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Human Services Advisory Commission — Minutes — June 18, 2001 Goals for the Forum to Accomplish, continued Mr. Hurston proposed the following reasons for and purposes of the 2001 Forum: • Develop a greater awareness of poverty • Disseminate information about poverty in Orange County • Do a comparative analysis of poverty in 1989 and 2001 • Look at the outcomes of what worked and what didn't work and possibly ascertain why they didn't work so we can use that knowledge to assist people out of poverty • Cite areas where the County could provide the most benefit to the citizens • Craft new initiatives and develop recommendations about where to go from here Co -Chair Wash asked if there are any questions. There being none, she then cited some of the statistics from the January, 2001 report of the N.C. Justice and Community Development Center and N.C. Equity, saying that a family of one adult and one child needs to earn $11.00 an hour if living in an urban area and that same family would need to earn $8.50 an hour if living a rural area to meet basic living expenses. She asked where would we get a better handle on exactly on what is actually happening in "poverty pockets" and how does that compare to the rest of the population? She asked, "How do we capture what different pockets are earning ?" Mel cautioned the HSAC not to get into this research too deeply because that may make our development of the Forum too laborious. Mel said that there is no question that we recognize a disparity of income levels among citizens in Orange County. He added, "That is not in question." He would like to see the 2001 Forum focus on the implications of this, and, what can we do about it, and, what should we do about it? Accuracy of Statistics in January 2001 N.C. Equity Report Co -Chair Wash asked if these numbers contained in this N.C. Equity report of January 2001 are factual. Mel said that we have to use some measure and this is the truth as the statisticians see it. Robin Barnhill suggested that we could ask for waiting lists from the different N.C. Human Service Agencies for further information on this subject. Other Solutions to Poverty Suggested Mel suggested that one possible solution to the problem of poverty may be something like teaching people about nutrition, money management, and budgeting. Debbie Kinert said that money will always be nice to have, but maybe another thing we can do to alleviate the problem of poverty is to build another kind of community initiative, such as "Circles of Friends" and "Circles of Caring." Marvin Block spoke about individuals he knows who cannot afford medicine and food. Possible Speakers Robin Barnhill suggested we get a speaker who was on the 1989 Forum. Marvin Block said it may be helpful to. contact someone from the UNC School of Social Work. Robin said we could get some people to speak on poverty and then we could have break -out groups. She also suggested inviting someone from the N.C. Justice and Community Development Center and N.C. Equity who produced the January 2001 report that Commissioner Jacobs referred to. Co -Chair Wash agreed. Mel objected that this would be from a North Carolina perspective. Robin Barnhill wanted a list of all the speakers. Co -Chair Wash asked if we should ask someone to speak from each one of the headlines that were used in the 1989 Forum? Marvin Block said that we could have someone who would "paint the picture" and how it affects individuals and families. Louise agreed that this could be what the keynote speaker would do and Co -Chair Wash and Mr. Hurston agreed that this was what we need to have at the beginning of the Forum. Protecting and Preserving — People, Resources, Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina — You Count! AREA CODE (919) 245 -2125: FAX (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL : npacigaRwco.oran orange. nc.us : WEB. ti m.co.orange.nc.us