title
Building Integrated Communities Project Update.
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Staff:
Department:
Loryn B. Clark, Executive Director
Housing and Community
Sarah Osmer Vi?as, Assistant Director
Megan Peters, Community Connections Coordinator
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.
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
* 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
* The steering committee has met regularly since July 2017, building relationships with one another and providing direction for the project.
* Conduct research
* The project team hosted three multi-lingual commu...
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