As we convene for the Durham County Commissioners meeting, it is crucial to recognize the painful truth of history. We stand on the stolen ancestral lands of the Kataba, Eno, Okanichi, Shakori, and Tuscarura peoples whose deep connection to this land predates our arrival. We acknowledge with humility the unjust displacement and violence that occurred leading to the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their homelands. Their resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to their strength and spirit. May we humbly honor the ancestors and elders of these nations, both past and present, by committing ourselves to fostering understanding, healing, and justice for all who inhabit this land. Let us walk forward together with open hearts, acknowledging the past, and embracing a future guided by compassion, respect, and unity.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. Commissioner Burton, would you like to lead us in the pledge? >> Yes. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Commissioner Burton. Are there any adjustments to the agenda? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Vice Chair Mike Lee, seconded by Commissioner Valentine. All in favor say I.
>> I. >> Any oppose? Agenda is approved. Cler Wallace, I'll pass it to you for announcements. >> Good evening everyone. I'll read the announcements published in tonight's agenda. The Durham County Department of Social Services has received notices from state and federal agencies that as government shutdown continues, there will be a disruption in food and nutrition benefits. We know how important these benefits are to you and your family. The DECOD DSS will continue to process applications and certifications as normal. The DC, I'm sorry, NCDHHS issued partial November SNAP benefits on EBT cards last week and it will continue to have updates on their website. You can visit www.ncdhhs.govfns.
For more information. The Durham Food Security Coordinator, Department of Social Services, Public Health and Public Information have created a web page with information on food security and resources. It can be it is located on our website dcnc.gov. The page includes links to food pantries, the Durham food resource map, community organizations who have provided food or that residents may donate to the Durham Public Schools free meals program for students, tips, donations, and more. The Durham County Open Space Matching Grant Program is accepting applications for the 2526 cycle until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 12th. The program is designed to assist organizations, nonprofits, and residents in Durham County, both inside and outside the city limits, in preserving open space lands and promoting new and improved recreational opportunities for citizens of Durham County. Information and application instructions are available at dc.gov.
And you can also email bronc.gov with questions. The Welcome baby program out of the Durham Cooperative Extension is hosting its 13th annual coat drive. Last year's event collected and distributed a record-breaking 1,427 coats that benefited Durham County youth. The welcome baby team is looking to top that number this year and ask community members to donate gently used and new children's coats, hats, and scarves and sizes newborn to 8 years. This year's event will run from Monday, November 17th until Friday, January 9th, 2026.
You can find drop off locations or you can start your own drop off site and you can visit DCNC for additional information. The Durham County Transportation Department is seeking community input on the development of the bus rapid transit BRT vision plan to ensure it reflects local priorities. There is one virtual session remaining on Tuesday, November 18th, 11:30 to 12:30 and there is a link to join., additional information can be found at durhambrtvision.com. The Durham County Department of Public Health is now offering appointments for updated Madna COVID 19 vaccines for all people ages 6 months and older. Due to limited vaccine supply, vaccinations are available by appointment only and appointments can be made by calling 919-560-7608.
You can visit the Durham County dc.gov site for additional information. The November edition of the InTouch with Durham County show features vet veteran services supervisor Jonathan Krooms and Department of Social Services child welfare social worker Dana Stewart to the show. You can watch it at the county's YouTube channel. Most Durham County government offices will be closed in observance of the Veterans Day holiday on Tuesday, November 11th. Our offices will reopen with normal hours on Wednesday, November 12th, and you can visit our website to read about the impacts of the services.
And lastly, please join the board of Board of County Commissioners on Monday, November 24th for the Durham County Government 2025 State of the County. Chair Allam will share the organization's key achievements from the past year and present new initiatives aimed at addressing both current and emerging needs across our community. Attendees are encouraged to bring canned goods and non-p perishable food items to the meeting. These donations will be collected to help stock local food banks during a time of critical need, supporting families facing food insecurity throughout Durham County. To learn more about ongoing community efforts to address food insecurity, you can visit dcnc.gov/publicinformation community food resources. And that concludes the announcements in tonight's agenda.
