Agenda - 06-25-1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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24 project continues to function as a school - based, interdisciplinary effort to work with individual adolescents who are in need of special services. This program will provide one of the supports needed in the OFF program. The Department of Social Services has developed an excellent mentoring program for young adolescent mothers called the Adolescent Parenting Program. These activities have been supported by a number of private efforts. Two church - related voluntary groups in the County, the Orange Congregations in Mission in northern Orange County and the Inter -Faith Council in the Chapel Hill - Carrboro community have both contributed in many ways to the development of programs to assist low- income families. The Orange Congregations in Mission has been particularly active in supplementing the activities of the Adolescents -In -Need program. The development of a Planned Parenthood group has provided another important source of help for adolescents in the community. The Orange- Chatham Comprehensive Health Services Program, a community health center, has clinics in Prospect Hill, serving northern Orange County, and in Carrboro, serving the southern part of the County. It is an important resource for health services for low - income families, including adolescents. All of these programs, both those sponsored by County government and those under private auspices, have worked closely together to deal with the problems of poverty in the County. It has become increasingly clear, however, that there is a great need for adequate vocational training and job opportunities for both male and female members of welfare dependent and working poor families. Many of the individuals growing up in the County and now coming of age to form their own family units, simply do not have the training needed to compete for the high - technology jobs in the County and are relegated to minimum -wage jobs. This grant proposal was enthusiastically received by all of these groups in the County because they saw it as an opportunity to deal with a very basic structural economic problem in the County which had to be addressed before welfare families can move toward true economic independence. The leadership for responding to the OFF proposal came from Ms. Martha Pryor -Cook, director of the Department of Social Services, and Albert Kittrell, Assistant County Manager. These two individuals have taken the lead in developing both the initial and this current proposal. These individuals have worked with the full support of County management and the County Commissioners. Throughout the process, they have involved a large and diverse group of county residents, representative of community leaders from both northern and southern Orange County. A planning committee has met regularly to discuss the planning of the project.. Participating in the committee have been 6/19/91 The Orange County OFF Draft TWO Proposal 21 fi