Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
ORANGE COUNTY <br /> NORTH CAROLINA <br /> MEMORANDUM <br /> TO: Board of County Commissioners <br /> FROM: Cait Fenhagen <br /> DATE: December 9, 2025 <br /> SUBJECT: Update on Human Services Work Group <br /> In late 2024,the County Manager requested that the Interim Deputy County Manager convene a Human <br /> Services Work Group.The purpose of this Work Group would be to enhance communication and <br /> collaboration between the departments providing residents with critical human services and to identify <br /> overlapping work, inefficiencies and identify improvements to the service delivery.This Work Group, <br /> which first met in January 2025, includes the department directors of DSS, Health, Criminal Justice <br /> Resources,Aging, Child Support Services, Housing, Libraries, Office of Civil Rights and Civic Life,Arts, <br /> Community Relations and the Strategic Planning Manager. The Work Group meets in-person monthly <br /> and at the initial meeting, the Work Group developed the following mission: <br /> 1. Educate departments and the community on the full spectrum of human services provided by <br /> the County; <br /> 2. Map out the County's human services to identify gaps, overlapping or duplicative services, <br /> inequities, inefficiencies and opportunities to collaborate; <br /> 3. Formulate strategies and solutions to address gaps, increase collaboration and efficiencies, and <br /> ensure improved information sharing and navigation regarding services; <br /> 4. Identify, evaluate and track performance measures for county human services work and for all <br /> county-funded human services agencies; <br /> 5. Identify priority challenges, needs and solutions. <br /> The early meetings offered an opportunity for each director to share their organizational chart and to <br /> describe the programs and positions in their departments that provide human services work.This <br /> information-sharing moved quickly to a plan to apply a version of sequential intercept mapping as a <br /> strategic planning tool for improving system and service-level work for residents. Our team of <br /> stakeholders that encompass multiple systems would develop a comprehensive picture of how people <br /> flow through county government human services.The intercepts are the different departments. <br /> In meetings from February to April,the Work Group engaged in a lengthy mapping process of human <br /> services offered in these departments in the following areas: behavioral health, physical health, <br /> children/youth, housing,the unsheltered population, families, aging, employment, veterans, benefits, <br /> education,transportation, programming,justice-impacted individuals, harm reduction,food insecurity <br /> and protective services. The Work Group has been critically supported in this process by Kelly <br /> Guadelupe,the Strategic Planning Manager, and Delaney King from NCACC, who is interning with Kelly. <br /> 300 W.Tryon Street, Hillsborough, NC 27278 1 www.orangecountync.gov 1 919.732.8181 <br />