Orange County NC Website
� <br /> 1) Employment <br /> 2) Access to services <br /> 3) Housing <br /> 4) Community Participation <br /> The Employment Work Group includes partners such as Job Link, Durham Tech, and <br /> the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. The major accomplishments included <br /> developing an employment program for people who are homeless or who are at risk for <br /> homelessness to help them document their job-preparedness to potential employees. The <br /> main goal for this year is to implement that program and also to recruit employers who are <br /> willing to employ the people that graduate from the program. <br /> The Access to Services Work Group includes the Orange-Person-Chatham Area <br /> Program, Piedmont Health Services, InterFaith Council for Social Services, Veteran's <br /> Administration, and the Department of Social Services. This group is working on increasing <br /> access to health services, dental services, mental health care services, legal services, and <br /> others for the homeless and at-risk population. There is also a Services Coordination team, <br /> which is a small group of service providers who work with chronically homeless people, law <br /> enforcement officers, and outreach workers. The goal of this group is to help everyone come <br /> together and develop a treatment plan for people who are chronically homeless. One of the <br /> partners is Carolina Health Net, which is collaboration among Piedmont Health Services and <br /> the UNC Hospital System to serve people who are uninsured. Since 2008, they have served <br /> 33 homeless patients in Orange County, including 18 last year. The main goals are to <br /> increase the access, the applications, and access to disability benefits so that there will be <br /> income to pay for the services. <br /> The Housing Work Group has goals that revolve around permanent supportive housing <br /> for people that are chronically homeless. Since 2006, they have developed 11 out of the goal <br /> of 40 of these permanent supportive housing units, which are apartments. The main goals for <br /> this work group are to join with the 100,000 Homeless Campaign, which is a national campaign <br /> that is an effective model for developing this permanent supportive housing and gaining <br /> community support for it. <br /> The Community Participation Work Group has two main goals —to support volunteer <br /> efforts to prevent homelessness and to educate the community about the issues of <br /> homelessness. This work group is focusing on developing a support circle program, which is <br /> mostly people from faith-based groups who adopt homeless individuals and families and <br /> become their support network. <br /> Chair Pelissier said that there are a number of agencies whose job it is to address <br /> issues related to homelessness, the partnership with the board really leverages a lot of <br /> resources in the community that could not otherwise be done. She thanked everyone on the <br /> partnership on the board for the work that is being done, as well as all of the volunteers. <br /> 5. Consent Aqenda <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner <br /> Foushee to approve those items on the consent agenda as stated below: <br /> a. Minutes <br /> The Board approved the minutes from March 15 and 17, 2011 as submitted by the Clerk to <br /> the Board. <br /> b. Appointments — None <br />