Regular Session

our regular session. The board met in close session before this session. Uh no action was taken but uh direction was given to the staff. Okay. And so now we'll open up our regular session. Thank you all for being here. Today is already September 14th uh 2026 and we and I'll start with the public charts and I'll ask Vice Chair alum to read the land acknowledgement and then um Commissioner Valentine to lead us in the pledge. The board of commissioners ask its members and residents to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner both with the board and fellow residents. At any time should any member of the board or any resident fail to observe this public charge, the chair will ask the offending person to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control. Should the quorum fail to be restored, the chair will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment to the public charge is observed. Vice Chair,

thank you, Chair Lee. As we convene for the Durham County Commissioners meeting, it is crucial to recognize the painful truth of our history. We stand on the stolen ancestral lands of the Kataba, Eno, Okanichi, Shakori, and Tuscarora peoples whose deep connections to this land predates our arrival. We acknowledge with humility the unjust displacement and violence that occurred leading to the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their homelands. Their resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to their strength and spirit. May we humbly honor the ancestors and elders of these nations, both past and present, by committing ourselves to fostering understanding, healing, and justice for all who inhabit this land. Let us walk forward together with open hearts, acknowledging the past, and embracing a future guided by compassion, respect,

and unity. Okay. Yes. To the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you uh vice chair alum and thank you commissioner Valentine. I will note that uh Commissioner Jacobs, is she online? All right, she is online uh with us. Um vis uh she is remote today and so we welcome her to be here uh virtually. Uh the next item on our agenda is the agenda review and approval or agenda adjustments. Are there any changes to the agenda? I'll accept a motion to approve the agenda as the agenda as presented.

So moved.

Second.

Has been moved and properly seconded that we approve the agenda as presented. Any further discussion? All in favor say I.

I. I.

All oppose, please use the same sign. It passes unanimously. Next item on our agenda are the announcements. Clerk Wallace.

Good evening everyone. I will read the announcements published in tonight's agenda. Residents seeking assistance from Durham County Department of Veterans Services from Monday, September 21st through Friday, September 25th should note that limited services will be available as staff will be attending their annual accreditation training. The office will resume full service on Monday, September 28th. Customers can contact Veteran Services by calling 919-5608387 or emailing veteran services at

dcnc.gov. The resources for youth success and empowerment rise assessment center supports Durham families with youth ages 10 through 17 through fast screenings and referrals. RISE connects youth through trusting tutoring, through trusted tutoring, mentoring, mental health, workforce programs, and more. Walk-ins are welcome. You can visit their office at 2432 Broad Street or you can call 919-560-7661. They also have an email address rys at dc.gov. Durham Next in partnership with Durham County government and the Durham Sports Commission is conducting a feasibility study for Durham County Memorial Stadium. You can share your vision for the stadium's future through this anonymous 10 to 15 minute survey. Whether or not you've used the stadium, your input does matter. There is a link for the survey and to share your perspective. The Durm County Department of Social Services offers the lowincome homeowners relief LIHR program for eligible Durham residents. The program provides assistance on current property taxes for eligible homeowners. To qualify, you must own your property. It must have served as your primary residence for at least the last five years and your income must be less than or equal to 80% of the area median income. If you think you qualify, you can apply online. There is a link. You can apply in person or you can contact 919-5608000 to schedule an appointment. All September, Welcome Baby is collecting new children's socks sizes newborn to kids nine with a goal of 6,000 pairs. Donations support families through Welcome Baby's free weekly giving closet. There are several drop off locations. the Durham County

libraries that includes Maine, East, North, Southwest, and South YMCA locations, including downtown, Lakewood, and Hope Valley Farms, Book Harvest, Durham County Cooperative Extension. You can also host a private drive or a collection box. You can contact Cindy Riley at 919-5607319. And lastly, now airing in in TTouch with Durham County, host Deborah Craig Ray speaks with Derek Elings, director of elections about how to how to I'm sorry, what to expect for the upcoming general election and early voting. She also welcomes Kathy Effort Perry, chief employment officer, for a conversation on building a strong talent pipeline and fostering excellence across Durm County. You can watch the full episode on the Durham County YouTube channel. That concludes the announcements published in tonight's agenda. [clears throat]

Thank you, Clark Wallace. Are are there any other announcements from the commissioners?

Okay. Very good. The next item on our agenda, the approval of the

Dr. Lee, I'm sorry. Commissioner Jacobs has an announcement. Okay. All right. Commissioner Jacobs, if you can hear me, you can go ahead and speak.

She looks muted on the

Okay. Can you hear me now?

Yes. Yes, we can hear you.

Okay, great. Uh, thank you so much. And, um, I am um will be here participating for as long as I can. I'm actually at a conference in Toronto, Canada called Impact uh Transit Plus Community and I'm learning so much from this incredible city where 50% of the residents are

immigrants and refugees. 121 languages are spoken here. 400 people a day are moving to this city which is the fastest growing city in North America. So, I'm learning so much that I can't wait to bring back and share uh with Durham County. Um, I just wanted to add to the announcements that um I hope people will take advantage of the exhibit that is at main library right now until September 20th, which has um three rare prints of the Declaration of Independence. Uh it's an incredible partnership with Duke University and David Rubenstein who is sharing these uh prints with us. And it you can see them until September 20th, Monday through Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Uh Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 1:30 to 5. And I want to also give kudos to our library staff who've done a wonderful exhibit um tying in Durham's history to the Declaration of Independence and you can see that at the main library as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. Okay, hearing none, no other announcements. We'll move on to the next item on our agenda, which is the approval of the minutes dated August 3rd, um, 2026 or work session meeting minutes.

So moved. Move for approval.

Second.

It's been moved that we approve the August 3rd, 2026 work session meeting minutes. Any further discussion? All in favor say I.

I.

All oppose, please use the same sign. passes unanimously. Next item on our agenda are the ceremonial items. Uh the first one is

the introduction of Sheila Bratz, Durham County Youth Home Director. Good evening. Dwayne Brenson, assistant county manager. I'm excited to introduce our new youth home director this evening. Uh, Miss Sheila Bowen Bratz. She started with the Durham County Youth Home in October of 1998. And over the period of time, she's held the positions of detention counselor one, detention counselor 2, detention counselor three, assistant director, and now she is our Durham County Youth Home Director. She is an NC Central alum, also has her uh MPA, I should say, earned her MPA from the University of Phoenix. And I can tell you uh having worked with Miss Sheila for the better part of this year, maybe extending into last year, too. I'm excited about the future of our youth in the youth home. Excited about the future of the youth home. Excited for the community. I think uh she's going to be great in that role. her leadership, uh, the way the staff respects her. Very excited for the future that we have with Sheila in this leadership role. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Miss Sheila.

Thank you, ACM Brenson. Um, good evening, commissioners, manager Hager, attorneys, ACM, um, Joanne. Um, thank you so much for this opportunity. It is an honor to serve as the director of the youth home. My focus is to ensure that every young person in our care is safe, supported, and treated with dignity. We are strengthening daily operations,

enhancing traumainformed practices, and building deeper core coordination with our partners in education, mental health, and juvenile services. I'm committed to maintaining transparency, improving facility procedures, and supporting the dedicated staff who show up day every day for our youth. We will continue working to meet state standards, elevate program quality, and ensure families and the community have confidence in the work being done. Thank you for your ongoing support. I look forward to partnering closely with you as we continue building a safer, more responsive, and more effective youth home for Durham County. Thank you.

[applause]

Vice,

thank you, Director Sheila. I did not know Oh, you can sit wherever you're comfortable. Um, how long your tenure has been with the county. So, thank you so much for your years of dedication and service not just to Durham County, but to one of our most vulnerable populations here in Durham and also serving some of our most vulnerable population from other counties uh that are sent to Durham County. Knowing now how many years you've been with the county, I'm just really excited to have you in this new role. Thank you for sticking with us. Thank you to the entire team that work to build up leadership from within Durham County. I would love to see maybe some once you've gotten fully immersed into your role, maybe a way for you to express like what are the ways you've seen the county change even in its service to its youth and ways that we have been pioneers and like leading the forefront when it comes to how do we work in restorative ways to

support our youth across Durham County. Thank you,

Commissioner Burton. Thank you, Chair Lee. And I too was so impressed with your dedication to Durm County government and how many years you have worked for the youth home and because that takes real dedication um to work with young people, particularly young people who are going through some severe challenges. So, thank you. Thank you so much. I am looking forward to working with you and learning more from you. And also, I know we're going to take a tour of the youth home. Um, because that's a concern of all of us up here. We're want to make sure that no matter what the circumstances our young people are in, we know what that doesn't define them. And we know that they can move past wherever they're in in this moment, right? And so, we have to have the utmost faith faith that they'll do that they will get through this situation. And so, thank you so much for being an inspiration and like I said, looking forward to working with you,

Commissioner Valentine. Uh, thank you, Chair. So, Miss Prattz, congratulations on your your promotion. Generally when you think about promotions, people think that uh you are elevated to more responsibility because of your past accomplishments, but in fact, you're being promoted because of your ability to move the organization forward. And we're looking forward to your contributions, particularly in support of our young people in our community who need it the most. And so I look forward to working with you in your new capacity uh in the days ahead. Congratulations again.

