Minutes 01-28-2020 Assembly of Governments

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10 At its May 21, 2019 meeting, the Board of Commissioners approved the creation of an Orange County Complete Count Committee (CCC) to develop and implement a 2020 Census awareness campaign to encourage residents to respond. Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Renee Price was appointed to lead the Committee, with Community Relations Director Todd McGee as staff liaison. The Committee is a group of community volunteers, local government elected officials and staff dedicated to increasing awareness and motivating residents to respond to the 2020 Census. The Committee held its first meeting in July and has been meeting regularly since. The committee is comprised of 56 members representing 28 community organizations and local governments. With increased awareness of the Census, more members are added to the CCC. The CCC will work with community partners to focus on hard-to-count communities, including people of color, non-English speaking communities, low-income families, people who live in non-traditional housing and the refugee populations within the County. An accurate count of these populations will ensure that all available federal resources will be provided to support these communities. Committee members represent a broad spectrum of government and community leaders from business, non-profits, faith-based groups, and other community organizations. The Committee has created a page on the Orange County website (www.orangecountync.gov/2020census) to house information and materials, including links to resources for the public to use to help promote awareness. The Committee has created several subcommittees to focus on specific areas: • Be Counted Sites: libraries, community centers, senior centers • Publicity and Marketing: Public Information Officers for the County and Towns • Hard to Count Non-English speaking: Chinese School, El Centro • Hard To Count Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) with Clients: Department of Social Services, Department of Health • Housing: County, Town, Habitat for Humanity, EmPOWERment, • Community Outreach: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), churches, faith assemblies • Business Community: Chambers of Commerce • Schools: Orange County Schools, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools • Colleges/Universities: Durham Technical Community College, UNC-Chapel Hill off- campus • Planning/GIS/Information Technology Support: Planning and Technology Department Staffs • Elected Officials: Serving as Ambassadors Among the Strategies that the Committee plans to use are: • Videos, Facebook, other social media outlets • News online and in print • Public Service Announcements on the radio, in buses • Posters in local government facilities, medical clinics and businesses • Get out the Count events • Tabling at events • Website with links • Identify trusted partners within the hard-to-reach communities to deliver the message.