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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHSAC Forum Report 2001r Poverty in Orange C The Issues that Remain Prepared by Human Services Advisory Commission Prepared for Orange County Board of Commissioners I �-Qv and Forum Participants. Background "Poverty in Orange County: The Issues that Remain," the 2001 Human Services Advisory Commission (HSAC) forum, began on a somber note September 12 as participants and presenters struggled with shock and grief over the previous day's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. HSAC co -chair Rosetta Walsh opened the event with a moment of silence commemorating the nation's losses before shifting the focus to the forum's topic. The intent of each year's forum is to bring together members of the Orange County community to learn about and help find solutions to pressing social concerns that affect people on a day -to -day basis. The 2001 forum (the HSAC's ?th) served in some ways as a follow -up to the poverty forum held 12 years earlier in 1989 ?. Overview Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs spoke about the importance of addressing four issues: protecting our freedom, protecting our health and safety, providing quality education, and helping those who are least able to help themselves (people and our environment) . He said that the purpose of the forum was to talk about those for whom we can provide more assistance so that they can be more empowered in our society. The issue has grown increasingly relevant because the most recent census data shows that there are still one million people living in poverty in North Carolina and more than a third of them are children. In Orange County, 10.5% of the citizens live in poverty. Jacobs made the point that the terrorists had performed acts of extreme spiritual poverty. Dr. Andrew Dobelstein, professor at the School of Social Work at UNC- CH, delivered the keynote address. He said that while improvements have been made on many fronts over the past twelve years, other structural poverty - related issues are still pressing in Orange County. These structural issues include the high number of single - parent families in Orange County (29% according to recent census data); racial discrimination and segregation that has led to African- American children being behind in school with respect to their white counterparts; and high housing costs that continue to push low - income families and 2001 HSAC Forum minorities further out into the County combined with an inordinate proportion of rental housing. Dobelstein said that Orange County should focus on changing the structural conditions that are leading to poverty. It should institute a county plan that acknowledges, analyzes, and "Children who grow up in distributes resources to alleviate these single - parent female-headed families are almost ten times more likely to grow up in poverty than children in two - parent married families." conditions. Human services agencies should evaluate their services and outcomes tracking procedures to make sure they're meeting people's complex needs rather than just carrying on with what they've been doing for years and years. Agencies should even ask: "Should we go out of business ?," or "'Should we combine ?" He said —Dr. Andrew Dobelstein that although the trends in poverty would not change quickly, community leaders — business, University — must be brought together with local government to address the issues. Dr. Rosemary Summers opened the panel discussion with a perspective on the health needs of those in poverty. She said that poverty is no respecter of age and all people have different but similar health needs. ORANGE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT STATISTICS BASED ON TELEPHONE SURVEYS 17% (or 18,700) residents of Orange County have no regular source of healthcare. Private insurance Medicare Medicaid Uninsured 75% 10% 5% 13 -14% (or 14,300) 8.5% said cost prevents them from going to physicians. 4% said cost prevented physician care for a child. 4.5% said that transportation was a barrier. 7% of mothers have little or no prenatal care. Summers said that often we assign health disparities to minority groups within our populations but that we really need view the disparities as being largely factors of poverty. The inability to make healthy lifestyle 2 "Poverty in Orange County: The Issues that Remain" choices, poor housing, and a lack of regular medical care are factors that impact the health status of the poor. Orange County Department of Social Services Director Nancy Coston made the case that poverty lies not just in salary figures but in the costs of things that are needed. Families must ask, "Do we have enough resources to pay for our basic needs ?" Housing, healthcare, and daycare come at a high cost in Orange County. She said that any family could become impoverished by an unexpected medical or unemployment