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Memorandum <br />To: Board of County Commissioners <br />Through: John Link, County Manager <br />From: Milan Pham, Acting Director <br />RE: Department of Human Rights and Relations Functions and Responsibilities <br />Date: September 1, 2004 <br />Attached are summaries of the proposed functions and staffmg plan for the Department of Human <br />Rights and Relations appended by more detailed information. <br />This plan reflects a change in focus resulting from the 2003 North Carolina Supreme Court ruling <br />enjoining the Department from enforcing the employment section of the Orange County Civil <br />Rights Ordinance. The shift of focus allows the Department to concentrate on the work of <br />preventing discrimination rather than reacting to it. These changes are contemplated in <br />accordance with the Board's original vision for the Department, analyzed by my staff and I, and <br />developed with support and guidance from the Assistant County Manager and Human Resources <br />Director. I believe the proposal presented herein adheres to the civil rights philosophy, that while <br />discrimination remains a reality, enforcement exists as a necessary corollary to prevention <br />through education, dialogue, and appropriate intervention. <br />As the Department has expanded its focus to include the important work of preventing <br />discrimination, the evidence has been mounting that an appropriate response to current <br />discrimination is as significant as the work of preventing discrimination. <br />Examples of reported discrimination brought to the Department's attention recently are <br />highlighted below along with the resolution. Names have been omitted to maintain <br />confidentiality and Department staff are prohibited from providing further information by the <br />Ordinance: <br />Enforcement/Fair Housing <br />• A resident from Bangladesh seeks to refinance his home in Chapel Hill. The mortgage <br />lending company refuses to refinance because they suspect he is a terrorist. They tell him <br />he is on a list of terrorists issued by the Department of Commerce. When he comes to the <br />Department of Human Rights, he does so in great fear because he works for a <br />