Okay. And thank you. Thank you so very much and welcome. All right. Our next item

I'm sorry.

I just want to officially say thank you,

Director Bratz. You have been phenomenal in your um leadership during the interim period as well as now. and even when you were director, we have such a dedicated group of colleagues who are at the youth home youth home. So, thank you for all that you do for the youth and our families in Dora.

All right. And welcome.

Okay. Uh the next item on our ceremonial items is a very special one. Here we have a resolution for Miss Carrie Zimmerman Matthews 95th birthday. And we're we're going to have uh Commissioner Burton read the uh resolution.

Okay.

Resolution in honor of Miss Carrie Zimmerman Matthews 95th birthday. Whereas, Miss Carrie Zimmerman Matthews was born September 19th, 1931. Attended primary school in Wilson County, North Carolina, before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from North Carolina Central University, NCCU, formerly known as the North as North Carolina College at Durham. She earned a master of arts in education from NCCU. Whereas Miss Matthews was a reading instructor and undergraduate adviser at North Carolina Central University for over 45 years and served as a United States Postal Office Clerk. She has also served her community while being a member of Zeta FBA sorority incorporated Adafeta Chapter Chapel Hill, North Carolina since 1980. She has served in various leadership capacities for over 30 years. Specifically, she has served as president, secretary, treasurer, national panelinic council representative, and undergraduate advisor to the Omega Iota chapter at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Whereas, Miss Matthews is a lifelong member of St. Titus Episcopal

Church. She provides dedicated service to this episcal episcopal women, the altar guild, the holy cross senior organization, and the usher board. She is also actively involved in the community with other organizations including the [snorts] NCCU Durham Alumni Chapter. Whereas Miss Matthews was inducted into the 2013 circle of elders sponsored by the Sigma Kai Zeta Graduate Chapter Morrisville, North Carolina of Zeta Fi Beta Sorority Incorporated. The Circle of Elders continues the African tradition of honoring elders by praying by paying homage to women 70 plus years old that are active in the community, state, and nation and lead by example. Miss Matthew join Miss Matthews joins the over 180 circle of elders members that work tirelessly give of their time, talents, financial support, and other priceless wisdom. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Durham Board of County Commissioners hereby recognizes and celebrates Miss Carrie Zimmerman Matthews 95th birthday in Durham County and hereby urge all residents to take note of this observance. This the 14th day of September 2026. Signed, Dr. Mike Lee, chair. Nida Alam, vice chair. Michelle Burton, commissioner. Wendy Jacobs, commissioner. Steven Valentine, commissioner. [applause]

[applause]

Thank you so much to the Durham County Commissioners. and I'll be reading something on her behalf. Apologies. My association with Durham County in the city of Durham began in the early 50s when I started college at North Carolina College of Durham, currently North Carolina Central University. As [snorts] a longtime resident of Durham, it has been my pleasure to participate in numerous programs and activities and a members to impactful organizations. I have been a member of St. Titus Episcopal Church since the 60s and have contributed to the ECW women's association, serving as a member and past chair of the alter guild, ushering, hosting coffee hours, fundraising, cooking for the pancake supper, and overseeing the youth organization program. Also, I'm a member of the Society of Golden Eagles, class of 1954, a member of the Durham Alumni Chapter of North Carolina Central University, and I'm also a member of Zeta Fipeta Sorority Incorporated. It has been an honor to be a resident of Durham County and the city of Durham. I have been fortunate to raise my children, form lifelong friendships, participate in many church events, and most importantly, serve God and strengthen my my faith. Thank you so much. [applause] Take a picture of Okay. So, [clears throat] we'll take a picture here. Okay.

[applause]

I really like doing those.

I really really That's right. Okay. All right. Where are we here? Okay. The next item um will be the proclamation for world Alzheimer Alzheimer's and Dementia Awareness Day. This is There we are. Good evening, uh, board of commissioners and, uh, neighbors. Uh, my name is Adam Hoppler. I am the chair of the board of Dementia Inclusive Incorporated. Uh our aim is to build a community culture of well-being, inclusion, and hope for those who are living at risk of or with dementia and their care partners here in Durham County. Creating this type of culture requires work from all of us. Uh, as an attorney regularly working with friends, family, caring for their loved ones who can no longer care for themselves, I see the way that dementia creates a void that pulls in friends and family and pulls them away from community. When strong bonds are not already in place, it becomes incredibly

difficult to make them under stress. Uh, even personally in my own family, I've seen those bonds when in place stretched by dementia uh but thankfully able to hold. And so it's our desire uh at dementia inclusive to empower people to address uh this very difficult time in their lives uh as as much as possible. Uh so one of the things that our organization does is uh each uh world Alzheimer's or around the world's Alzheimer's day uh in the month of September we hold a forum. Uh this year it is uh September the 23rd coming up next week at the Durham Convention Center. Uh it's from 8:30 until 2. It's themed understand act together. We'll have speakers that are talking about uh our need to address the effects of dementia not just on a personal level but on a community level as well. Uh including one of our speakers being Durham County Commissioner Wendy Jacobs. Um so all who are here are invited and welcome to participate. Um you can go to our website uh dementiinclusiveincorporated.org for more information. uh and to register there. Uh again, thank you very much to the Durham County Board of Commissioners for participating in the proclamation of World Alzheimer's Day uh raising awareness of the very difficult needs that arise in our community from Alzheimer's and dementia. Uh it is appreciated.

Thank you. Any comments from our commissioners? Okay. Thank you very much. The next item on our agenda is a proclamation for diaper need awareness week 2026. Diaper needed awareness week 2026. Uh the board is requested to proclaim September 14th through 20th, 2026 as na national diaper needed awareness week in Durham County and raises awareness of of

diaper need as a public health and economic issue affecting local families. The proclamation also recognizes the work of the Diaper Bank of North Carolina and its community partners in providing diapers and other basic necessities to families in need throughout Durham County.

Chair Dr. Lee, I will um mail Mr. Sebastian Row um the proclamation.

Okay. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is a proclamation of fifth annual North Carolina Black Alliance Rooted in Wellness Day with

the National Recovery Month. Before that,

wait. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I missed I didn't see that at the bottom here. The proclam All right. Well, since I started with that one, I'll just finish and then I'll come back to the one I skipped here. proclamation of fifth annual North Carolina Black Alliance rooted in wellness day. Um and we do have someone attending virtually for this proclamation.

Okay. Um commissioners and guest in room. I am the access to health manager with North Carolina Black Alliance. um who was a 501c3 nonprofit focused on building black political and economic power by partnering in with black and brown communities across North Carolina. Um I want to thank you all for um issuing this proclamation. Um as a reminder that we all play a special role in helping our communities to be rooted in wellness. Um, and I invite you all to join us this Saturday, September 19th, um, to our fifth annual Ruda and Wellness Day. This is our fifth year uh, doing this event and our fourth year in Durm. Um, and we have a lot of resources and opportunities that will allow

community members to practice um, health and wellness at home and learn more about um, some of the different healthc care changes happening across our state and across our country. Um, and so we will be at St. Mark AM Zion Church from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Um, and we have a special discussion on our health, our power, our vote planned from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Um, there's no pause to attend. Um, and we just invite any and all community members to join us for a day of health and wellness. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. um we have it here and it is in our agenda and it can be more information can be found in our agenda here. The next item is a proclamation for national recovery month. Good afternoon. My name is Michelle McKenna. I work for Recovery Communities of Durm. Um, I am the peer specialist, administrative assistant, outreach coordinator there. Um, I've been working with them about seven years now. Um, I am a long-term person in recovery. I've been in recovery now 15 years. Um, so on behalf of the PL planning committee, I would like to thank the county commissioners for this proclamation and the ongoing support for behavior health recovery in the city of Durm. This year's theme is recovery is real, restoring every aspect of lives, emphasizing that behavior health is now recognized as an essential part of one's overall health and well-being. Visible and vocal means that a number of people are willing to forego anonymity and step forward to say, "Please don't define me by my disability

because my recovery is real." It is important to recognize that people in recovery achieve healthy lifestyles, stable homes, meaningful daily activities, strengthen neighborhoods, and contribute in positive ways to larger our communities. We will celebrate recovery month with our celebration on Saturday, September the 26. All are welcome. from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. this year. Um, it's going to be at the UMC Fellowship Hall at 12:09 North Elizabeth Street downstairs in the fellowship hall. Be prepared to be inspired by p personal stories of recovery. Participants in activities, enjoy free meal, and join a number of line dancing routines. So we are inviting the entire community to come together to support and encourage recovery. Last year we had about 200 people to show up. So it was a big event last year as well. That means people in recovery, people who support people in recovery and most importantly people who may be interested in taking the first step towards personal growth and recovery. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. comments from our commissioners.

