County, partners, conducting survey to identify values needed to help build more resilient community

Orange County’s Long-Term Recovery Group is creating a plan for recovery from COVID-19 to help strengthen our community for all people. Your input is needed to identify the values that will help shape the County’s path forward. Please take a three-minute survey between Aug. 31 and Sept. 11 to share your opinion about Orange County’s values.

Community resilience is a community’s ability to withstand and recover from disruptions like natural disasters, accidents, and attacks through individual and community preparedness. The survey is part of a coordinated, multi-jurisdictional effort to build a stronger, more resilient community.

This survey will help your community leaders understand what residents value most when it comes to recovery from COVID-19 and avoiding future disruptions to our community. The survey results will be used to create a disaster recovery plan to increase the resilience of our community.

If you have questions or need more information, please contact us: ocncrecovery@hagertyconsulting.com.

The survey is available online or on paper. To take the survey online, please visit surveymonkey.com/r/OrangeNCValues.

Printed surveys (available in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Karen, and Burmese) can be picked up at and returned to the following Orange County Health Department (OCHD) locations:

OCHD Health and Dental Clinics at the Whitted Human Services Center (300 West Tryon St., Hillsborough)
OCHD Health Clinic at the Southern Human Services Building (2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill)
OCHD Environmental Health (131 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough).\

Orange County COVID-19 Updated Data Sept. 4, 2020

The Orange County Health Department has provided the following information about COVID-19 cases in Orange County as of 9:00 a.m. today:

TOTAL CASES: 2,344
TOTAL DEATHS: 50

Data Considerations:
1. Any demographic groups with very small numbers have been suppressed to protect
patient confidentiality.
2. We are missing race and ethnicity data for between 30-40% of confirmed cases.
3. We don’t know who may have COVID-19 that wasn’t able to get tested, and we don’t know what groups the patients with missing data fall under.
This data should not be used to make generalizations about who may or may not have higher rates of infection.

Click here to download the entire release.

Testing

Orange County will host a drive-thru testing event on Monday, Sept. 7, from 1-5 p.m. at the Whitted Human Services Center (300 W. Tryon St., Hillsborough). Registration will be on-site, and tests are free. Testing will occur in the lot in front of the Whitted Human Services Center.

See the Orange County COVID-19 Testing webpage for additional information on local testing options.

Economic Development accepting applications for grant programs

The Orange County Business Investment Grant and Agriculture Grant Programs will be accepting applications for the next deadline through Sept. 30. These programs can offer grants up to $10,000 for eligible businesses and agriculture operations.

Additional information, including program guidelines and applications, can be located at the Economic Development website.

BoE encourages voters to submit absentee requests early

Orange County voters interested in Absentee Voting By Mail are encouraged to make their request well before the deadline due to anticipated high demand, said Orange County Elections Director Rachel Raper.

All by-mail civilian absentee ballot requests must be submitted on the State Absentee Ballot Request form and must be signed by the voter or a near relative who is making a request on behalf of a voter. The form is available on the Orange County website (www.orangecountync.gov/1104/Absentee-Voting-By-Mail).

Requests may be mailed (PO Box 220, Hillsborough 27278), emailed (vote@orangecountync.gov), faxed (919-644-3318) or hand delivered to the Board of Elections office (208 S Cameron Street, Hillsborough).

Requests must be received by the BoE by 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election (Oct. 27). Postmarks do not qualify.

Click here for more information.

Human Rights & Relations sponsors Voting During A Pandemic

With a month to go before North Carolinians begin in-person voting in the 2020
General Election, it’s time to talk about your options! You’re invited to join Sailor
Jones of Democracy North Carolina to learn the latest about:

New rules for requesting a ballot and voting by mail in North Carolina,
In-person voting options and safeguards, including new Early Voting requirements in all 100 NC counties, and
How you can be a part of our important efforts to make sure our elections work for more North Carolina voters in 2020.

