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Building Integrated Communities Project Update.
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Staff: |
Department: |
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Loryn B. Clark, Executive Director |
Housing and Community |
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Sarah Osmer Viñas, Assistant Director |
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Megan Peters, Community Connections Coordinator |
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Overview: This item is an update on the Building Integrated Communities (BIC) project, a two-year collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Recommendation(s): |
That the Council receive this report.
Overview of the Building Integrated Communities (BIC) Project
BIC is a multi-year planning process that helps North Carolina local governments successfully engage with local foreign-born, refugee, and Hispanic/Latinx residents to improve relationships, enhance communication, and promote civic participation and leadership in local government. As a result of working with BIC, local governments and diverse community stakeholders gain tools and build capacity to generate locally relevant strategies for promoting economic development and strengthening educational advancement. The Town of Chapel Hill was selected to participate in the BIC project for 2017-2019. The BIC project aligns with the Town's goals of making Chapel Hill a Place for Everyone, and an Inclusive Community.
Project Process & Progress to Date
Since the summer of 2017, an interdepartmental staff team, led by our Housing and Community staff, has worked with the UNC BIC Team on the three-part project.
1. Community Assessment (September 2017 - August 2018)
§ Establish steering committee
ü The core project team recruited 24 individuals to serve on the BIC project steering committee, who are foreign-born and refugee residents and/or agency staff persons representing 17 different organizations and institutions.
§ Build relationships and share knowledge
ü The steering committee has met regularly since July 2017, building relationships with one another and providing direction for the project.
§ Conduct research
ü The project team hosted three multi-lingual community conversations in Arabic, Burmese, Mandarin Chinese, English, Karen, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish languages. A total of 160 immigrant and refugee residents attended.
ü The UNC team analyzed demographic data from the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, and local agencies. The UNC team also analyzed 25+ oral histories, conducted 13 interviews with organizations and businesses, and partnered with local organizations to survey 74 refugee residents.
ü Using the research gathered, the project team developed the attached community assessment report. The project team translated the Executive Summary of the report to Burmese, Karen, Mandarin, and Spanish. These languages were prioritized for translation due to their prevalence among Chapel Hill residents as well as the composition of participants in the community meetings of the first phase of the project. The full report is accessible in English and Spanish.
2. Action Planning (August 2018 - December 2018)
§ Choose issues to focus on
ü The key issues identified through the Community Assessment are: public transportation, housing, public safety and law enforcement, leadership, and government communication.
§ Develop town strategies (“action plans”) to improve issues
ü The BIC Steering Committee met twice since August 2018. Five subcommittees were created and assigned one of the five identified issues. Future meetings are scheduled for October and November 2018.
§ Hold public strategy sessions
ü The project team hosted two multi-lingual community conversations in September and October of 2018 to hear resident opinions that will shape action planning strategies. These conversations were held in five different languages - Burmese, English, Karen, Mandarin, and Spanish.
3. Implementation (January 2019 - June 2019 and beyond)
§ Carry out actions
§ Monitor progress, prepare to measure impacts
§ Make improvements
Fiscal Impact/Resources: There is no fiscal impact identified at this time aside from modest costs associated with meeting materials and interpretation and translation services, as well as staff time for coordination of the project through Housing and Community’s budget. The potential costs associated with implementation of the strategies identified through the BIC project will be determined during the final phase of the project.
Council Goals:
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Create a Place for Everyone |
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Develop Good Places, New Spaces |
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Support Community Prosperity |
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Nurture Our Community |
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Facilitate Getting Around |
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Grow Town and Gown Collaboration |
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Attachments: |
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• Draft Staff Presentation |
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• Building Integrated Communities Report Executive Summary |
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• Building Integrated Communities Full Report |
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The Agenda will reflect the text below and/or the motion text will be used during the meeting. |
presenter
PRESENTERS: Sarah Viñas, Assistant Director, Housing and Community
Hannah Gill, Associate Director, Institute for the Study of the Americas, UNC-Chapel Hill
RECOMMENDATION: That the Council receive this report.