>> Thank you, Clerk Wallace. Are there any additional announcements from the board? Commissioner Jacobs. I first want to just acknowledge our Durham County Veteran Services staff for the wonderful event that was held today over at our Health and Human Services building. Really appreciate our staff, our Durham delegation was there. And of course, to all of our veterans, many who are also Durham County employees., just to thank them for their service, and their sacrifice for our community., I also just want to shout out to our staff who have been, contributing to, collecting food and also working together. I know we're going to talk more later today about efforts around food security, but just want to lift up everyone who's been working so hard to address the current food crisis in our community. And lastly, I just want to share our a lot of us up here are headed to Austin for an inner city trip to learn more about what people are doing in Austin, Texas that we can learn from. And I recently attended a.
Transit and community conference in Portland. and just want to share that I learned a lot about BRT which we are studying for Durham right now which was really exciting. and so that was really great to see learn from on the ground. Also, I attended a number of visits to places in Portland where they're doing middle missing middle housing., which is something that we've been trying to do in Durham and our UDO rewrite is going to help us with and also learned more about public private partnerships on publicly owned land that people are doing around the country which is also something that we're trying to work on here in Durham. and also creative approaches to affordable housing, including cooperativelyowned affordable housing projects. which I don't think we've embarked on that yet here, but I hope that that's something else that we'll look at in the future. Just just wanted to share back and I know we'll have more to share when we get back from Austin. Thank you.
>> And just for reference, BRT is bus rapid transit for those who may not know. >> Thank you. Yeah, that is >> transit has a lot of acronyms. Okay, Commissioner Valentine. >> yes, thank you Madam Chair. I'd just like to publicly acknowledge the Department of Social Services efforts during a very critical time in in our community the way they are standing in the gap as well when many in our community are food insecure. And so I just like to say thank you to Megie Clap and her team for standing the gap.
Thank you, Commissioner Valentine. Then I will move on. I will entertain a motion to approve our minutes for our October 6th work session and our October 13th and 17th regular sessions. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> Moved by Commissioner Valentine, second by Vice Chair Mike Lee. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Minutes are approved. We now move to our ceremonial items with our first one being a resolution honoring the life and legacy of Mr.
Dwaren K. Langley and I know we are joined by members of his family, Miss Dana Langley and her and the rest of their family. we will be reading this jointly as a board. beginning with believe commissioner Valentine. >> Thank you Madam Chair. The Dorm Board of Board of County Commissioners resolution honoring the life and legacy of De Warren K. Langley and whereas the Dorm County Board of Commissioners joins our community in honoring the life of the Warren K. Langley, a devoted public servant, a mentor, an advocate who gave his life's work to lifting others and building a more just dorm. And whereas Dwan believed that every young person, especially young black boys and men, deserves someone who would stand beside them and fight for their future. And whereas he was not a man of empty words, but a man of daily action. When others spoke about change, Deor showed us what it looked like. He created programs, built relationships, and walked with young people so they could walk on their own.
And whereas born and raised in Durham, Dwarin was shaped by this community and gave everything he could to give back. He was a proud graduate of Durham public schools, earned degrees from Hampton University and North Carolina Central University, and carried those experiences back home to strengthen his county. And whereas through his work as executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Dwarren built pathways of opportunity for young men of color. He created spaces where they could lead, learn, and believe in their own potential. His vision was rooted in love, education, and purpose.
And whereas he served with distinction as chair of the Durham Civilian Police Review Board, vice chair of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Durham Workforce Development Board, and as a founding voice for the Durham Youth Commission. He never stopped finding new ways to help young people claim their seat at the table. And whereas DeW was foundational to the kids voting Durham program, he was a founding member of the Kids Voting Durham Advisory Board, joining in March 2008 and served on it continuously since, most recently as vice chair. Over the past 18 years, DeW contributed significantly to the development and growth of kids voting voting's youth voice efforts and our commitment to having our programs being youthled. And >> whereas in many ways, kids voting's candidate programming connecting youth and decision makers was built upon DeWAren's own work as a student at Jordan High School, creating teens politically active. And whereas Dearren's leadership was steady and full of grace, he held other account others accountable while treating everyone with dignity and care. He showed that courage.
And kindness can live in the same heart. And whereas his passing leaves a deep ache in the city he loved, but his legacy lives on in the countless lives he touched. The young men he mentored will carry his lessons forward, and our community will continue to be shaped by his example. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, do hereby resolve to honor the life and legacy of Dearan K. Langley and extends our deepest sympathy to his family, friends, and all who loved him. We commit to continuing the work that he began to lift up our youth, to build community with compassion, and to make Durham a place where every young person has the chance to rise and thrive. Let this resolution serve as both a tribute and a promise to carry forward the light that Doran Langley brought into this world. This the 10th day of November 2025.
