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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES February 18, 2013 2 Nancy Coston updated the Board on her recent meetings. Work Support Strategies focuses on having a better experience for families applying for benefits. There are a series of national meetings that come with the grant award from the Ford Foundation to the state of North Carolina. As past president of the North Carolina Association of County Director of Social Services Ms. Coston has an opportunity to be involved with the state level effort in addition to working with the grant as a local Social Services director. The meeting in Baltimore involved members of the Ford Foundation, the Urban Institute and Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Speakers came from all of the organizations including federal partners. Much information was provided on changes around the Affordable Care Act. The trips are short but intense. North Carolina is in the implementation of the first year and has two more years of grant work. Ms. Coston reported on the meeting with the Inter-Faith Council ministers. At the meeting, she discussed the operation of the agency’s emergency assistance programs. There were questions about how to coordinate efforts across agencies to provide emergency funding for families in crisis. Many of the churches involved have their own programs to provide emergency funding and would like assistance in screening families for services. Some counties have developed internet systems to track who receives services but that will be up to the churches involved. A committee was set up at the end of the meeting to further study the issue. No other action was taken at the meeting. 2. Poverty Discussion Nancy Coston wanted to share some of the information and discussion at the Commissioners Meeting on poverty in Orange County. Ms. Coston shared some of the points from the presentation made by Gene Nichol from the Center for Poverty at UNC. He noted the discrepancy in the income and racial statistics for Orange County. The Chair of the Board of County Commissioners asked for information about some successful programs that combat poverty. Sharron Hinton explained the goal of the Adolescent Parenting Program to prevent a second pregnancy, graduate from high school, and attend some type of post-secondary education. The work First program helps parents become more employable. The agency has programs focused on job training and employment services. The Work First program won an award at the last Social Services Institute for its job training program to train paramedics for the county’s Emergency Services department. There will be a press release going out sometime this week on the program and award. Ms. Coston added that even though these programs are small, the income earned by the families involved really can help move them out of poverty for the long term. Pat Garavaglia asked whether the Work First program took advantage of the Dress for Success program. Ms. Hinton replied that it did. Mark Dorosin commented he was glad the agency was planning a press release around the program. He noted that going back to earlier comments by the director around the disparities in the county, this may give private employers an opportunity to assist. He added he thinks the small number of successful clients is not a bad thing. Any time you can put a face on statistics it is more compelling. 3. Affordable Care Act Impact on DSS Nancy Coston gave the Board members a handout on the Affordable Care Act that was presented at the meeting in Baltimore. The Affordable Care Act requires a seamless integration of medical insurance programs. Since Medicaid was not expanded in North Carolina, the NC FAST project has to be redone somewhat to make the changes work. If people come in and are not eligible for either program, staff are going to have to tell them. Beginning October 1, 2013 people can apply for subsidy. The law provides subsidies for people making around 100% of the federal poverty level.