Okay. Commissioner Burton.

Yes. Thank you. If you could just repeat when the event will be.

It's going to be the 26th of September. That's on a Saturday from 3:30 to 7:30.

And the location?

12:09 North Elizabeth Street. That's the big church on the corner of Trinity and Elizabeth. Okay.

In the fellowship hall.

Wonderful. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right, let's see. Make sure I'm not skipping anything.

Don't get called out here. Okay, I think that's the end of our ceremonial items and we will move on to consent to the consent agenda. [clears throat] Now, there's two items that we're going to need to pull uh because we have public comment on the two items. One is the adoption of the cultural roadmap plan pending modifications and considerations by upper management. Yeah, that's the item there. And then now that's 260448. Uh I think we have eight speakers on that. And then we have the uh what's that? 26 0479 which is the violence reduction working group resol uh resolution. We'll pull on that one as well. Okay. We'll have to assuming that we approve the consent agenda. We'll have to vote on those separately afterwards because we're pulling the we're pulling those off. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to move that uh before the new business um item that we have so we can vote on that and then if you know then we'll go into the new business the presentation that we have we good with that. Yeah. Okay. Good. Okay. So we have the consent agenda absent the 260448 and 260479 um what say you

I'll enter I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda barring those items. Second.

Uh it's been moved and properly seconded that we approve the consent agenda uh absent of 260448 and 260479. Any further discussion? All in favor say I.

I.

All oppose please use the same sign. Passes unanimously. The consent agenda. That is the consent agenda passes unanimously. Okay. So now we've had the poll. The next item technically is the uh other business, but we're going to handle the consent agenda items that were pulled off like we just mentioned. So we have 260448 which is the cultural road map um item and we have eight oh no six sorry we have six speakers we'll do three minutes each call three up at a time we have um ya Shabu we We have Katie Wyatt and Trish Li

Lemon

Limb. Okay. All right. I wasn't sure there. Okay. You can just line up over there. We'll have we'll put three minutes on the clock for you. And welcome.

Yeah. Thank you very much. I am Aya Shabu. I'm a local artist and business owner. Um, I'm coming before you because I want you all to approve the budget for the Durham cultural road map. Uh, we all know that Durham's history um, started with tobacco. It was tobacco that put Durham on the map. Um, and it was the arts that put Durham on the map for me. Baba Chuck Davis, the artistic director and founder of the African-American Dance Ensemble, recruited me from Cambridge, Massachusetts to move south. I have no family here in the South. I would have not come south or known of the South any other way had it not been

for the arts. Um, since working with Baba Chuck Davis, I was able to not just perform as an artist, but to bring art through arts integration into the schools. So, introducing young people and even elders as old as the um the young woman who received the proclamation or the celebration for her 95th birthday. I've also been able to bring the arts into nonprofit work and into social justice work. So, as we have heard today, we've heard about dementia inclusive Durham, we've heard about wellness day. The arts cuts across every aspect of our society. The arts provides access, provides awareness, even the event for um substance abuse recovery. That's a lot about storytelling and the arts do that really well. They create space for people who are marginalized, who wouldn't other have otherwise have a platform to be able to share their story and in a way that's very impactful. So, um I stand here before you as someone who has benefited greatly from the arts community. I've made my life as an artist. I've been able to support my family um through my art. Been able to purchase a home, which is pretty remarkable, especially in Durham. Um but I am grateful because of the community. And what's needed now is an infrastructure to support the work that artists have been doing. We've been holding the door open all this time. And now Durham is a very popular place for many people um when it wasn't that popular. And so now that it's becoming unaffordable, we need the resources to keep us here in Durham, keep us telling our stories, keep us amplifying the voices of the marginalized, um, and creating opportunities. So, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Good evening. Thank you so much for allowing us to speak a little bit about our passion for the arts and for the cultural roadmap. I'm Katie Wyatt. I'm the pretty new executive director of the Durham Arts Council. I've just finished my first year. I am also a violist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. I'm a violist with the Durham Symphony. I've uh been an adjunct faculty member at Duke University. And one of my greatest points of pride is that I'm one of the co-founders of Kids Notes, which is North Carolina's first Elsa inspired program. Uh, one of the other co-founders, Lucia Poe, passed away a few years ago, and if she had been able to be here tonight, she would have told you and pulled all of you aside with great vigor about the power of the arts to change our community. Um her name of course comes from her um former husband EK Poe which was one of the first schools that kids notes launched and we were in Eastway White Smith and EK Poe Elementary. Uh the coming up for the Durham Arts Council is Centerfest this coming weekend and we're going to have more than 50,000 people downtown. And I bring it up, of course, to invite everyone, but also to point it out as an amazing example of collaboration of the arts organizations and community-based organizations of Durham. This year we're partnering with Durham Parks and Recreation, the city's cultural and public art program, Durham County Sheriff's, Durham's Police Department, DDI, Discover Durham, and of course Duke Arts. The theme of this year's Centerfest joins with Duke Arts we the people theme and is celebrating all of the peoples of America. Centerfest and the work that we do in collaboration across the community really hits the four pillars of the cultural roadmap as they have been proposed. Cultivating leadership, balancing asset distribution, inspiring evolution, and fostering collaboration. We also I want to especially put in a

word of support for a management structure for the city and the county um to be able to have a seat at the table and a voice in the room ensuring a thriving creative Durham community because when we support the arts and culture we support our community's humanity. It is the way we bring together. It's the arts that's bring us together in celebration, in grief, in mourning. We just had an incredible September 11th performance with the Derm Corral over at the Armory and the Derm Symphony. It was, you know, that is the way we pass our lives and honor moments in time that mean more to us than anything. It is through the arts. Thank you so much for your support.

Thank you. Uh good evening. I'm Trish Lim uh with the Museum of Life and Science. Um I'm a Durm resident, a Durham parents um and an employee of the museum for almost 20 years. Uh and on behalf of the museum, I'm here to express our [snorts] strong support for the Durham Cultural Roadmap um and its vision for thriving arts and cultural sector in our community. Um the roadmap builds on many of our Durham goals. Um economic development and tourism, uh educational access, which is uh dear to us, uh neighborhood vitality and community well-being, um arts and culture are an important part of all these efforts. Uh at the museum, we see every day how art, science, uh creativity are connected and shape the next generation of uh creative thinkers, of scientists, of innovators. And uh we're very proud to partner with many artists and cultural institutions throughout Durham. Uh recently we've had uh we commissioned local local artwork for our new uh sustainability exhibit from here on shaping our future. Uh we

collaborated with the North Carolina school of science and math on their art of a scientist exhibit to host that. um and um are always um proud to partner with the many um artists in our community for our uh programs, our public events, and our workshops. Uh these partnerships always make our work stronger. Art offers another avenue for us into scientific inquiry. Um encouraging many of the things that science depends on like observation and curiosity and creativity and a willingness to see the world in new ways. Um, this is a big year for many uh places in Durham, including the museum, as we celebrate our 80th anniversary. Um, it reminds me of the importance of celebrating and preserving Durham's cultural history and investing in our future. Uh, supporting arts and culture in Durham means investing in our vibrant community, um, attracting visitors and strengthening our economy, and giving people like me a place I'm proud to live and work and raise my family. Um, thank you for your investment in Durham's cultural community and consideration of the proposal.

Thank you. The next uh three speakers on this topic is Margaret McNab, Tim Walter, and Ivonne Coleman. Good evening, commissioners. I am so pleased to be with you here tonight. Um, I'm Mark McNab, chair of the Durham Cultural Advisory Board. I'm a longtime resident, uh, Durham public schools parent and advocate for freelancers and independent workers, strategic adviser to entrepreneurial support organizations and cultural instit uh, institutions and voice of the innovation community. I got

my career started uh, in the music industry um, as a publicist. So speaking for um, for the musicians. So, I um I'm doing my best in this role to continue that work and speaking for artists and creatives that have been a part of my whole career and certainly my whole life here. Um I want to express my support for the Durham Cultural Road MAPAP. Thousands of artists and creatives and residents came together to um to weigh in on this plan. That's in addition to so many people who volunteered their time and energy. Um the people before me on the cultural advisory board, on the cultural roadmap planning committee, and then um uh public art committee. Gosh, I could go on and on. And then also I want to recognize um our city and county staff who moved this whole process forward. It was it's been an incredible effort. And then um of course MJR partners, our our consultant who was able to come in and work with our community to come up with a plan, a shared direction, uh a vision for creating or for investing in arts and culture as actual infrastructure for our community. a way to put artists and creatives to work doing what they do best, which is solving problems, keeping things interesting, and um and bringing us all together. Um, I uh I was really excited by your comments at the work session this last week and hearing how the arts have touched uh all of your lives and what you see as possible for um our community and the ways that we can u maximize the resources that we already have and use um the arts as uh as a multiplier. So I want to thank you for your consideration today. Um and uh

and I I think that so much of the excitement will come in the implementation FRA phase. Um I'm really looking forward to that. Um if you all are to to approve this plan today um and I feel like this is just the beginning of something really really exciting for our community. So thank you all.