I know we have we have a framed copy from on behalf of the board to present to Mr. Dana and if there's if there's any remarks the family would like to share please feel free but also.
Thank you so much Dana and entire family of Dwan for sharing him with us and for raising such an amazing human being who gave back to Durham and to the folks that he loves so so much, our youth. Vice Chair. >>, so I met Dwarren somewhere around 1997 or 99 somewhere when I moved here at First Calvary. And I became I I got to know him a lot over those years. But especially my time on the school board, one thing that DeWin was really good at was holding people accountable for not only, you know, what they said, but you know, what they did.
I'm still going through tags on Facebook where the Warren tagged me. on all of these things each time something comes. And he would always say, you know, we need better education outcomes. We need better activities, better opportunities for our youth here. And that is that was with everyone. He did not discriminate on who he would encourage and challenge. He was there with a with a purpose. And there are many times we talked and even recently about some of the things that are happening here in the county, you know, and the administration in the na on the national level as well.
I think Durham lost an accountability partner and that's going to be a gap in our elected officials. I remember a long time ago, maybe gosh, it must have been about 15 years ago now. I was talking to a guy, he was a lawyer, he was a lawyer, and he was like, you know, DeW's going to be mayor one day because he's involved, everybody knows him, and he's involved with a lot of things in Durham. And I actually I believe that I ab absolutely believed that although that can't happen the Warren spirit is in every elected official in Durham. I can guarantee you that he's had some sort of touch, some sort of impact. He's had facetime, you know, speaking with and he's held every single elected official here for years accountable for what we do. So, it is an honor to be able to recognize him. It was an honor to know him, an honor to work with him, but also an honor to to honor him. And just one thing, you.
Know, Destiny is here and he always when she was like in school, like she he would always post about your achievements, I never got to meet you meet meet you. I mean, we've met periodically, but I felt like I knew you better because of all the stuff. I knew all of your achievements. I knew everything that you were doing when you were graduating, all your AB honor roles and A honor roles and all this kind of thing. But that's just the kind of person he was. And we appreciate you all sharing him with us for the time for the very short time that we had him.
So we appreciate you all. So thank you. Vice Chair, Commissioner Jacobs. >> Well, first of all, to De Warren's family, I want to say I'm sorry for your loss, and I know you have a huge family. I learned that from coming to the service, but also the gathering that was held at the CCB Plaza downtown. And just really it made me really happy to see what a wonderful loving family that Dewan had and that you all are., so that really gave me a lot of comfort and, you know, just following up on what our vice chair said, there's a huge void.
In our community and I honestly don't think that it's possible for any one single person to fill that void and it is you know this was said at his service by Charles Lions Mitchell that it really is up to us to carry on the mantle of what he was fighting for and so I hope that we will do that. That is a challenge that we need to fulfill. And when you think about all the things that Dewarren did start in our community, we know they will live on like kids voting Durham. But I also think about even it's hard to list everything in one proclamation, but even everything he did around Martin Luther King steering committee and the scholarship.
Could always count on that letter from him in the mail asking for money for the scholarship. He was here every year with a proclamation for Martin Luther King Day for youth mentoring month. It was like qu clockwork. You could always depend on DeW and frankly every single meeting that we had, he was here giving.
Public comment and reminding us of what we need to be doing as elected officials representing our communities. So, I just want to say we have a great legacy and life to celebrate and carry on and to thank you all of you for sharing him with us and for just being a part of the foundation of who he is and was. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. And I know we have a chair of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council of Commissioner. Sorry. And then we have after Commissioner Valentine, we have the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Chair, Kevin McCyver, who is also here to bring comments and presentation.
Thank you, Madam Chair. first, I would like to extend my condolences to Dwan's family and I want to say that a week before his his passing that Mike Lee, you're right. He called me and held me to account some things that that I had talked about in arriving at this position. He made sure that he let me know that he'd be watching and then holding me to account particularly as it relates to the young people that he worked with. And Warren illuminated the pathway for so many young people in this community through his work with the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation.
We in fact do have a void, a very large void., and Dew also was part of the North Carolina Central School of Law family. And so, on behalf of all of us were part of North Carolina Central family, we share in your loss and we thank you for sharing him with us. >> Mr. Mc.
