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ORD- 2015 -003 <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: March 3, 2015 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 7 -b <br />SUBJECT: Family Success Alliance Request for Social Justice Funding and Approval of <br />Budget Amendment #6 -A <br />DEPARTMENT: Health Department <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Harlem Children's Zone Sample Agenda <br />Harlem Children's Zone Description of <br />Programs <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y /N) No <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Colleen Bridger, 919 - 245 -2412 <br />Meredith Stewart, 919 - 245 -2070 <br />This Item is a carry - forward from the <br />February 17, 2015 meeting cancelled <br />due to weather. <br />PURPOSE: To approve Budget Amendment #6 -A transferring funds from the Social Justice <br />fund for the Family Success Alliance (FSA) in order for 12 members to attend the Harlem <br />Children's Zone Practitioner's Institute. <br />BACKGROUND: The Family Success Alliance was created with support and approval from <br />Board of Commissioners in June 2014 in response to Health Department reports about the <br />growing issue of child poverty in Orange County. In May 2014 Health Department staff <br />highlighted a large and multi - disciplinary body of research showing that a family's income <br />shapes a child's educational, employment, and health outcomes throughout their life. In <br />particular, children who have adverse childhood experiences that are more common among <br />families experiencing poverty are at higher risk of health outcomes like obesity, depression, and <br />substance abuse. <br />The Health Department indicated that an approach being used with success across the United <br />States is modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ). This model brings together <br />collaborative partners to define a common agenda and common progress measures, coupled <br />with mutually- reinforcing activities targeted to specific high needs neighborhoods or zones. The <br />HCZ model has proved so successful at overcoming the impact of poverty on educational and <br />other life outcomes that it has been replicated throughout the country in a variety of forms <br />including the federal Promise Neighborhoods. <br />The FSA was modeled along the lines of the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) which provides <br />wrap around supports for children and families struggling to make ends meet, forming a cradle <br />to college pipeline of success. To learn more about how to implement the model here in Orange <br />County, members of the Family Success Alliance will travel to the Harlem Children's Zone and <br />