Thank you. Hey there, I'm Tim Walter. I'm a Durham native. Was born in Duke South in the 60s. Um I returned here uh in 2013 14 um bought the building we know as the fruit now, formerly Durham Fruit and Produce Company. And I learned uh on Tuesday that y'all didn't or last Tuesday y'all didn't actually know a whole lot about the fruit. But we do offer free studio space, mentoring, we offer grants, we offer subsidized performance space and professional services. Um so we're doing what's in this plan. I've got, you know, that's I'm [snorts] anxious for the government to up its game in the arts sector. Um, in the four years that this plan has been surveyed and what you see before you, um, my team and I, the value of of those grants and the like that we've done is $1.2 million. So, if you want to know how serious I am about the arts, that's a big number to me. The um the recommendations that you're going to that you're going to vote on are not controversial. Um Norfolk, the city of Norfolk um wrote into their plan the idea of incubation,

neighborhood-based um funding and equity as key. Americans for the Arts speaks eloquently on the arts as infrastructure and civic infrastructure and discover Durham's 20-y year plan includes celebrating and funding arts programming that reward that notices our history and celebrates our heroes. So, this is this is um safe. Okay. What you're going to vote on, there are two things that if If that's the case that I want to highlight though, one is I I think you're I don't think that the funding request is based in reality. Uh I think it's well censored and people are just trying to feed you something that you'll be comfortable with. I know that when we look at the the size of the arts and culture sector that the arts council puts together, they come up with like $140 million. the number is easily three times that uh if you include what goes on in the private sector in the education world and the like. The last thing I'll say is this plan uh the last public meeting on this was in September a year ago and then the staff and their advisory boards and the arts council and some other groups took it private and we still don't even have a proposal publicly available on the roadmap website. Thank you. [clears throat]

Thank you. Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Yvon Coleman. I am honored to have represented you, the county commissioners on the Durham Cultural Advisory Board for six or seven or eight years. But I'm here to say thank you. I

want to thank the chair, the vice chair, members of the commission, but especially the manager. When we started this process, Laura Richie and I came to you and with a crazy idea that it was time to do some additional planning. And I want to lift up Laura Richie's name because she would be standing here because we were tied at the hip for over six years in pushing this plan forward. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for thinking about long-term infrastructure. Thank you for thinking bigger than today. Thank you for being open to what will happen and the possibilities of tomorrow. And for recognizing that arts and humanities and our history and culture is a very important part of Durham's infrastructure. I want to thank Steve Shu and Zena for uh POW for being our co-chair and thank Commissioner Burton for jumping in and being such an excellent representative on behalf of the county. And lastly to the staff Perry, I know you didn't always think that we had we were making sense um but you hung in there with us for over the last 10 years and we appreciate your support and Brenda's support. So thank you very very much for recognizing the importance of supporting infrastructure.

Thank you. [clears throat] That was the last uh public speaker on um on this topic here. The 26 oh no the uh 260448. Um, we'll go ahead and vote on this one. Did you have any comment? Any comments from the commissioners?

Sorry. I had to leave the work session, so I wasn't able to share comments, but um, just wanted to first take a point of

personal privilege to congratulate Miss Kleman on being cancer free and for going through that journey and for her healing. [applause] Congratulations. and thank you for being dedicated to Durham County and continuing your service through the cultural advisory board and also you've left us now but the memorial stadium authority board and so many other ways that you serve Durham County. So, thank you and I'm really excited that this is coming forward to us and I know we're reading through the um sorry the report I saw there was like you know conversations or parts about education and youth development plans. I would love it maybe in this conversation if there is staff president or members of the council of the advisory council to share about it. But I've just seen like myself like as a mom now of two youngans wondering like how we're bringing in more of like Durham public schools into this cuz my kid who's two now he's in speech therapy at his daycare and a big portion of what's helped him in his speech therapy has been his therapist sitting with him with art and drawing and helping him learn words that way. And so wondering, you know, what ways this roadmap um is working within Durham public schools and also other health related um pieces because I think, you know, arts goes beyond just its own sector. It touches so many um other pieces of our lives. I don't know if there's anyone who' be able to answer that question. And also, Miss Coleman, if it makes you feel any better, I think Perry also doesn't understand some doesn't make thinks that some of the things I say don't make sense all the time.

Hi, good evening, commissioners. Rebecca Holmes with the city of Durham. Um, thank you for having us. Uh, we do really value that educational component of the arts in this plan and education.

We're actually forging a partnership right now with uh Durham Arts Council for next summer to provide youth programming during those after school or you know during summer months. Um but we really see this as a core point of how we're going to impact our next generation of creative thinkers. So, um we're working with our participatory budgeting um staff and at the city side to help uh build some murals at schools. So, we're hoping to continue to forge that relationship with DPS so that we can figure out more ways to get artists and local artists involved in the plan.

Wonderful. That No, that's wonderful and great to hear. And also maybe like in those conversations related to um the guidance counselors within DPS and like building relationships there around like healing and restorative work with our youth of helping them cope with you know stress, anxiety, learning in different ways through art as well.

Agreed.

Commissioner Burton.

Yes. Thank you so much Chair Lee. And I just wanted to piggyback on what Vice Chair Alam said with regards to our youth. Um, definitely partnering with Durham public schools and I know the DPS foundation gave away grant they give away grants but I remember one year I believe when I was on the board they gave a grant to Hillside High School where the students painted a beautiful mural of Parley Murray. Um, so yeah, I like that idea really working closely with the schools. But I wanted to ask um Manager Hager, I know that we're supposed to do like youth grants and things like that and I was wondering when is that going to come about since we're talking about youth and things like that. We will give the board an update on those grants at the next meeting. Our intent is to share updates.

The process will look very similar to the strategies used when we did the American Rescue Plan Act grants. Um, similar framework. Um, and we're excited. There's because of budget limitations, we only were able to allocate $400,000. Um but they would uh entities that are eligible could apply in several focus areas including areas that are um arts related. Um youth programming is very important to all of our board members as well as myself. And um I know that for many of us we're anchored in um the arts from our background. So we're grateful for that.

Yes. and I'm really excited about the cultural um roadmap. So, thank you to the cultural roadmap team and thank you Rebecca for all your hard work. So, thanks.

Thank you,

Commissioner Valentine.

Yes. I just want to say uh thank you again to the Dorm Cultural Roadap uh committee and the time that they have uh put into this endeavor. Um, I would like to just say that I think that we don't truly know the economic impact with respect to the arts. And so I look forward to the implementation. Uh, the question that I have, however, from one of our speakers, they talked about the proposal not being publicly available. Did can we have someone speak to that point to give me a little bit more context? Uh, good afternoon or good evening again. Um, we have the plan posted publicly on creative durham.org along with some quick guides on what Margie and her team worked on. So, all that information is on creative durham.org.

Thank you.

Yeah,

I just was reminded of another comment from Commissioner Burton u mentioning DPS Foundation. Love to highlight I'm sure this is already going to be part of y'all's programming but like integrating with the DPS a night to shine um which is usually in the beginning of the year every year that highlights uh Durham public school students. They put on an amazing show of singing. Um the last time I went I definitely I cried. I it is beautiful to watch these elementary and middle school students perform. And if you even come to my office, um they weren't selling them, but I nagged and nagged them until they let me buy one of the students artwork. So if you come outside my office, there's a painting of a it's called Happy Tiger of a third grader from Durham Public Schools painted. Um, and I encourage everyone to participate in DPS's night to shine and support our, you know, our Durham public school students showcasing their artwork and talents.

Okay. And um I I just looked up creative durham.org and I see I have it up the um the plan here.

The presentation. Yeah. No, this is the plan. This is the This is the plan. The The presentation and stuff would be in our agenda. You could you'd be able to find it in our agenda.

There is a presentation from our August 17th meeting which also has the recording of Margie sharing that presentation and those slides I think are on the resource page of that same website. Resource p. Okay. All right. Very good. Yeah. Yes. Actually, I do see it here. You had a resource page. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Uh any other comment? Oh

no. I see the resource page. I see the presentation in the reports. Is the bud sorry we keep asking you to stand up. Is the budget in one of those presentations? Is can you upload like a standalone budget document?

We we are absolutely capable of doing that and we'll be happy to do that tomorrow. Um we do have uh slides from Margie's presentation which I believe include some budget figures for the year one, two, and three.

So they're just further down.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Very good. Okay. I'll accept a motion to approve the cultural

Oh,

go ahead. You go ahead. You can make the full motion.

I make a motion for the board to approve the cultural road map plan for Durham County and city.

Second.

It's been moved and properly second that we approve the cultural road map for Durham. Any further discussion? All in favor say I.

I. All oppose, please use the same sign. It passes unanimously. Thank you all. Thank you. Okay. The next item that was pulled off of the agenda was 260479 and that is the violence reduction working group resolution. And we have one uh public comment. Thank you. Thank you. One public comment and I apologize. I can't I the name Khalila. Yeah,

we have very good Kalila Donahue. Please come forward and we'll do three minutes as well.

