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<br /> <br />Orange County’s anit-poverty program <br />zeroes in on downtown Chapel Hill <br />BY AREN BESSON | PUBLISHED 8 HOURS AGO <br /> <br />More than 20 Orange County officials and residents came together Thursday to brainstorm <br />strategies for reducing poverty. <br />The kickoff meeting was the first of many needs-assessment sessions for the Family Success <br />Alliance anti-poverty program created last year. <br />The Family Success Alliance Advisory Council, a group of 22 representatives from local <br />governments and non-profit organizations across the county, hopes to lower the rates of child <br />poverty in Orange County through grassroots outreach and action. <br />In December, the council decided to target its efforts in Zone 4 and Zone 6 of Orange County. <br />That progress continued with the kickoff meeting, which focused on the needs of Zone 6. <br />Zone 4 is located between Interstate 40 and Interstate 85, while Zone 6 covers the area from <br />downtown Chapel Hill southwest to N.C. 54. <br />Stacy Shelp, spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Department, said the meetings will <br />identify where the cracks are in the system and determine the best strategies for fixing those <br />cracks. <br />“The common goal will obviously meet the needs for specific zones, but then reach out to other <br />zones to provide different support so we don’t see kids falling through the cracks,” she said. <br />Carrboro Alderman Damon Seils said the program will more effectively coordinate social <br />services to increase access to education, food and health care for lower-income residents of <br />Orange County. <br />“We are in the phase where we are figuring out what the needs are so we can decide what to do <br />next,” Seils said. <br />Meredith McMonigle, Family Success Alliance project coordinator, said the data collection is a <br />participatory process.