Agenda 05-02-2019 - 8-a - Minutes

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5 1 • "Resilience" Documentary shown to all staff last summer, along with discussion 2 afterward. Seeking to be a trauma informed care center. Working with ACES. 3 • Board Of Health awarded Orange County Schools with funding to purchase the CATCH 4 Curriculum (Coordinate Approach to Child Health) for elementary and middle school 5 students. Each year they put out a grant opportunity for their two school systems and 6 they have three applicants this year, and they will be awarding more grants this year. 7 • They are up for their community health assessment, racial equity, drinking 8 water/fluoridation. 9 10 Tim Smith said the BOH and staff is working collaboratively with other departments. 11 Quintana Stewart recognized their newest board member: Commissioner McKee 12 Commissioner Dorosin asked if the Health Department has a top priority for the 13 upcoming year. 14 Quintana Stewart said the Community Health Assessment and racial equity work. 15 Commissioner Dorosin asked if the Health Department works with other health 16 departments around the state, because he heard Person County has the highest infant mortality 17 and asked if assistance is offered to their colleagues. 18 Quintana Stewart said they try to connect monthly with their regional partners, of which 19 Person County is one. She said Person County reached out asking for assistance with nursing 20 staff training, and Orange County hosted them for training. 21 Quintana Stewart said right now everyone is working on Medicaid transformation. 22 23 • Board of Social Services Tamara Dempsey-Tanner, Chair 24 25 Tamara Dempsey Tanner reviewed the following: 26 The Orange County Department of Social Services (DSS) Board members would like to publicly 27 recognize the staff's ability to model resiliency and fortitude, not just in their daily practices; but 28 also in the face of unexpected and disastrous situations that impact our county residents 29 already at risk for health and economic inequity. Specifically, the government shut-down and its 30 impact on federally supported programs, along with assisting clients and the DSS staff affected 31 by Hurricanes Florence and Michael by providing inland shelter support and processing affected 32 county residents' applications for emergency aid. 33 34 In going forward into FY 19-20, DSS continues to be a key pilot site for NCFAST (North Carolina 35 Families Accessing Services through Technology data platform), providing feedback on user 36 testing improvements to provide a more efficient and effective statewide system. Our child 37 welfare program staff work tirelessly to ensure that children are in healthy, safe and nurturing 38 households, managing caseloads of 11-12 clients/families at any given time or addressing the 39 now 114 children in Orange County DSS foster care. While it is important to have realistic, 40 programmatic performance measures for quality assurance and improvement purposes, next 41 fiscal year will begin the State's review and subsequent action related to program non- 42 compliance related to these new State Child Welfare performance measures. 43 44 To date, there are 746 children receiving childcare subsidies, of which 55 are on a wait list now, 45 mandated as the State is reviewing statewide subsidy expenditures and allocations formulas. In 46 the interim, we are fortunate to still have access to local funds to support crisis situations 47 requiring childcare placement via subsidies. Our employment fairs continue to be a crucial 48 resource for county residents to collective meet with potential area employers. On average, 81 49 employers attend the bi-annual employments fairs with an average of 232 participating job 50 seekers.