Good evening.

Good evening,

county commissioners and community members. My name is Kala Donald and I just want to say I learned about this meeting on um CBS 17 this morning, their TV show. Uh, and so I just want to kind of discuss some things that I think is important um

about violence reduction and how my ideas may be useful to your commission and going forward. So, I wrote some things out. Um, I wrote, "When the conversation is about guns, safety is Durham, North Carolina's mission." I think we probably would all agree on that. Um, gun safety is important, our lives are important, your knowledge is powerful, and rewrite change is necessary. Um, why do we think the young generations will not follow our footsteps? Why do we think the younger generations will not follow in our footsteps if we continue to use tactics that do not speak to their present circumstances? People use guns to solve problems. Our government uses guns to solve problems domestically and internationally. The entertainment industry creates visuals of crimes committed by people with guns to entertain our society. The National Rifle Association supports laws that give people the right to protect their property and family. Therefore, why would our youth and young adults not solve their issues without gun violence? Violence is surrounding their communities, TV programming, and communication valleys every day. As a concerned member in this county, I would like to suggest my recommendations for supporting what the Durham County Commissioner Michael Lee and Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams suggested in their summit on saving lives to work with what's already here. What is already here is a disproportionate number of youths, young adults, and adults who are serving time

in the Department of Corrections facilities for crimes committed with guns. These valuable people have the knowledge necessary to help your leaders and advocates understand the mindset and needs they have the the need and needs they had during those moments when they committed those offenses. In my opinion, it would be an important opportunity to create a conversation about people understanding how to communicate, debate, and negotiate their needs without guns to help them solve their issues. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, that was the only public comment on 26479. Are there any other discussion? Is there discussion on this? Okay. I'll accept a motion to uh I guess it's to approve the violence reduction working group resolution.

So moved.

Second.

Has been moved and properly seconded. We approve the violence reduction working group resolution. All in favor say I.

I.

All oppose, please use the same sign. Passes unanimously. Thank you. The next item on our agenda, we move into other business. We have 45 minutes aotted for the Durham County Community Health Assessment Comm uh countywide survey results. This item for those for all the millions of people watching, we didn't get to this in our work session and so we moved it to our regular session. This is why we're having a presentation like this tonight.

Dr. Jenkins.

Good evening, Chair Lee, Vice Chair Law, other members of this great board, manager Hager, and executive staff. One of Durham's Durham County's top priorities is the overall health and well-being of our residents. We are grateful for the trust that this board has in the Department of Public Health through our valued partnerships, innovation, and strong belief in the principles of public health. We proudly serve more than 330,000 residents in a community that is constantly growing and welcoming to new individuals on a daily basis. Our work in public health requires us to provide data and other information to help address current and future needs, priorities, challenges, and opportunities that will eventually make Durham County healthier for all. The Durham County Department of Public Health, Partnership for Healthy Durham, and Duke Health collaborated on the 2025 community health needs assessment. Tonight, we are pleased to present our findings from our countywide health assessment. Our new innovative approach yielded the highest response rate ever. To present our findings, we have public health epidemiologist Savannah Carico and the Partnership for Healthy Durham coordinator Bria Miller. I will certainly yield the floor to those who do the most work. Ladies,

thanks Rod. Um, good evening, commissioners. We're very excited to be here and present the results of all our hard work. Um I'm Savannah Cargo and I'm the public health epidemiologist for the Durham County Department of Public Health.

Good evening everyone. It is a pleasure to speak before you again. My name is Bria Miller. I'm the partnership for a healthy Durham coordinator. I've been in this position for about five years. And before we get in it too far, I just want to say thank you. Um this is a robust process and it is very much rooted in our community. We would not have the success that we have without all of

these Durham County residents participating in this process. [clears throat] Excuse me. Um, so as some of you may know or this process may be newer to you, we conduct this community health assessment process every three years. Um, as Dr. Jenkins said before, we do this as a collaborative approach with the health department, Partnership for Healthy Durham, and Duke Health. We are required as a local health department to do this every four years, but since we are partnering with Duke Health and they're required to do it every three, we operate on their cycle. We had a number of community partners as well to be a part of this process from the beginning to where we are in the middle and they will continue to be partners thankfully throughout the end. This helps us to gather both quantitative and qualitative information for our community and this is considered a trusted source of information here in Durham. Okay. Um so as Dr. Jenkins mentioned, this is actually a new innovative process that we did um this past cycle. Um so we actually hired contractors this time um that were paid and we um were able to take them to events. They were able to sign up on their own schedule for the events they were able to make. um rather than relying on volunteers as we have done in the past, um in 2022, our community health assessment survey collection process um did not yield the results that we were hoping for. Um just we just didn't have the manpower and we were up against the clock with um daylight savings and getting dark early. Um so we didn't go doortodoor this time. Instead, we met community members and worked with local organizations that were throwing events in the community and we would attend those with their permission and we would go and collect surveys there. um we would have the contractors, they had an iPad and they would ask the questions of the person. Um we did have uh paper surveys available for people too and we did also offer a QR code if the person wasn't able to um take the survey at that point. Um so the cool thing about

tracking the events and what we were doing with those was we were able to watch the demographics of who we were reaching in real time. Our data scientist John Paulza created a fabulous dashboard that allowed us to do that. We looked at race, ethnicity, income, um gender, employment status, and employment um positions. And so that really helped us try to reach the broadest um and most Durham County residents that we could find. Um so we did uh well, let me back up. So when we do door-to-door surveys, it's considered a random sample. So every person in Durham County has an equal probability of taking the survey. And because we didn't do that and we did what's called a convenience sample where we went to specific events, we aren't able to weight it. At least we haven't been in the past. And waiting just makes it generalizable to the general Durham County population. So we can say instead of survey participants, we can say Durham's general population. Um, however, there's a new package that came out in R, which is a free statistical program um called nonpr survey allows us to weight this data. Um, however, we did still see selection bias in the results, which is just the nature of this type of assessment and um, methodology. Um, so there is still some selection bias. For example, people that went to a 5K are more likely to be involved in fitness or may really be passionate about the cause for the 5K um, or you know, even just have transportation to go to the 5K. Um so the changes we made mostly was the methodology um going to different locations and events and then we also decreased the number of survey questions. Um we had 60 last time in 2022. You could kind of see the light leave people's eyes around question 25. Um so that really reduced the time the survey took to about 10 minutes which helped us collect a lot. Okay. Okay. And what you see here on the slide is a list of some of the key locations that we were able to go to to collect this information. Um we had our community health assessment team um

which is part of the population health group. We also had a number of volunteers and contractors to go out to different locations in Durham. In addition to going to all of the Durham County libraries, which are beautiful places, um we were also able to go out to places like farmers markets and to different resource fairs. This also offered us a really neat opportunity which was for community members to invite us to places and that helped us to build and in some cases actually restore trust with community members. Um it was fantastic to interact with people in different locations throughout Durham. There we go. Okay. So we have quite a few topics that we are going to cover um throughout this presentation. Um, for example, we'll talk about the demograph demographics of survey takers, especially um by their level of education, income. We'll also go over some data about the top health priorities. So, those are just as a reminder um affordable housing, access to healthcare and health insurance, community safety and well-being, mental health, and physical activity, nutrition, and food access. We were able also able to ask some questions about emergency preparedness, opioid use, and the quality of life. Um, we also were able to speak with older adults and talk about the things that they need or would really like to see in this community as well as the supports that all people in Durham need who are over the age of 18. Apologize. This is me too. [laughter] Um, there are so many things that we could have said about the information that we gathered, but we were tasked with writing a short story um to encompass the things that we learned. And in just a few sentences, what we would say is that Durham is thriving and is rich in resources, has good infrastructure, and a diverse community. However, under the surface, there are populations not doing as well in Durham, mainly based on income. These populations face barriers to systems such as housing, health care, food,

mental health, and more. Okay, now we'll get into the fun stuff. Um, so I'm going to try and blitz through this as much as I can because we got a lot to cover. Um, even though we reduced the questions to half of what we have. So age was pretty representative. We didn't hear from as many young folks in the ages from 18 to 29. So while we were doing this the events and trying to reach out, we did keep that in mind. Um but just the nature of the events we went to, that demographic was under reppresented. Not surprisingly, we saw a much more stronger female response. Um because this is pretty typical of surveys. Um but we did get a 3.5% um other gender uh representation from the survey participants which is pretty in line with the literature and what's already out there uh based on um other surveys that other um uh people have done. Um income is interesting. Durham County um in the uh in the blue we did survey um or I'm sorry Durham County census so the general population skews to higher income. We actually surveyed people of lower income. So that did skew the results a little bit. Um but it does really provide a valuable insight to um what is going on within different income brackets. Okay. Um so we did see a wide birth of um educational attainment for survey participants. Um we did see a heavy amount of graduate or professional degrees and bachelor degrees which is actually not uncommon or not um unusual for the Durham County education range. um just given the resources we have with the amazing NCCU College, Duke University, um and all that. Um for race and ethnicity, we did get a pretty representative sample of black or African-Americans and Hispanic or Latinos. You can see the green and the blue bars for those are pretty in line. Surprisingly, we got an under reppresented sample um of white non-Hispanics. Um but again, that kind of goes down to um the the uh events we went to.

