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10 <br />PART 3 -Project Description <br />IMPORTANT -The FTA requires that projects receiving funds under Sections 5310 (Elderly and <br />Persons with Disabilities, Section 5316 (Job Access and Reverse Commute) and Section 5317 (New <br />Freedom) meet the needs that were described in the approved locally developed public transportation <br />human service coordinated plan. <br />A, PROJECT NEED/GOALS AND OBJECTIVES <br />1. Describe the tazget population for whom the unmet transportation needs as listed in the <br />approved local coordinated transportation plan for your area that this project seeks to <br />address. <br />Answer: <br />The Durham Chapel Hill Carrbom localized plan identifies the western part of the Research <br />Triangle Park area comprised of all of Durham County, Orange County (including the towns of <br />Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough), and Northeast Chatham County as the region <br />responsible for developing a coordinated regional public transit-human services transportation <br />plan. <br />ETS proposes to coordinate with the Orange County Department of Social Services (OCDSS) as <br />the lead agency to provide transportation services under the directives of the JARC program and <br />to provide a connector route from the towns of Mebane, Efland, Cedar Grove, Rougemont, <br />Alamance, and outer Hillsborough as a connector to the established route provided by Orange <br />Public Transportation(OPT). <br />Low income families in Orange and North Chatham County are faced with several major <br />obstacles in obtaining and retaining employment. The county ranks 10'~ in the state in family <br />income, 51 percent of the adult population have a college education (highest in the state), 87.6 <br />percent of the population earned a high school diploma, and the per capita income is $41,435. <br />Thus, low income residents in Orange County are competing for jobs with a highly skilled <br />workforce. Jobs typically obtained by them do not provide a living wage since the mean cost of <br />a home in Orange County is $382,000 and the median price is $250,000. On average, OCDSS <br />clients make $7.50 per hour. Both the limited availability and the high cost of transportation is a <br />major barrier to become self-sufficiency. Also, these rural areas frequently lack sidewalks, and <br />it is unsafe for families to walk along the roads with small children in tow. <br />OCDSS has identified transportation needs in four areas of support for its low-income clients: <br />(1) the Work First Enrichment Program, a three month life skills training program at OCDSS; <br />(2)job seazch mandated for its clients to continue receiving services; (3) transportation to <br />volunteer worksites for on the job training skills, and (4) provision of vouchers to former TANF <br />and other low income workers to keep them employed and reduce the number of applicants <br />returning to the system. <br />The goal of ETS is to establish a connector route to fill the gap in service area originating in <br />Hillsborough and extending to Mebane as Orange Public Transportation and Triangle Transit <br />(TTA route #420) serve the area between Chapel Hi11 and Hillsborough (including downtown <br />Chapel Hill and UNC Hospital). In addition, service will be provided to the residents in these <br />