Thank you, Madam Chair., I'm the chairman. My name is Kevin McCyver. I'm the chairman for the Durham County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. I was the Warren's vice chair in 2223. And everything I learned. To become chair was because of Dwarm. Those late evening texts and early morning texts were articles about things that was going on in our city, whether someone was shot or some money being distributed that he didn't think was supposed to go to an organization., it meant a lot. Those messages I hold on to and will always hold on to because they always meant something. We would text a lot and talk about what we can do to make the city better for our children and for the families.
He was dedicated all the time to making a difference in our community. And when I was at the bull and I heard his brother speak, he said, "My brother dedicated and gave his life for this for these young black boys and for this community. If you take anything away from his life, it's never to let it die. Don't let it live in vain. Do what you have to do in order to fight for these young men in our community." Because that's what he did every day. probably up until he took his last breath because I know he sent me a message at 11:00 at night. Did you see this?
And I know I we didn't agree on everything sometimes because I was like the one we got to play good cop bad cop. I was like I got to be the good cop now cuz you you going to tell them how you feel. But he was honest and it was all for one reason. It's for our children. It's for our children. And each and every month I go into our council meetings from here on out. That last portion was left for announcements. And if you know DeW had some announcements and he knew what was going on in this community and he would let everybody know.
I'm going to miss that. But most of all, I'm going to miss waking up to him sending me an article saying we got to do better for our community. So that's why as chairperson of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, I'm going to continue to fight for those young black boys that he did cuz he gave his life his life to that Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation. And I wanted to honor the family with this plaque. It says in loving memory of Dean K. Langley, dedicated member of the Juvenile Crime Preventing Council, a tireless advocate for our youth, a voice for justice, and a heart committed to change. Your unwavering dedication, compassion, and leadership left a lasting impact on our community. You will deeply.
Missed and forever remembered. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Mccyver for your beautiful words and for carrying on Dworn's legacy and doing exactly what our the resolution calls for is making sure that we continue to serve our youth and bring the light that DeWin brought to all of us in the nice ways in the tough ways but carrying on that torch. Thank you. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is from our corporate extension team is going to be introducing our new Durham County early childhood coordinator.
>> Good evening, commissioners. I'm Donna Rewalt. I'm the county extension director with Cooperative Extension. And just to follow up on the last item, kids voting is part of cooperative extension and Dorne is a very part important part of our family. I would also like to say that I feel like Dorne followed me throughout my career because I first met teenage Dorren who was quite an intense young man. I remember one of the first times I I met him. I worked for the Durham Public Education Network before I came to Durham County and he had a lot to say about what we were doing with our public schools and how our organization could help. And he came to our office and he talked to us about it and I was always impressed with them.
And then I came to the county and I helped get kids voting into the county and Dorne felt like Dorne kind of came with me has stayed with me throughout my career. I know our staff and our advisory board have been deeply affected by losing Warren. he has been a stalwart member of that advisory team, but also an adviser. I think everybody here has talked about the advice that he offered. You know, Carolyn Krueger, our kids voting coordinator, who couldn't be here tonight, she mentioned he had just again texted her about something that he was thinking of a few days before he passed.
And so I think all of us were deeply affected by Doran's life. but I think the passion that he brought I can I just that first time I met him I will never forget it. and he carried that throughout his entire life. and that deep commitment is the kind of commitment I think a lot of us in public service like to hold close because the work that we do is hard sometimes and it's important and it means a lot to people. And I just wanted to also say before I move on to this wonderful next item that Warren meant a lot to me as well and to our team at Cooperative Extension and Kids Voting. So anyway, thank you for letting me take that quick moment.
Okay, so good evening commissioners. Again, I first want to thank you for your ongoing commitment your interest and your support for early childhood initiatives in Durham County. the county early childhood coordinator is really an embodiment of that commitment and that investment that you all have made. It was originally developed one of the coordinator positions that was originally developed by this body and approved by this body to come into existence. The role of the early childhood coordinator is to strengthen county and communitywide efforts around early childhood initiatives and practices in Durham County. The coordinator provides leadership for Durham County's involvement in the early childhood action plan or ECAP and the county's work and investment in Durham PreK among other initiatives. I am really excited that we have recruited one of our own. I probably have to apologize to public health but I is our new early childhood coordinator. she previously worked for our Durham County Department of Public Health in the dying program as the early care and education coordinator. In that role, she taught.
Nutrition education at child care programs serving families with low incomes. She worked with farmed to early care and education initiatives and supported school gardens. I've been impressed of her about her deep understanding and value for datadriven and evidence-based approaches. She has a wonderful clinical nutrition background which is a really interesting thing to bring into this work as well. she is very passionate about early learning the emotional well-being of families and also with food access which we also are kind of excited about because that also links up with some of our other work and investment that we have in the county.