Oh no, I broke it. I'm sorry. Okay. Um, so the new question we asked that we were really excited to um put on the survey this year was we asked people to describe Durham in one word. Um, which people found more difficult than we would have thought. Um, but you know, we work in Durham. We've been in Durham and population health for five years. So we're always thinking of these things. But I am very happy to report that the vast majority of responses to how to describe Durham in one word are positive. You can see up there that diverse is the number one um that people came up with followed by home and good and beautiful. We see um however we do see dangerous, we see bad, we see sad. So we did end up seeing a couple negative responses but overwhelmingly very positive. health and housing. Um about four uh 15% of survey participants said they experienced barriers to finding housing. When we looked at it a little bit closer, it was pretty much survey participants if you were under the age of 50, you were struggling with securing housing. Um and we can see here to the right, lack of finances was primarily the biggest issue that people ran into when trying to find housing. Right. Um, one of the question we questions we asked folks is, "How does housing impact your health?" And of course, most people said, "It impacts my health in a very positive way." They talked about how helpful it is to their physical as well as mental well-being. Um, and they also said it provides protection from the elements. And while having housing does positively impact people's health, a lot of folks were also very concerned about the cost of housing. Um, some people said that they don't have money for very important repairs that are needed or that they aren't able to afford insurance for their homes and sometimes they do lose

sleep over that. It's a big worry and stressor for them. Um, they also specifically name that it can be very difficult to find housing that is both affordable and in healthy conditions. Um the quote here actually mentions mold specifically.

Okay. When looking at access to care, um we saw that almost 20%, so almost one in five, um survey participants reported that they had a lapse in health insurance or coverage in the past 12 months. Um and 90% of the people that said they had a lapse in coverage made an annual household income under $75,000. And I I just want to be specific because we do mention household income multiple times. that is annual household income, not just an individual person's income. So, just keep that in mind. Um, so the top barriers to um seeking healthcare was definitely cost. Other people found that the wait was too long to get an appointment. Um, and then people just couldn't get an appointment in general. Um, but the places that people found the most difficulty getting uh care was their primary care provider. Um, so someone that should be able to uh be there for them and address the most common questions about their physical health and mental health. Um, but people uh survey participants that had an annual household income less than $50,000 had the most difficult getting um care from their primary care providers and the dentist. Okay. So, when accessing health care um from their primary care provider, that was the most most common place people went when they were seeking care. But again, like I said, it's the most difficult place to get care as well. Um most participants reported seeking medical attention for their physical health always, most of the time or sometimes. And that's um 83.5%. So a significant number of people report going to the doctor for their physical health. Um respondents that rarely or never go to a healthcare provider make an annual household income less than $75,000 per year. Okay. As a part of this process, we also conducted community listing sessions.

So, the Partnership for Healthy Durham, El Centro Hispano, and Idealisms reached over 150 Durham County residents from April through June of this year. Um, all people who participated were um were given an incentive. Um, and if they were in person, they got a meal except for one group who decided they would prefer to have ice cream instead. Um, [clears throat] so whenever we talked to them about access to healthcare and health insurance, people for the most part said that they felt respected and they felt heard when they went in to speak to their providers. However, they felt like their appointments were quite rushed. Um, people are also quite concerned with the use of AI um, in their medical visits. Um, they talked about how they weren't sure where their information went when their doctors were inputting information. Um, and they were also concerned when the doctors would consult with AI when diagnosing or treating them. Okay, moving right along. This is our third top health priority. It's actually new. We identified these in the beginning of 2024. Um, and they will stick with us for the next um, six years. So, um, we did want to address this because in 2022, violence came up quite a bit in the survey. Um, so people that were making under $75,000 a year prioritized more walkability and sidewalks, better lighting, and better traffic law enforcement. Those making greater than $75,000 prioritized um a sense of community and connectedness. So you can see kind of the priorities between the income brackets there. Um, and most people when asked about school security and concerns about school, um, more mental health resources was number one, followed by addressing school bullying. And this is going back to some information we gathered through our listening session process. Um, our seniors definitely want uh property that is wellmaintained and well lit. Um they also talked about how sometimes they get some uh visitors who they didn't

necessarily want to see or have. Um we have other people who talked about how where they feel safest in the community is inside their physical homes. Um overall though whenever we ask people to imagine what a safe Durham would look like, they talked about how they wanted a place that would be connected, that's well balanced, and a place where everybody had access to good opportunities. Okay, mental health. This was the um the most questions were in this section for the community health assessment. Um what was interesting to see was uh almost 60% of survey participants reported experiencing feelings of depression or anxiety in the past 12 months. Um and uh about 66% or two in three people experience stress make an annual household income less than $75,000 per year. And you can see the kind of breakdown there. Um it is kind of spread spread out um but you know we can see the difference is still there. Um when we were asking about community support so if they thought their community would support someone with a mental health problem or crisis the vast majority 87% of survey participants said yes I do believe my community would support somebody experiencing that which is just another positive um that we take away from this survey. So, when looking at the top five priorities of stress, the top three, work, finances, and personal relationships were the same as we saw in 2022 and 2019. Um, I want to be specific though, we can't technically compare that to previous surveys, this survey, um, because, uh, we just used a different methodology. Um, but I was not too surprised to see that these also made an appearance. Okay, so looking again at our listening session data and I do apologize for the typo on this particular slide. Um, whenever we talk to people about mental health and supports and what they would like to see in the community, I think a really good way to sum it up is what's in the middle supply is not the problem.

Distribution is the problem. So people are aware that there are mental health services in our community. They just don't think that they are accessible to everyone who needs them. Um, there were also some concerns that were raised by students. So, one neat thing about the listening session process is that we were able to speak to community members who are under the age of 18. But unfortunately, some of those young folks said that they um didn't quite feel comfortable talking to some school staff about the issues that they were experiencing or about their own mental health health concerns um out of fear that their information would be shared with others.

Okay. Um so, we asked two new questions. Um, so we had a follow-up question for people that said that they felt um, depressed or anxious in the past 12 months. Um, they said how they feel with that. Is talking to friends or family, exercising, or talking to a mental health provider? We also asked after that, what makes you happy? Um, what promotes your mental health? And people said overall overall taking care of themselves. And what we meant by that is, you know, eating healthy, getting enough sleep, um, you know, taking just taking care of yourself in general, followed by being outside or in nature, and exercise. So, we also asked about food insecurity. Um, so we asked if someone worried about uh if their food would run out before they got money to buy more. Um, and we can see here that about 81% of people who worried their food would run out u before they got money to buy more made an annual household income less than $50,000 per year. So, that's pretty stark. Um, and you can see we said that people were sometimes worried at the top there and people were often worried at the bottom there. And you can just see that blue really takes over um when we're looking at food insecurity. Um, for exercise, a lot of people said that they exercise regularly. um actually 75% of survey participants. Um regular exercise was split relatively evenly across income brackets with annual household incomes below $50,000 a

year being slightly higher for regularly participating in exercise. Um and the barrier for the other 25% of people that said they don't regularly exercise was they didn't have time, they were too tired, um or they were injured or disabled and weren't able to. We'll be asked the most common types of exercise again as in previous years we've seen walking being the number one almost 90% of people followed by lifting weights and gardening. So then when we are so that concludes um the sections we did on the top five health priorities. So this is about quality of life in your community. People said the number one issue that they said was affecting their quality of life was lack of affordable housing which turns out to be our number one health priority followed by cost of food and homelessness. Um nearly half of participants were concerned about basic human needs for survival. So just looking at shelter and food. Um so we also asked diseases and conditions which are most important to you. mental health came up um and was um by far the the most common uh response to this this question followed by cancer and then alcohol and drug addiction. Okay. Um when we were thinking about accessing health care and financial needs um these are most important for adults over 50 years old. Um so people felt that the most the best way we could support that population is financial assistance for medical expenses including medications that wouldn't necess um or medications followed by housing again we're seeing that and then health services not covered by traditional Medicaid Medicare um anything like that um so we can see the top three things to support those 50 years and older are all income related um when we asked about how to support kids under the age of 18 keeping students active and safe are key. So most people said that they want more recreational activities available especially after school and on weekends for kids. Um followed by affordable child care and then increase in safety around school. Um so again the the top

