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BOARD OF ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (BOCC) <br />GOALS — 2015 UPDATE <br />FOR DISCUSSIONS PURPOSES <br />Social Services <br />Provide basic necessities to eligible families <br />through Food and Nutrition Services, Work <br />First cash assistance, Medicaid and Health <br />Choice medical coverage, energy payments and <br />emergency assistance. <br />Provide employment and training services to <br />both agency clients and the general public. The <br />job fairs, Skills Development Center and the job <br />club at Social Services are available to anyone <br />seeking employment. <br />Additionally the agency continues to run the <br />Work First employment program and two new <br />programs supported through grant and state <br />funds, the Food and Nutrition Services <br />employment program and the Workforce <br />Investment Act (WIA) youth employment <br />program. <br />Social Services developed a coordinated child <br />care subsidy program by integrating Smart <br />Start, federal funds provided through the state, <br />and county funds to provide services to <br />children. Staff worked with county officials to <br />address issues related to child care funding and <br />the needs of low- income families. <br />• The agency continued to protect vulnerable <br />the Centers. <br />0 <br />Aging In Community series that attendees <br />have begun to think about how and where <br />they want to age. <br />The Aging Board is discussing how we <br />might do a formal community media <br />camnaian to address <br />Social Services <br />Agency staff took and processed large <br />numbers of applications for the Affordable <br />Care Act. Many of these applications were <br />denied due to the federal requirement that <br />persons be determined ineligible for <br />Medicaid or Health Choice before they <br />could be approved for coverage under the <br />Affordable Care Act, and therefore are not <br />reflected in caseload increases. <br />• The number of participants in most benefit <br />programs has increased significantly since <br />FY2008 -2009. From December 2008 to <br />December 2014 the number of people <br />receiving Food and Nutrition Services <br />benefits in Orange County has increased by <br />nearly 66% to a current high of 12,048 <br />recipients. <br />The number of Medicaid recipients during <br />that time frame has increased by <br />approximately 26% to 13,575 recipients. <br />Over the last two years the agency has <br />migrated to the state's new case <br />management system for most public <br />assistance programs, NC FAST. This <br />continues to present challenges but <br />