Orange County NC Website
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E <br /> N <br /> `l <br /> Orange County is part of Durham - Chapel Hill - Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization ( DCHC MPO ) , <br /> Burlington - Graham Metropolitan Planning Organization ( BG MPO ) and Triangle Area Rural Planning r. <br /> Organization ( TARPO ) . The County' s socioeconomic data is presented using best Environmental Justice <br /> ( EJ ) analysis practices, and included in DCHC MPO' s 2020 Environmental Justice Report . It is also part of <br /> DCHC MPO and BG MPO ' s Metropolitan Transportation Plans ( MTP ) . OCTS 2022 Title VI programs j <br /> remains consistent with MPO ' s EJ analysis . <br /> Methodology - Determining County Thresholds <br /> Orange County EJ analysis methodology follows the same process as DCHC MPO' s 2020 EJ Report . EJ <br /> " communities of concern " ( CoC ) are defined as any geographic area where the percentage of any EJ i. <br /> population is greater than the County threshold for that particular EJ population . US Census Block Group <br /> level data were used as the geographic area of comparison for each EJ population . County thresholds for <br /> each EJ population group were developed and used as benchmarks for comparison . Total population <br /> numbers for each EJ population in the Census Block Groups within the County were found and then k <br /> compared to the total County population to determine the percent of total population for each EJ C! <br /> population . Each County threshold was then used during the analysis and identification of EJ <br /> communities of concern . Regional thresholds are presented in Table 9 . <br /> 1 <br /> 12 % 25 % 8 % 12 % 13 % 5 % 2 % <br /> Table 9 : El Thresholds <br /> Each EJ population in the Count was mapped b US Census Block Group Block Group ) . An Block Group <br /> 4' <br /> p p Y pp Y p ( p ) • Y p <br /> with a concentration of an EJ population that exceeded the County threshold for that population was <br /> identified as an EJ community of concern . This comparative analysis was performed for each EJ <br /> population group to determine the locations of concentrated EJ communities of concern . For example , <br /> Table 9 indicates that 25 percent of the total population of the DCHC area , is an EJ racial minority <br /> population . Thus , 25 percent is used as the regional threshold for racial minority population . Any Block <br /> Group with a racial minority population representing greater than 25 percent of the total population in <br /> that Block Group is considered an EJ community of concern for racial minority population . <br /> c <br /> The determination of what is " disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental <br /> effect" as discussed by E . O . 12898 is context dependent . The approach used in the development of this <br /> EJ analysis to identify communities of concern is only based on available Block Group data and the <br /> proportion of protected populations that they contain . All transit project development processes should <br /> include additional efforts to utilize local knowledge of individual neighborhoods to identify potential <br /> populations that might have been missed during this Census - based analysis . <br /> Census block groups that meet multiple EJ Thresholds are identified as overlapping Communities of <br /> Concern . FIGURES 1 - 7 illustrate Orange County' s socioeconomic data by block group and identify which <br /> ones meet the County' s EJ Thresholds . FIGURE 8 identifies the overlapping EJ Communities of Concern . <br />