Almost 20 percent of K-12 students in North Carolina aren't attending school four days a week. In local school districts like Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools, these attendance rates are lower for students of color and students with disabilities.
Last year, the Orange County Board of Commissioners election was shaped by endorsements made by two local PACs: The Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town, or CHALT, is a group of community members who advocate for responsible growth and work to preserve Chapel Hill’s college-town character. Save Orange Schools and its affiliated PAC, the Save Orange Schools PAC, formed in 2020 in response to concerns over deteriorating infrastructure in CHCCS. Here's a look into the PACs of Chapel Hill and how they have impacted the community since their creation.
A letter, read aloud at a recent BOCC meeting, raised concerns about income inequality, expressed disappointment about how the board has handled issues in the community and noted that ancestors of many Black community members have lived in the area since the end of slavery.
Although rural counties have a lower population density than urban ones, they still faced periods of critical community spread. From September through November, nearly twice as many new cases were reported in rural counties than urban and suburban ones, according to the NCDHHS.
"Shaw Rising" tells the story of Shaw University’s history, the first historically Black university in the South. The film premiered on UNC-TV on February 26, 2020, and won a regional Midsouth Emmy in the Documentary/Historical category on February 26, 2021.
The council voted 5-3 in favor of the project’s rezoning proposal, which paves the way for developer Stackhouse Properties to build a new gas station, convenience store and multi-story self-storage building on the 13.9 acre site that it has owned since 2018.
Nearly one year has passed since the System's first day of remote learning, and the CHCCS community is reflecting on the challenges the year has brought while preparing to return to the classroom.
Many community members are frustrated that the board did not engage in a discussion about Latinx representation or racial equity before voting to appoint its newest member.
The project would redevelop the nonoperational Marathon Service Station and the Tar Heel Mobile Home Park by building a new gas station, convenience store and a multi-story self-storage building. Council members agreed that the project didn't align with the Town's land use goals and voiced other concerns, but their votes came down to whether or not they felt it was the best way to protect the park's residents.
The project was developed by the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History and aims to uplift voices, past and present, of Black Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents.
