AGENDA #8
MEMORANDUM
|
To: |
Mayor Kevin Foy and Members of the Chapel Hill Town Council Mr. Roger Stancil, Town Manager |
|
From: |
Sally Greene, Chapel Hill Town Council |
|
Date: |
September 10, 2007 |
|
RE: |
Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Downtown Outreach Workgroup Update |
BACKGROUND
The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Downtown Outreach Workgroup began meeting in October, 2006 as an outgrowth of the CHDP Giving Kiosk Task Force. The mission of the Downtown Outreach Workgroup is to develop a comprehensive plan to manage the impact of the social and behavioral issues on downtown Chapel Hill.
THE WORK GROUP
The make-up of the workgroup is intended to bring representatives from the Town, the University, the downtown community, and the human services agencies together to find solutions to these difficult and complex problems that face downtown.
|
Liz Parham |
Executive Director |
Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership |
|
Chris Moran |
Executive Director |
IFC |
|
Sally Greene |
Councilperson |
Town of Chapel Hill |
|
Missy Julian-Fox |
Property Owner |
100 E. Franklin Properties |
|
Amanda Scholl |
Manager |
Qdoba |
|
Barbie Schalmo |
Graduate Student |
UNC School of Urban Planning |
|
Jeff Clark |
Lieutenant |
Chapel Hill Police Department |
|
Niema Alimohammadi |
Student |
UNC Student Government |
|
Tara Fikes |
Housing/Community Development |
Orange County |
|
Linda Convissor |
Director of Local Relations |
UNC Office on University Relations |
|
Laurie Paolicelli |
Executive Director |
Chapel Hill Orange County Visitor's Bureau |
|
Adam Klein |
Director of Govt. Affairs & Economic Development |
CH/Carrboro Chamber of Commerce |
|
Laurie Tucker |
Housing Director |
IFC |
UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUES
In an effort to get the Workgroup started, Barbie Schalmo, a graduate student in the UNC School of City and Regional Planning, and Wilson Weed, a UNC ’07 graduate that minored in City and Regional Planning, conducted research on how communities across the country are addressing panhandling concerns.
They identified four primary tools and strategies that are being developed in cities like Seattle, Portland, Boulder, Houston, and Raleigh, among many others.
The Downtown Outreach Workgroup identified the Street Outreach program as the most beneficial strategy to evoke real change. Workgroup member and Executive Director of IFC, Chris Moran, identified untapped funds and got the program started in April, 2007. In the first three months, the outreach workers met with one-hundred people in need throughout our communities and worked to get ten of those individuals off the streets. Reduced funding resulted in a cut from two outreach workers down to one person in July. The Downtown Outreach Workgroup’s number one goal is to help identify additional public or private dollars to be used for this program, including through the educational component of the program.
This summer, the Outreach Workgroup has been developing the educational campaign called Real Change from Spare Change, with the goal of redirecting both planned and unplanned donations often given to panhandlers to fund the street outreach program. The educational campaign will consist of a speaker’s bureau program featuring a PowerPoint presentation and a follow-up information piece, a website, posters for storefront windows, and collection boxes for downtown businesses. The goal is to encourage government agencies, nonprofits, the faith community and individuals to partner together to educate all segments and ages of our population that we all have a role and a responsibility to give money, time, and/or goods and services in a manner that will best help those in need. Giving money to panhandlers often enables addictive behavior instead of providing life-changing needs.
The Downtown Outreach Workgroup anticipates having the education materials complete in September with the goal of fully launching the program in October.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (September 10, 2007)