Agenda - 05-18-2004-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner 7acobs introduced a special video presentation of former Chapel Hill Mayor and State Senator, Howard Lee. Mr, Lee currently serves as Chair of the North Carolina Board of Education.. Video Presentation: Reflections of the Past ... A Vision for the Future" Howard Lee Mr. Lee reminisced about the early days back in 1964 when he first arrived in Chapel Hill as a graduate student and very few new people were moving in to the community. Schools were not integrated and health care facilities were limited. During his time as Mayor, Mr. Lee focused on increased opportunity by endeavoring to recruit private businesses and championing public education. He lauded the efforts of Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey who undertook the challenge of providing rural health care tluough the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation, On the jobs front, he conceded that serious questions remain, but pointed to the locating of a community college campus [Editor's note,° Satellite Campus of Durham Tech Community College] in Orange County as a great beginning. Mr, Lee closed with, °T7ier°e is an awficl lot to be proud of, but then°e is a question young chilcb•en always ask on a long journey: Are we there yet?' No, we m•e riot there,yet. We still have a ways to go. "But, he added, there was much to celebrate, namely because the participants gathered at Forum 200.3, were willing to come together and spend a day focusing on the problem and concentrating on coming forth with new solutions. Keynote Address - "The State of Orange County" Keith Sutton Ms. Wash introduced Keith Sutton, President and CEO, of the Triangle Urban League (TUL). It was the issuance of The State of the Black Triangle report from the TUL in the spring of 2003 that gave rise to the selection of a theme for Forum 2003. A copy of the TUL report was provided to all participants and panelists in advance, Mr. Sutton began with the most compelling issues confronting the Orange County community in regards to opportunities for African-Americans: the addition of a community college campus, efforts to close the achievement gap and address students who have been suspended or expelled from school, life style choices and behaviors that impact well being and mortality rates, and institutional paztnerships to leverage housing, ,jobs, and health care.. He saw a great need for the community to examine all these concerns in developing strategies and options for inclusiveness and progress, and recognized that the TUL report could provide a platform for that effort to begin, The TUL Report, according to Mr. Sutton, was a representation of the status, aspirations, and future of the Triangle as a whole, and he felt part of the solution lay in the pursuit of critical partnerships among Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Research Triangle Park, the University, and historically black colleges and universities.. In his mind, a course and