NC H919

Appropriates $196,362 in nonrecurring funds for fiscal year 2024-2025 to North Carolina State University's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management for a pickleball wellness pilot program

Program targets eastern Wake, Halifax, and Northampton Counties to increase diversity (Black and Latino populations) and promote physical and psychosocial well-being through pickleball activities

Halifax and Northampton Counties selected as economically distressed areas where residents identified lack of active recreation as a top concern; eastern Wake County selected for its diverse population and new recreation facility

Initiative components include community interviews, branded program development, six months of weekly pickleball instruction with a delayed treatment control group, program evaluation measuring physical activity and social connections, and creation of a toolkit for replication by other community organizations statewide

Act becomes effective July 1, 2024, with appropriated funds remaining available to the Department and not reverting at end of fiscal year