crisis. Coston suggested the creation of jobs with more sufficient wages and job training. Josh Diem, Program Director for Project Home Start/ Inter -Faith Council for Social Service, said that one of the most important points in Dr. Dobelstein's speech was that there is a need for social services professionals to work their way out of their job. Diem said that he loves his job, but he hates that it exists. Social services agencies might accomplish this by taking discussions like this out into the public and forcing legislative officials to talk about the issues. He was saddened that the cost of living in Orange County was so high that some of the people who work in Orange County cannot afford to live in the. Rev. Sharon Freeland, Director of Orange Congregations in Mission, said that Orange County was prosperous, but that it contains many poor people. She found that poverty had become too intellectualized. She challenged the officials and professors to come to northern Orange County to see the extent of the lack of resources. She said that the real story of poverty should be told. She is currently trying to put together packages of help for people that draw upon churches, social services, and other agencies. Director of Orange County Department on Aging Jerry Passmore began by saying that all of the human services in the world mean nothing to low- income persons and families in the community if they cannot get to the services. All of the efforts to employ low- income persons and families are useless if they cannot get to the jobs. He said that if we are to solve the poverty issue today, the issue of transportation must be dealt with (steps he mentioned are shown in the table below) . 0 2001 HSAC Forum POSSIBLE STEPS FOR IMPROVING TRANSPORTATION IN ORANGE COUNTY 1. Expand routes. 2. Turn all the existing human service routes into public routes based on seat availability. 3. Create a regional transit system for para- transit in the community. 4. Improve non - emergency transportation. 5. Consider an annual public tax rate or transit tax. Passmore said that accessibility to the community is the first step toward personal independence and being able rise out of poverty. He pointed out that accessibility was the number one issue for the aging. Kim Cartron, policy analyst for N.C. Justice and Community Development Center, made reference to a report written by her non- profit and non - partisan organization called, "Working Hard is Not Enough." The center's research finds that there are 1.1 million (or about 1/3 of the total) households in North Carolina that are not meeting a basic needs budget. This number is about 1.5 to 2 times the poverty level. She said that for Orange County, a family with a parent, an infant, and a preschooler would have to make $17.25 an hour to meet the basic needs of the family. She also said that some 29% of the families in Orange County fall below this living income standard. She mentioned several reasons for the situation: 1. Due to inflation, the hourly wage has fallen 69 cents relative to what it was 20 years ago; 2. Childcare and housing costs have grown drastically relative to inflation; 3. There is a growing income gap; 4. Seventy percent of people on minimum wage are family heads of households. Cartron concluded her talk with two recommendations from the living income report. One was to mount a local living wage campaign that includes a countywide standard. She also spoke in favor of raising the minimum wage and supporting earned income tax credits. The final panelist, consumer Sonia Merritt, said that she has lived in poverty every day. She said that the main question was what would be done for poverty and how we could help each other. W. "Poverty in Orange County: The Issues that Remain" QUESTIONS AND AUDIENCE FEEDBACK: P Jae disabl ed. artha ? that she was disturbed that she did not hear Dr. Dobelstein address the disabled. She •found ng with her disability has been harder than dealing with racism. Dr. Dobelstein said that poverty- related planning has to move beyond particularistic issues and be more general. What should the churches do for poor people? (who asked ?) Freeland said that the faith communities have to get back to being proactive. The churches need to step out boldly with funding and with places for agencies to do the work. A study was done that said, overall, poor people do not feel comfortable in the churches. She is working with a committee to try to help the churches work with their attitudes about the impoverished. She said that disabled and elderly people also do not feel comfortable in churches because they do not feel included. Coordination of services. Kathy Bryan, Director of Orange Enterprises, said that there were a lot of services in the County, but there was no coordination. She said that there should be a single portal for all of the agencies. u is 171N sportation. Alex ? ?, from El Centro Latino, is concerned about making