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2 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING AND EXPRESSING APPRECIATION <br /> TO CORDELIA HEANEY <br /> WHEREAS, the Compass Center for Women and Families in Orange County supports <br /> victims of domestic violence with temporary housing, crisis counseling, safety planning, <br /> support groups, and the Triangle community with career and financial education, legal <br /> resources, and more; and <br /> WHEREAS, Cordelia Heaney joined the Compass Center as Executive Director in 2015; <br /> and <br /> WHEREAS, under Ms. Heaney's leadership, the Compass Center has changed lives by <br /> helping people navigate their journey to health, self-respect, and safety, empowering <br /> them and their families to lead productive lives; and <br /> WHEREAS, Ms. Heaney has promoted equal access to the services of the Center <br /> regardless of gender, gender identity, or economic status; and <br /> WHEREAS, Ms. Heaney grew the Center's revenue from approximately $700,000 to <br /> almost $2 million; and <br /> WHEREAS, Ms. Heaney has grown the organization to include its first Black African <br /> American Communities Services Coordinator, a support group coordinator for the Latinx <br /> Program, a full-time communications professional, a finance coordinator, and part-time <br /> positons in economic advocacy and enhanced services; and <br /> WHEREAS, Ms. Heaney directed a major fundraising campaign to establish the Safe <br /> Homes, New Lives program, a sustainable program for emergency shelter, restoring a <br /> critical function that had been missing in the community for thirty years; and <br /> WHEREAS, this program will consist of six apartments in Orange County to serve as <br /> temporary housing for up to 150 survivors of domestic violence a year, with a crisis <br /> housing coordinator on staff to coordinate and facilitate the work; and <br /> WHEREAS, even given the difficult circumstances of the pandemic, the program has <br /> opened its first apartment, and it has reached its $675,000 goal for the first three <br /> apartments and is working toward the fourth; and <br /> WHEREAS, the rationale for this "scattered housing" approach is based on extensive <br /> research conducted at Ms. Heaney's behest by Professor Rebecca Macy and a team <br /> from the UNC School of Social Work; and <br /> WHEREAS, the "scattered housing" approach shares overlapping goals with Orange <br /> County's practice of "rapid rehousing" for people experiencing homelessness, and Ms. <br /> Heaney has worked in collaboration with the Partnership to End Homelessness on the <br /> issue of housing; and <br />