three things to help um kids under the age of 18 are money driven and safety related. I keep breaking this. I'm so sorry. Um we also asked about emergency preparedness. So, three out of four participants um reported having the resources to shelter in place for about 72 hours during a widespread emergency. The best way that people prepared for emergencies in their household was signing up for emergency alerts. So, we also promote Alert Durham when we're out in the community. Um followed by they do have a household emergency plan. They make copies of important documents, discuss the plan with household members, um etc. I won't go through all of those. Lastly, I know I've been talking so much. Um, we asked about the top five ways that Durham County can better serve residents that use opioids or know someone that or uh are close to someone that uses opioids. We actually had these five options. We asked them to rank them from most important to least important. Number one was definitely more places where people can go to help recover from addiction. So having accessible treatment programs, I think, you know, this also goes back to what um Bria said about um mental health, having the support is there, but the distribution just isn't. Um followed by better educational programs for kids. Then we see providing job opportunities and skill building to help people get back on their feet. Um I know we have programs in the community like TROSA that help people with that. Um tools to keep people safe. So there's um people are seeing that making overdose reversing medications such as Narcan um and clean supplies available such as our safe syringe program that's available at the Health and Human Service building um just down the road. And then the last one that people said, but that doesn't mean it's not important um was stronger teamwork between schools, police, health workers, and community groups just to tackle the opioid ep opioid epidemic. So, like I said, income is definitely the best indicator to to look at the health and well-being of all Durham County residents. Um, household incomes

that were under 75,000 were more likely to experience barriers to securing housing, finding health care, and are more likely to experience depression or anxiety. Um, Durham res Durham County, like we said, is very rich with resources, but once you look closer, there are clear gaps in the health and well-being of residents. And just a little bit about where we are now in the process of this community health assessment because it is always rolling. Um we actually do something unique here in Durham and we engage in a collaborative writing process because we have lots of subject matter experts throughout our community. So we are in the thick of that right now. Um and that will go um through March of next year. Um and then in the spring of next year we will have a lovely and full assessment to um present to the community. It will be open for public comment for one month and then we will finalize that information. In the meantime, our community organizations, Partnership for Healthy Durham, our public health department are still at work um on those community health improvement plans. And after we wrap up this community health assessment, we'll get started on creating new plans.

I think that's all we have for you. Yeah. Thank you so much.

All right. Any comments from commissioners if I share along?

Thank you all so much for all the work and effort you put in. I'm really glad to see the different ways that you've been engaging with folks outside of like just the traditional come into the public health department and service which is really great because a lot of times people don't even know we have a public health building or social services building. So really glad to see you out in the farmers market and everything. wondering also um and what is the time periods that y'all conducted this survey? Um

Oh yeah. Um so we actually did it last spring. Um so we were there I believe March 17th was the first date and we

closed the survey um on July 11th.

Okay. And is it usually like your surveys are usually in that same time period or do you vary on like what time of the year you're conducting?

It does vary. I think it kind of just depends on the way that the cycle is is um handling. Um so, for example, in 2022, uh we did it in the fall, so September through November, but again, we had that hard stop November 5th, um because daylight savings. We just didn't want people out after dark doing these surveys. Um so, so that was one one consideration we made when we were deciding to do it in the spring. Also, well, June was rough with the heat, but otherwise the the temperature wasn't too terrible and we were doing outside events like farmers markets and so it was okay.

And to complete the survey, I'm just exposing myself that I did not complete a survey myself. Um, do you have to like does a county staff member, you all have to be present for a person to conduct a survey or is it like available if somebody goes on the public health website and they can fill it out themselves?

Yeah. Um, so because we wanted to keep it to people that were only at the events we went to, we handed out QR codes, little flyers with QR codes, and we didn't see as much of a response rate with those, but people did complete it online. Okay. No, I was just wondering more curiously if like if it had to be that like county staff or if there were ways um like I always think of the point in time count that we do and if there's a way to like integrate it into that so that we can get more information from our unhoused population around we already know that they're vulnerable when it comes to public health access but if there's a way to capture that information when the um volunteers go out to collect conduct those surveys or if there's like a I don't know data sharing that they could share some of their results into public health to factor in or even working I noticed um another thing was the access to care with people saying the emergency room or um their primary practitioner does

primary practitioner already is that including in like linking community health and the public health department if people wanted to specify that that was is there a way to like pull that information out?

Uh yeah, so to your first point about housing so I don't forget, we did ask if people had housing at the time that we took the survey and I it was sixish% I think it's six to seven did not have housing at the time that we asked them. So we did want to be conscious of that um because we also wanted to capture that community as well. Um and then your second point um to finding out if someone had difficulty at the health department, we did not ask we didn't get that granular this time. um we just asked, you know, and it was whatever their interpretation of their primary care provider would be, whether or not it's, you know, a family doctor or an OB/GYN or something like that. Um we didn't get that granular, but um we did also offer an other option on all the questions. So, if people wanted to fill in and explain further where they had difficulty, they were able to.

That's helpful. And maybe like there's a lot of other community clinics also out there, but in the future if we have like an option that's just simply like community clinic um that could kind of capture linking community health, public health department, and any other um free community resource because I think that is separate from a primary care practitioner because of the challenges that you'll face uh at Lincoln Community Health is you're probably going to have longer wait times or issues just because it is a publicly funded uh resource that we're trying to put as many uh resources into than an individual who has access to a typical primary care doctor.

Uh Commissioner Burton,

thank you. Thank you so much for this report. Um it is really relevant. Um I'm reading a book. Well, I'm almost finished with it. um that talks about the working homeless

and these same kind of issues come up because they're working but they're working jobs that are low pay trying to secure housing but they're not caught up in the point of time count because HUD has a specific definition of what homelessness is. So you could be a person, you know, you know, going from home to home with relatives or friends, etc., and you're not considered homeless, right? And it's stressful and it takes a toll in many people because they can't secure housing, they can't secure, you know, food. It takes a toll on your mental health, your physical health, the stress. And that was exhibited in um the stories that I was reading. Um just trying to figure out what we do or what we continue what we can continue to do as Durham County government to ensure that people get housing, they get healthy food, they get, you know, the health care that they need that we look at ways to support people's mental health and stuff because this report clearly shows it. The book that I'm reading is showing it. It's coming up everywhere. So, um, yeah, I think that's I really just have a my comment because it's how do we help people get through this stress? How do we get people the things that they need to be successful and they can thrive? So, I really appreciate this that you all do this work. So, thank you,

Commissioner Bird. I'll just say I appreciate your comment. um to this board, I would just say um I've been in about three different counties and I would just say Durham is perhaps the most progressive. Um as you were listing them, I'm saying to myself, this board

touches on mental health, they touch on public health, healthcare, they touch on homelessness, they touch on uh affordable health care. I mean, there's there's but so much you can do because, you know, the county has a lot of needs. But I do think that this board does a good job of hearing the problems and trying your best to address it with limited funds. And when you think about um the uh how much from the federal and state government are starting to roll to local governments um that becomes even more difficult because there's so much need and so little money to go around. But I think this board does a really good job of you know dealing with those high touch high pressure things uh as best you can.

Well thank you for that. Um Dr. Jenkins. And I'm also thinking about now with the, you know, SNAP rules, we're already seeing people being affected by that. And then also thinking about Medicaid and those rules, you know, with the 80 hours of work requirements, volunteering, trainings, all those additional burdens that are coming down a pipe out probably will impact what you shared with us. So, I guess we just have to keep working fig figuring out solutions. You know, I'm just going to say this. We really need to increase the minimum wage in this state and in this country um to make sure that people make decent wages, right? And that they can support themselves and their families in child care. That's another issue. So, we can go on and on. So, thank you for your work on this. This is really great.

Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Valentine.

Yes, thank you, Chair. So, I just have several uh questions. Uh, thank you. This is hard work. Um, you had talked about changing your methodology. Um,

in the past, you've worked with volunteers and you moved to to contractors. It uh the information that you provide here indicates that you were able to capture more data. what was actually the impetus from the very beginning for for changing our methodology.

Um so after 2022 um we realized that I think I believe we only got 205 surveys after two months of going doortodoor and trying to get people um to take the survey. I mean and when we were relying on volunteers sometimes we'd have two volunteers that day and we would obviously send people in pairs for safety. Um and you know I think the record for surveys in a shift was seven. Um so really just not productive days. Um volunteers you know it was right after COVID I think we had just um dealt with omccron at that time and um it just the volunteer power just wasn't there like it had been in 2019. Um in 2019 I believe we had over 150 volunteers and in 2022 we had about 60. Um so that definitely impacted it.

And I will just also add during that time there was a lot of fear. Um, we had some people who historically had volunteered um, but their workplaces actually had policies that would prevent them from going doortodoor. Um, also whenever we would go to the homes, people were very hesitant to even come to the door. I can recall a couple of times when I heard the door moving and I was like, "Oh, good. They're coming to answer." And they were actually locking the doors because they didn't want to speak to us. So, this was us like being mindful, listening to our community and saying, "This doesn't work well anymore. So, we need to pivot. uh you also uh made a point to share with share with us around selection bias and so moving forward how how do we deal with that?