So I would like to introduce Iana and let her make a couple of comments. Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for letting me speak with you tonight. I am so thankful to greet you as the early childhood coordinator, a position that combines so many types of work that I am passionate about doing. And I am also so grateful to remain with Durham County, where I've been since the beginning of 2022. From my first day, I was really struck by this is a space where work is driven by values. And I think that is both impressive and uncommon., since starting my new position just five weeks ago, I've gotten to know the team of enthusiastic and caring people at Durham Cooperative Extension. I've gotten to see lots of beautiful babies pass through our door, and they and their grown-ups have gotten support and knowledge under our roof. I've also met with some of my peers and coordinator positions created by your board, including people doing really inspiring work in food security.
Preventing trauma and promoting resilience amongst our young people, welcoming new members of our Durham community. I've also reread our early childhood action plan. its creation was inspired and envisioned by the county and then so many community leaders built it from the ground up and I have been learning from strategizing with those builders really trying to think about convening for next steps. I've also seen the enormous good work that the ECAP implementation funds have enabled things like diapers for our community's youngest members. It keeps families from the impossible choice of feeding their baby or keeping their baby clean. important work like infant and ch early early childhood mental health taking place right in the preschool classrooms. Peer navigators helping families get necessary services in whatever language that family needs the services and of course devoted and passionate educators in Durham prek. So thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the community and I welcome any questions you might have.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much and not really welcome, but congratulations on the new role and thank you for continuing to serve Durham County in this new way. And I'm grateful and glad that we have such amazing talent from within Durham County's team to uplift and move around. And Dr. Jenkins isn't here, but I'm sure he will hopefully he will find someone just as amazing also to fill into that role. But and I know with you still being here that you'll support them as they transition in. But this work that you're doing right now is so so vital now, especially as we see all the ways that our children are being impacted by federal cuts and the work of the cooperative extension is y'all are seeing our residents and neighbors on a daily basis come in that are some of our most vulnerable neighbors that need access to all of our services and are touching so many parts of our system.
So, I'm really glad that we are able to have this position filled in such a vital time. So, thank you so much for taking on this lead. >> Thank you. Congratulations. >> Oh, Commissioner Jacobs. Yeah. >> I just want to say welcome and it's great to have you stay within Durham County government and bring all of your skills and talents and background into this really important role., now more than ever, we need to double down on our commitment to our infants, babies, children, early childhood, and supporting families., so the work that you're leading is so important, and thank you for stepping into this role, and I look forward to working with you.
>> Thank you. That brings us to our we have an additional item for the proclamation for geographic information system day which our Meredith Joel from our engineering and environmental services has is here to receive. Yes, the kids. >> Good evening. My name is Meredith Stall and I am a GIS analyst in the storm water and erosion control division which is within the engineering department here. GIS stands for geographic information systems and GIS technology is utilized by every department in the county. In the storm water division, we use GIS to calculate imperous surfaces for every parcel in the county for our storm water utility fee. Last year, we received a NAO award for county resiliency, infrastructure, energy, and sustainability for our GISbased data management system.
There are four GIS staff members in the tax administration department who work tirelessly to make our county parcels current and accurate. The utilities division has digitized thousands of engineering plans for our u county-owned utilities map. Recently, the emergency management department in partnership with the open space and real estate division did a fantastic job of using GIS technology in response to tropical storm Shantel. They created a mobile application for storm damage assessment which helped identify citizens in need and match them to resources. I could go on and on, but I'll stop there. November 19th is GIS day and it is observed worldwide to celebrate GIS professionals and how GIS technology is used to improve the world we live in. What started as an engineering department lunch and learn has expanded to a joint Durham County and city of Durham event. We hope you will join us on November 19th at the American Tobacco campus from 1 to 3:00 p.m. GIS professionals from the city and county will be there to show off their.
Work and show others how GIS technology can be used in their work. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much, Megan. I it may sound nerdy, but I've also used the county GIS system sometimes just for fun. It is really cool. If you guys go and look at it, you can see the different topography where your flood zones are. There's like lots of different layers that you can choose and also partnered with city and the city county planning department access to I think there's also a layer for schools. so lots of fun ways if you really want to get to know Durham at the nitty-gritty level should look into our GIS systems. Commissioner Burton.
