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Receive an Update on the Building Integrated Communities Initiative
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Staff:
Department:
Sarah Osmer Vi?as, Director
Affordable Housing and Community Connections
Rebecca Buzzard, Community Connections Manager
Katelyn Robalino, Community Connections Coordinator
Overview: The purpose of this item is to share an update to the Building Integrated Communities (BIC) Initiative. BIC is a collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill dedicated to strengthening the Town's engagement of immigrant and refugee residents in Town programs, services, and decision-making processes. The BIC initiative is currently funded by a three-year grant from the NC Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.
Recommendation(s):
That the Council receive this update on the BIC initiative and implementation progress.
Overview of the Building Integrated Communities (BIC) Project: The BIC initiative helps North Carolina local governments successfully engage to improve relationships, enhance communication, and promote civic participation and leadership among immigrant and refugee residents. Chapel Hill was selected to participate as a BIC partner in 2017 and subsequently completed a community assessment and developed a BIC Action Plan. The BIC Action Plan is organized around five key issue areas: public transportation, housing, public safety and law enforcement, leadership, and government communication.
Implementation Progress: Since Council approved the BIC Action Plan in 2019, Affordable Housing and Community Connections, in collaboration with departments across the Town and community partners, have made substantial progress on implementation. For highlights of our implementation progress see below; additional details are included in the attached Summary.
* Unanimous adoption of a Town-wide Language Access Plan (LAP) in 2019. Since adoption, we have rapidly expanded the Town's language services - translating hundreds of documents and providing interpretat...
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