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4 <br />BACKGROUND <br />More than 120 Orange County community leaders gathered on November <br />29, 1989 at the Kenan Center in Chapel Hill to participate in a forum <br />addressing poverty in the county. Orange County Commissioners <br />initiated the all -day meeting in response to the 1988 symposium on <br />services for the county's youth. Participants included representatives <br />from community and county agencies and boards, municipalities, area <br />churches, the University, the County Commissioners, and concerned <br />citizens. <br />The morning presentation focused on the general demographics of <br />poverty. Panel discussions followed which addressed poverty issues in <br />three areas of concern: Education, Health and Employment. After a <br />luncheon address by William Friday, Honorary Chair of the Board of <br />Directors of the North Carolina Poverty Project, five "break -out" <br />groups met to discuss possible areas to target for the reduction of <br />poverty. The following pages include highlights from the morning <br />discussions, with the perceived needs and /or areas to investigate, and <br />some current initiatives in bullet format. A brief summary of the <br />outcome of the group session concludes the report. <br />To stimulate discussion in the break -out groups, Professor Andrew <br />Dobelstein of the UNC -CH School of Social Work presented enlightening <br />and somewhat startling statistical data on poverty in Orange County. <br />This information provided a base for determining what might be done to <br />reduce poverty in the county. Professor Dobelstein's report is the <br />source of all education data, health statistics, employment /income <br />patterns and child care statistics included in this report. <br />1 <br />