Yeah. Um so I mean it's kind of like uh it's sort of kind of a double-edged sword, right? Because we were so successful with this new methodology. I mean we got five times the amount of surveys that we've pretty much ever gotten. Um so you know I think we're

going to continue this method methodology and have it be the president. Um, I will say that the package that is available in R um is pretty new, so there could be updates to it um that could help um narrow down and and perfect the waiting process with that. So, I'm curious to see what'll come out in the next couple days with that. But, um or sorry, a couple years. Um but yeah, so that's kind of the struggle that we're dealing with with selection bias. I think what we really tried to do to counteract that was track the demographics in real time. Um, so you know, initially when we were going to the libraries, they were doing, I think, some tax help, property tax help with them. And we noticed our average age was like 65. So we were like, okay, let's pivot. Like we need to try and access some more younger folks. And so unfortunately, we weren't able to go to every event we wanted to. Someone get cancelled, but we really did our best to try to counteract the the pro or the possibility of selection bias. And just just for awareness with the selection bias, it's about going to diversity of events, right? So, you know, instead of going to all the 5Ks or the races, you go to the farmers market, you go to, you know, centerfest, right, where people aren't exercising, right? So, you get the diversity there. So, I think that sounds like it played out in the methodology as it is there. So maybe kind of filtered out that selection bias. Uh you also mentioned uh the listening sessions and so you also my mind serves me uh correctly at the the moment you talked about the places where these uh listening sessions occurred or was that generally the capturing of data? Can you can you share with me about these listening sessions? I just need I just want to know more and understand exactly what's happening at these listing sessions.

Sure. Um so we were able to reach over 150 people. Partnership for healthy Durham um idealisms and El Centro Espano all reached about 50 each. So for a

total of 150 and they were hosted in different places throughout the community. Um there were a couple that were also hosted online on Zoom because that's just what people preferred but we had some that were at libraries. Um there were some that were hosted like at an actual ice cream shop. Um there are also some that were at places of worship. So it was really diverse throughout different places and spaces and we made sure to um share the information with folks um through different channels. So of course like we like to use social media but word of mouth is very powerful. Um so we thankfully have some trusted community members who are more like champions and they would invite folks out and say hey this is a really great opportunity to participate. Uh for example, there was an evening where we met in a fellowship hall of a church and we had about 40 people to come um to that particular event um because they heard about it from other folks and people wanted to come and talk about what they're seeing in Durham and share about their own experiences.

Yeah. And I just want to add to that we had very positive feedback when we were surveying people. Um I know you mentioned the online um option to take the survey. We did find that the results were most valuable when they did take it with a person because you can talk to that person have uh you know an explanation of what's going on and the person can talk however much they want. Um and we can record that qualitative data while we're taking the survey too. But many people would come up to myself or the contractors and say, "Thank you so much for being out in the community. I feel like I never get these opportunities to take surveys like this." Things like that. And we also made sure that we had some bilingual contractors as well. So, um, we were able to reach a Hispanic population that was primarily Spanish speaking as well.

And finally, two two questions. I'll give them both to you at the same time. You had mentioned that uh responses from the community were around dorm being safe, a safe dorm and and opportunities. Can you capsulate what what that means?

Uh are you referring to the one about uh kids under the age of 18 or just in general?

Just in general. Yeah.

Yeah. Um yeah, I mean so safety definitely came up again and that's why we wanted to acknowledge that in the previous survey and develop that new health priority, community safety and well-being. Um and people had a lot to say about their safety. Um you know, we we also asked a question too about um what a community supportive of community well-being would look like for people and safety again came up there as well. and we saw it pop up in the school questions um too. So, we wanted to make sure that we were asking those kind of questions. We did want to make sure we were not duplicating the questions on the um uh city neighborhood survey. I believe it's the city. Um so, we wanted to make sure we weren't asking the same questions there, so we came up with what we had. But the more opportunities, I think just I mean I I'm so blown away by that quote that Bria shared about how the support's there but the distribution's off. Um, and so I think that's kind of where people we notice when we're interviewing people, they're like, "Oh, well, I don't have transportation. I can't get there or, you know, I don't have the opportunity to leave work and take care of this or something." So, I think what people were getting at was they want more community, a sense of community, and I think they want um to have more accessible resources.

And lastly, this is uh for you, Dr. Jenkins. And so as we gather all this data, how do we integrate that into sort of larger policy goals and aims? That's a good question. Uh the community health needs assessment is that tool that many many in our community and beyond use in order to uh develop those policy uh goals, those things that they want to see happen and uh they rely on us. Sometimes we get lots of uh requests for audiences and speaking engagements to really help them along the way. And um I'd be remiss, you know, of course I'm the biggest cheerleader for these ladies in in my agency as a whole. Uh

this is a is an an awardwinning process. It has been hardwired and um just about every four years we receive some type of accolade, some type of award that we love to bring to you all. But to get to the crux of your question, um we hope that the community is listening. Special thanks to Manager Hager for putting this inside her newsletter on last Friday. Uh we hope they're listening and we hope that that we can get them to participate in an effort to bring change. Uh that's the reason why we do this assessment. We want Durham to be the best. And we also know from an economic perspective, people want and industries want to come to an area that has their wellness, has good uh good crime is low. Um so with that, you know, that's the overall overarching goal for us to really use this as a tool in order to evoke change and make policy um changes as well.

Thank you. Thank you all for this. I am one for statistics. I I appreciate a good uh presentation with lots of numbers and data and all of that. Um but I am curious um so the the survey questions were essentially direct questions is question answer and that's good and we saw a presentation we saw information about that but what can we as leaders infer from what's not being said okay and here's here's why why I'm asking that there was a slide side where he it was a food and security I think graph and at the bottom the blue got bigger with the lower income

right. Um,

so when I look at especially in this with this hat on, I look for where can we as governing officials interact with this data. Um, it's well and good, you know, people feeling happy and, you know, they're feeling healthy and things like that, things of that sort. But there's some it seems like there's some underlying inferences that we can take and where policy or programming or so forth can use this data or the emphasis from this data um to figure out what we can advocate for from this DAS, you know, budget priorities, budget approvals or appropriations of what it may be. Um, and this may be a little bit on the spot and this may be something for us to kind of sit down later on, look at the data. Um, because I want to this is really good information. There's there really good survey and I know how difficult getting survey data is. You know, writing my dissertation, I struggled to get qualitative data. Um, so I I understand that, but it's it looks from just from a cursory view, it looks as though there's some really good information that could drive policy and how we help extend some or or not extend but maybe mitigate some of the challenges that we were seeing and maybe was not necessarily shown. Um, looks like some of this data was made more on the positive side, but maybe some of the struggle underlying struggle data uh can be seen and used as we move into our budget cycles and so forth. So maybe that's a conversation

for us to sit down and just kind of have a deeper conversation about the data. I don't I don't want to really put you all on the spot and say what didn't we see? [laughter] I don't Yeah, that that's a little bit hard to explain, but um I would really like to do something like that, Dr. Jenkins.

Indeed. And um uh chairly, I would just welcome you personally um to sit down and have a conversation with my population health division. That is my brain trust, the the lack of better terms, the data nerds.

Those are the ones that I really rely on to help me move the needle. Um you talk about using the data and you you see it all collated. Um what the challenge has always been for us is to really transfer that data into uh words and stories that you know hopefully our governing board can use based upon what we have painstakingly made and created. But again that challenge is there. You know we would love for you to come to 414 East Main Street and sit down with us. But I just say, you know, one slide that really stuck out for me and and that's, you know, how you can connect it to all the different areas, be it DPS, be it be it the sheriff's department, you know, DPD,

you know, to all for all of us to get on the same sheet of music. I know from time to time there are these joint board meetings that data could be used and often times manager Hager is challenging us to to hey, I need for you all to present,

right? What do you do in public health? how is this going to uh help move the needle with student learning and everything. So, I think that's what we always aim to do cheerle and other members of this board, you know, to really craft this and really have it have something so accessible, so easy to just grab and put it, you know, put it in work uh so when you are at these different events, you have it at your [snorts] disposal if that makes sense.

Thank you. Thank you. But thank you all

for this presentation.

Yeah, thank you.

Very good. I was kind of glue. We have monitors right here. I was kind of glued to that. I'm I love statistics. I love seeing that. So, thank you all very much.

Are there are there any other comments from our commissioners?

I just wanted to say thank you. Y'all know I'm a a frustrated data analyst, but I I I do do want to say thank you for your hard work and getting to the pulse of our community from a health lens. And um as Dr. really has challenged us and our board members have challenged us to look at going forward how do we integrate this to test what we're investing in because as I looked at it and I saw things arise it's like wow we invest this much in this area but is there enough in this other area so um as we work towards the budget season I am sure we will call on you to help us as we interpret but again thank you for your excellent work.

Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you very much. Um, is Commissioner Jacobs still with us? Nope. Okay. All right. Thank you all very much. That is the last item that we have on our agenda tonight. So, I'll accept a motion for adjournment.

So moved.

I think we all want to stay here. Second.

It's been moved probably second that we adjourn. Any further discussion? All in favor say I.

I. All oppose, please use the same sign. We are adjourned. Thank you all very much.