Town of Chapel Hill, NC
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Community Connections Strategy Update – March 2024
Since the creation of our Community Connections Strategy in 2019, the Town has worked to implement the strategy to meet our goals of equitable engagement and inclusion. Learn more about the Town's progress in our March 2024 Implementation Update.
Summary of Key Progress
Here are highlights of our key progress in implementing the Community Connections strategy:
- Allocated $4.5 million to implementation of the Community Connections Strategy, including funding over 40 nonprofit agencies to respond to community needs.
- Received a $375,000 award from the BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation to support the Building Integrated Communities program, which allowed for the dramatic expansion of our engagement efforts of immigrant and refugee residents. Staff have translated 263 documents, provided interpretation services for 198 meetings, facilitated Language Justice trainings for over 100 Town employees, and created a variety of multi-lingual resources for residents.
- Increased Town staff relationship building and engagement with under-engaged residents identified in our Gaps Analysis and Engagement Study with the launch of Cookies and Community, and facilitated over 450 community meetings.
- Responded to community needs during the pandemic by distributing 15k food boxes, 29k masks, 5k books, and circulating 48 laptops.
Background
In 2018, the Town established the Community Connections division to align with Town Council Goals focused on equitable engagement and inclusion. The purpose of the Community Connections division is to enhance community connections and foster resident engagement in Town processes, programs and services.
Our Goals:
- Adopt and sustain a culture and practice of meaningful civic engagement and community partnership to achieve outcomes that reflect our community's concerns, aspirations, and values.
- Focus on residents who have been historically underengaged by the Town, with an emphasis on the most impacted and historically marginalized populations.
Our Strategies:
- Increase the diversity of individuals engaged in Town processes and programs to fully reflect the composition of the entire community, with a particular focus on engaging populations that have been historically underengaged by the Town.
- Deepen the Town’s connections and engagement with organizations, groups, and populations that historically have been disengaged or disconnected from Town government.
Our Current areas of focus :
| RESOURCES |
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Community Connections Strategy Engagement Study Summary Report Engagement Study Overview: |
| UPDATES |
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March 2024: The Town has completed its Gap Analysis and Engagement Study in 2023, a multi-phased process that engaged residents, community partners, and Town departments. Staff want you to know what we've accomplished over that past year: View the Engagement Study Implementation Progress Report. |
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March 2024: Community Connections Strategy Update 2024 December 2020: Community Connections Strategy Update 2020 |