Orange County to improve Family Success Alliance to help families in poverty

Orange County officials are engaging the community to improve the Family Success Alliance, a program that focuses on addressing the needs of Orange County families and children that live in poverty. 

Meredith McMonigle, project coordinator for the Family Success Alliance, said the program is in the beginning stages, which makes community engagement crucial. 

"We want to tap into the local knowledge and wisdom of the community," she said. "It's important that it be a community driven project."

The program concentrates on two zones of Orange County — Zone 4 and Zone 6.

Zone 4 is located between Interstate 40 and Interstate 85 in central Orange County. Zone 6 extends southwest from downtown Chapel Hill to N.C. Highway 54.

Volunteers visited both zones Saturday to survey residents, asking a wide range of questions about topics like health, transportation, feelings of safety and child care. 

Stacy Shelp, spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Department, said 20 surveys were completed on Saturday and 200 more were left at doorsteps. Residents are also able to complete the survey online at the county's website. 

Shelp said the data from these surveys will help the program's advisory council determine which priorities to focus on.

"We're hoping this information coming straight from the community will tell us where the biggest needs are and where the biggest strengths are," she said.

Orange County Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier, who is a member of the advisory council, said the survey will help the council evaluate the efforts that already exist in the county. 

"You can't implement a program for families to succeed and address child poverty without addressing what's happening in that specific area," she said, "It's not going to be the same everywhere and needs may be different."

Pelissier said the feedback might not demonstrate a need for new programs, but a need to integrate the existing programs.

"You want to integrate so you have a system in place so people can easily navigate the services," she said.

Pelissier said the council is also looking at the Harlem Children's Zone, a similar program that operates in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, to gain more input on what they can do for the program.

Shelp said all of the data will be compiled and analyzed by the beginning of April, when there will be two community zone prioritization meetings to announce the county's next step with the program.

The Zone 4 meeting will be April 8 at Stanback Middle School in Hillsborough, and the Zone 6 meeting will be April 9 at Carrboro Elementary School. Both meetings are from 5 to 7 p.m.