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2001 HSAC Forum <br />POSSIBLE STEPS FOR IMPROVING TRANSPORTATION IN ORANGE COUNTY <br />1. Expand routes. <br />2. Turn all the existing human service routes into public routes based on seat <br />availability. <br />3. Create a regional transit system for para- transit in the community. <br />4. Improve non - emergency transportation. <br />5. Consider an annual public tax rate or transit tax. <br />Passmore said that accessibility to the community is the first step <br />toward personal independence and being able rise out of poverty. He <br />pointed out that accessibility was the number one issue for the aging. <br />Kim Cartron, policy analyst for N.C. Justice and Community <br />Development Center, made reference to a report written by her non- <br />profit and non - partisan organization called, "Working Hard is Not <br />Enough." The center's research finds that there are 1.1 million (or about <br />1/3 of the total) households in North Carolina that are not meeting a <br />basic needs budget. This number is about 1.5 to 2 times the poverty <br />level. She said that for Orange County, a family with a parent, an infant, <br />and a preschooler would have to make $17.25 an hour to meet the basic <br />needs of the family. She also said that some 29% of the families in <br />Orange County fall below this living income standard. She mentioned <br />several reasons for the situation: 1. Due to inflation, the hourly wage has <br />fallen 69 cents relative to what it was 20 years ago; 2. Childcare and <br />housing costs have grown drastically relative to inflation; 3. There is a <br />growing income gap; 4. Seventy percent of people on minimum wage are <br />family heads of households. Cartron concluded her talk with two <br />recommendations from the living income report. One was to mount a <br />local living wage campaign that includes a countywide standard. She <br />also spoke in favor of raising the minimum wage and supporting earned <br />income tax credits. <br />The final panelist, consumer Sonia Merritt, said that she has lived in <br />poverty every day. She said that the main question was what would be <br />done for poverty and how we could help each other. <br />W. <br />