public transportation accessible to non - peaking communities. Passmore replied that there were some ,strategies in the works for using Spanish with the public transportation services. Outreach and communications. Joe Hensley, from the Dispute Settlement Center, said that there were two systems at work — services provided by the community and services provided by the community of poor people. He said that folks that are poor have worked out a system for themselves to provide the services that they need when they cannot get it from the agencies that claim to provide the services. He said that the people that are providing the services on either side are not talking to one another. He asked how to increase dialogue between the two sides and bridge the gap. Summers said that when grants and budgets are cut, the money to do outreach gets cut first. Public agencies would like to go out and do the outreach, but they must use volunteers. She encouraged looking at developing a community -wide system for outreach, not just for health, so that there is a coordinated system of getting the message out to people about what services are available. Poverty Issues and Strategies Session: Education (Lifecycle Approach) Facilitator/ Recorder: Louise Echols and Sheila Sholes -Ross 1. Family and Community Centered Approaches ■ Service Learning so people feel connected to the community ■ Expand the mentoring programs ■ Importance placed on school by the community 2. Alternative Education Options ■ Consider consequences of suspending LI children (LI lose jobs to stay home with or send to a 5 2001 HSAC Forum drug / alcohol environment where they come back with worse habits) . ■ Alternative schools for children who are suspended or have behavior problems. 3. Social Attitudes and Awareness about Poverty • Coordinated comprehensive approach to moving out of poverty • Coordinated services (education, childcare, transportation, etc.) • Family Resource Center • DSS Family Crisis Unit • Stigma of Poverty increases likelihood of Behavioral Problems, willingness to be involved in school activities for parents and students • Administer teacher training about social /family issues of being low income 4. Parents involved in Child's Education • Regular Communication with the Parent • Parents don't have choice in matter of the "prescription" school gives them. • Advocacy • Parental involvement from poorer families • Create family friendly policies for parent involvement, e.g. IEP meeting times and parent conferences. Allow and encourage advocates to meet with parent and school team, provide transportation to parent meetings. • Parental involvement with student learning. Address family issues such as nutrition, violence, school readiness, etc. Help with having a voice in child's education, help with homework and resources at home. • Disparity in school readiness. 5. Adult Literacy 0 "Poverty in Orange County: The Issues that Remain" • Provide financial support for work first families to get education/ training needed. • Professional development (time for all ee's to improve skills, e.g. literacy skills) • Seeing education as lifelong learning • Making computers and computer training accessible to poor families • Educate employers on work -based programs such as GED / Literacy and provide driver's license training • Provide ESL for all non - English speaking students and parents. Expect ESL students to learn to read and write in English. • Remove transportation and babysitting barriers 5. Bridging the Gap ■ Close the achievement gap between low- income and other students ■ Disparity between Chapel Hill — Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools Systems 6. Community Planning and Transportation • Involvement in before and after school activities difficult due to lack of transportation • Geographical and social isolation away from schools, libraries, and other services • Change policy on children having to change schools because of homelessness, job change, foster parents, etc. • Maintain Child Stability 7. Healthcare Issues (mental health, substance abuse, dental care needs, nutrition) ■ Poor healthcare and education may lead to behavioral problems and absenteeism 7 2001 HSAC Forum • Substance Abuse Issues (parents - children) • Dental Care Session: Child Care Facilitator/ Recorder: Sue Russell and Robin Barnhill 1. Funding • Provide additional subsidy for child care required for low- income working parents • Provide salary supplements/ support to child care staff ■ Expand with business partnerships ■ Allow and support family leave policies ■ Pursue more money from state /federal than formulas stipulate ■ Challenge public, private, and nonprofit organizations to increase effort 2. Access • Make child care accessible to low - income families • Provide information about access to services • Provide information about how to access any assistance (subsidy, etc.) • Provide community -based services for all children (targeting special populations) 3. Transportation ■ Develop child care with family- friendly transportation system 4. Quality • Increase/ encourage credentials for child care teachers • Develop supports to make child care high quality • Increase education levels of teachers "Poverty in Orange County: The Issues that Remain" 5. Community Education (importance of high quality /cost of quality) • Involve wider community / business/ UNC/ Faith • Be very specific about numbers on waiting lists Session: Health and Nutrition Facilitator/ Recorder: Dee Gamble and Rebecca Young 1. Nutrition • Basic groceries for families • Affordable, nutritious foods • Food Stamps - increase amounts and expand eligibility to be a safety net for working poor • Access to a diet balanced in fresh fruits and vegetables and less of the weight - gaining fillers - to improve health and productivity for low- income people. • Consistent nutritious food for the elderly • How to stretch nutrition dollars (most nutritious food the buck) • To have affordable, non -toxic foods and non - genetically altered foods available, preferably locally grown for maximum vitamin content, to all residents but especially to the lower income • Learning what constitutes a nutritious meal for people with special dietary needs, e.g. diabetes, food allergies, etc. 2. Financial • Affordable pharmaceuticals • Affordable health care services (sliding fee scale) • Meeting the financial needs of the client • Affordable health insurance • Universal health care for NC • Adequate Medicaid health providers, including incentives 9 2001 HSAC Forum • Full enrollment of eligible Medicaid residents • Many do not qualify for Medicaid or CHIPs, e.g. undocumented immigrants or those just above the poverty level 3. Access • Availability of outreach clinics in low - income communities • Access t quality health care • Difficulty of accessing health care (costs, providers, transportation) • Culturally appropriate /language sensitive healthcare services and health/ nutrition education • Need for dental providers including for elderly in rest homes, family care and nursing homes • Transportation • More school -based health clinics 4. Prevention • Adolescent pregnancy prevention • Adolescent health care • Prenatal Care • Family Planning - access to and information about • Access to preventive service • Access to health (including mental health care), especially preventive • Community Education re: Access to Resources • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 5. Advocacy and Awareness • Education (knowledge) • Sharing ideas with influential people • Support groups for individuals and care givers with specific health problems • Educating the Providers on the needs of Clients • Self - Awareness - know how to feel good about self. 10 "Poverty in Orange County: The Issues that Remain" Session: Employment Facilitator/ Recorder: David Thompson and Nancy Paciga 1. Is the compensation adequate to live on? 2. How do I get there? 3. Housing: Equal Opportunities, Affordable, Accessible 4. Job Creation 5. Adequate, F1eYible, Dependent Care 6. Use of Computer Technology to Streamline Consumer Access 7. Equal Access to Job Opportunities 8. Chances for people with criminal records 9. Substance Abuse Counseling on-the-job 10. Job Publicity 11. Employment Education: Job Seeking, Keeping Career, Enhancement 12. Job availability for those with disability 13. Language barriers for immigrants 14.EYpense of appropriate grooming supplies/ apparel Session: Affordable Housing Facilitator/ Recorder: Mel Hurston and Lynnette Jeffries 1. Provide Information to Persons seeking Affordable Housing • Information to help persons locate affordable housing in Orange County • Information regarding renter's rights • Train and teach persons how to obtain affordable housing • Teach persons to manage household budgets to better utilize their financial resources. • Develop workshops to teach persons the fundamentals about housing, maintenance, use of utilities, budgeting, tenant rights and responsibilities, etc. 11 2001 HSAC Forum 2. Availability of Affordable Housing • Housing convenient to transportation. Housing located near bus routes. • Available housing for persons with multiple members, i.e. larger families • Housing that complies with code requirements 3. Emulate Successful Program Models • Develop more programs like Empowerment and Habitat for Humanity • Work with federal government programs to help persons access funds to obtain housing • Seek and utilize government programs that encourage builders to construct affordable housing. • Develop a program that assists in the maintenance of housing 4. Housing for Special Population • Housing for special populations, i.e. meeting ADA requirements • Housing for the elderly population • Housing suitable for persons moving from group homes to independence Conclusions J 5 b �o,��5� � u �� ti k N � � �� HSAC to fill in recommendations. j4,J aj' / 12