Registration is required! Register at www.orangecountync.gov/VotingDuringAPandemic

Aging Department to host presentation on end-of-life options

The Orange County Department on Aging and the Project EngAGE End of Life Choices Senior Resource Team invite the public to attend a virtual presentation, Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED): A Little Known End of Life Option on Sept 22.

As modern technology prolongs our lives, a life well-lived can often end with a long and painful struggle. Increasingly there are choices available about end-of-life options that afford greater personal control over the time and manner of death. A “good death” is more likely when medical practitioners and those supporting the dying person are more informed about these options.

The Project EngAGE End of Life Choices Senior Resource Team proudly hosts Elliott and Susan Schaffer for a discussion of the medical, ethical and legal issues involving VSED, Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking. They will share with us the end of life story of Susan’s mother, Beatrice Belopolsky, a resident of a retirement community in New Jersey.

Presenters include:

Elliott Schaffer, MD, retired geriatrician and former Medical Director at Martins Run Life Care Community in Media, Pa.
Susan Schaffer, JD, retired attorney and former Senior Counsel at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

The event will take place on Tuesday, Sept 22, from 4 – 5:15 pm via a virtual platform. The room will accept entry beginning at 3:45 pm to assist with any questions or issues with using the platform prior to the start of the program.

For link information please contact Shenae McPherson at shmcpherson@orangecountync.gov
If technology assistance is needed please contact Shenae McPherson at 919-245-4243 by Thursday, Sept 17.

HRC Summer Community Read examines voter suppression

This year is the 150th Anniversary of the 15th Amendment and the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, yet the struggle for the ballot continues for African Americans.

The HRC’s Community Read for this summer is “Give us the Ballot: A Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America” by Ari Berman, a senior reporter for Mother Jones and a fellow at Type Media Center. He was the first reporter to cover voter suppression efforts in 2012, bringing national attention to the issue. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone and other national publications and is a frequent contributor to MSNBC, C-SPAN and NPR.

“Give Us the Ballot” chronicles the history of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as it transformed the American democratic process, while counterrevolutionaries sought to suppress voting rights that, “target[ed] African Americans with almost surgical precision.”
In 2013, the Supreme Court declared a key provision of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. As lawmakers continue to devise new strategies to suppress minorities’ voting rights the battle over race, representation, and political power rages on in America.

The HRC is hosting a Community Read event on Sept. 13, from 3-5 p.m.
This event is free and open to the community and will include a discussion of the Voting Rights Act, attempts to suppress voting rights and the ways we as a community can address the issues presented in the book. The discussion will be led by members of the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Click the link below to register.
https://orangecountync.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0K47Z5YgQTSV4CICCnddWw

Pre-registration is required for this event.

September is Library Card Sign-up Month

Even during the pandemic, The Orange County Public Library is celebrating National Library Card Sign-up Month. If you are a resident of Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Orange, or Person counties, you qualify for a free library card. A borrower’s card with the library gives you free access to digital materials and information, including Tutor.com, Libby, hoopla, and more. With your card, you can also place holds on up to 15 items and have up to 40 items checked out at one time. While our locations remain closed, we are offering safe and physically distant curbside library service.

If you live in a county other than those listed above, and work for Durham Tech, Orange County Government, Town of Carrboro, Town of Hillsborough, or UNC-Chapel Hill, you may also get a free library card.

All staff and students in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Orange County Schools, The Expedition School and Eno River Academy already have fine-free library accounts in place via the library’s Student Easy Access (SEA) and Educator accounts.

To register for an Orange County Public Library card, you can begin the process online or by calling 919.245.2525, option 1, Monday – Thursday, 10 am to 6 pm or Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.

Curbside service is offered at all three Orange County Public Library locations. The Main Library is located at 137 W. Margaret Lane in downtown Hillsborough. The Carrboro Branch is located at McDougle Middle School, 900 Old Fayetteville Road in Chapel Hill. The Cybrary is located at The Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro Street, Carrboro. Free parking is available at all library locations. For library hours of operation and complete service and program information, please visit the library’s Virtual Branch.

www.orangecountync.gov