborative and member companies of the Carolina Textile District have now moved fully from making apparel, furniture textiles and other cloth-based consumer items to making

PPE such as medical gowns, masks and sturdy washable surgical mask covers.

The Industrial Commons established the Carolina Textile District thanks in part to multi-year grant funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a national program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that is coordinated in western North Carolina by Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte. Achievements of The Industrial Commons, as well as those of

Opportunity Threads, have been highlighted by the USCCB in its nationally distributed publications.

Growing jobs and rebuilding an integrated textile manufacturing base in western North Carolina – which saw catastrophic job losses in the 1980s and 1990s – have been goals of The Industrial Commons, along with sustainable practices, fair wages and cooperative worker ownership and profit-sharing. While the work of rebuilding manufacturing in textiles and supporting industries in the central foothills will continue once this pandemic has passed, it is fortunate that the foundational knowhow and worker expertise was already in place to help respond in the fight against COVID-19.

—  Joseph Purello, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Joseph Purello is director of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte’s Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy.

Pictured: Opportunity Threads employees at the Carolina Textile District work on mask prototypes as part of a COVID-19 PPE production gear-up response. (Photo provided by Opportunity Threads)

More online

At www.ccdoc.org/cchdcrs: Learn more about the CCHD Economic Development grant program and how it has benefited The Industrial Commons and Opportunity Threads in the Morganton area.