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3 <br />MEMO OF TRANSMITTAL <br />TO: Members, ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />MOSES CAREY, Chair <br />BARRY JACOBS, Vice-Chair <br />VALERIA FOUSHEE <br />ALICE GORDON <br />MICHAEL NELSON <br />FROM: WILLIAM HENDRICKSON, Chair <br />Orange County fiiuman Y~lationa ~ommi~~ion <br />DATE: August 30, 2007 <br />RE: ORANGE COUNTY SOCIAL JUSTICE GOAL REPORT <br />The enclosed report responds to a February 2004 directive from the Orange County <br />Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The BOCC requested that the Orange County Human <br />Relations Commission (HRC), through the Department of Human Rights and Relations (HR&R), <br />develop a social justice goal for Orange County for consideration by the BOCC. Orange County <br />is one of the most progressive counties in the State of North Carolina. The National Association <br />of Counties was unable to find any county that had adopted a "social justice goal." <br />Consequently, the BOCC's interest in considering a social justice goal for the County explicates <br />the County's progressiveness. <br />Since the term "social justice" was first used in 1840, it has caused great debate amongst <br />and between social scientists, the faith community, politicians, national governments, and <br />basically anyone whose purpose is to define the term. Orange County residents and the HRC <br />also realized the complexity of defining or fashioning what "social justice" is or should look like. <br />To accomplish the BOCC's directive, Professor John Calmore, Reef C. Ivey <br />Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law <br />and internationally acknowledged expert in Social Justice Lawyering and Social Justice Practice, <br />was contacted to provide insight and guidance. Professor Calmore stressed the importance of <br />ensuring input is solicited and received from the primary beneficiaries of any social justice goal. <br />In adherence to Professor Calmore's guidance, input was solicited from the residents of Orange <br />County, from the human services departments within Orange County government, and from <br />Orange County citizen advisory boards and/or commissions. The enclosed document was <br />crafted based upon input from Orange County residents, input from Orange County human <br />services departments, and Orange County citizen-advisory boards and/or commissions. <br />