Yeah, I just didn't catch. When is the GIS?, it's day it's going to be at American Tobacco. >> November 19th, 1 to three. Okay, cool. Thank you. >> Okay, that now moves Oh, Commissioner Vice, did you Okay., move us to our.
Consent agenda., are there any items commissioners would like to pull or ask questions, please? Seeing none, I'll >> I just have a quick question. After we do this, can we can we take a picture with their f with the Warren's family so they could go ahead and leave if they need to? >> Yeah. >> I don't want them to have to wait. >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. >> I don't know if they wanted. Yes. >> Absolutely. >> I move for approval of the consent agenda.
>> Some second. >> Moved by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Commissioner Burton. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Consent is approved. Take a quick five minute recess.
Okay. Now, the board of commissioners will adjourn into close session pursuant to general statute 140. Wait, am I missing anything? >> We have Oh, we bad., I was a little excited. Appro Well, we have our other business approval to enter into a contract with Key Environmental Consulting in the amount of 159,547 for the Durham County Food System Assessment and Strategic Plan. This is something I cannot we cannot afford to skip over. Good evening again, commissioners. Donna Rewald, county extension director, along with Reena Goldstein, our county food security coordinator. We're going to give you a brief presentation about this item., a little bit about the background need, an overview of the process, the vendor selection, and our next steps.
Let's see. I get the thing. So, the purpose of the county food security assessment is to analyze the entire food system from farm to table. So, from growing to consumption. we intend to identify assets and gaps in our current food system work to recommend policies, programs, and resources to ensure long-term food and nutrition security and to provide actionable steps for implementing and evaluating the plan. This is consistent with Durham County's overall food security approach, which we have shared this with you before. It's a two-pronged approach. One, which we are very focused on right now, is to enhance the social safety net to meet current needs. and second to work towards systemic change to improve long-term food security. So, kind of helping us develop that food system that works for everyone. And this plan and this approach will help with both but in particular will keep our eye on that long-term food security. A little bit to remind us about where Durham County is in our food system. We have made over $3.
Million in ARPA food security investments and projects., we have provided food security grants to community organizations and we have had a food security coordinator since 2021. Durham Public Schools now provides free school meals to every student. Our county hosts over 60 food pantries and over 300 farms. And despite what is going on at this moment, we do have very strong SNAP and WICK programs., we also have a robust food security network and strong county investment. So the food security rates in 2023, you'll see that Durham is slightly below the average for North in the United States. However, when we look more deeply and see our populations broken down, you can see both among our children and some of our different communities, the food insecurity rates are much higher.
So the history of the food system assessment is is fairly simple., we have needed a guide both for the county and the community to make good long-term investments very similar to the early childhood action plan., this is very consistent with our other peer counties who have food security work and initiatives and have developed community- based plans. We have some county goals, but we don't really have that consistent county agreed upon approach where we can really leverage our funding and maximize our effort both within the county and in the community.
The food system assessment has been a long time in coming in and that it was approved originally by the the Board of County Commissioners in FY 2023. At that same time, however, we also received the funding for the US farm campus grant project and also we developed the ARPA projects and those took priority because they also included some elements that overlap with this and we did not want those those items to compete., our USDA planning grant for the farm campus ended in June of this year. So, this we feel this is an optimal time to start doing our food system assessment., and based on just our more recent history in the United States and North Carolina and Durham, we know that food security and food insecurity es and flows. If you think it back to the recession in 2008 and that it really took several years for us to recover on the from a food security perspective from that and then we have COVID and now we have the current.
Crisis. So we are used to kind of a mill of different crises happening and so there's never there's never a right time to do something but now is a good time for us to really be looking more deeply at this work so it can help us to be more prepared in the future. and D Re is gonna talk about the assessment. >> Yeah. Good evening, commissioners. I'm Reena Goldstein, the county food security coordinator. and I'll talk a little bit about how this assessment will work now that we got a little bit of the history and background from Donna. this slide shows an overview. I'm going to talk about it a little bit and then talk about each component more in the following slides.
But there are three main components of our food system assessment. this includes hearing from our community. Doing a very thorough review of the secondary data that's out there about food systems and best practices for food security as well as secondary data specific to our Durham community. as well as a spatial analysis., and all of these will be used together to inform our strategic plan with recommendations for a 10-year food system plan. And the timeline for the assessment and development of the plan is 18 months.
Community engagement is a large part of our food system assessment. like it is with everything we do in Durham. We really want to know what is important to the community, what they're seeing and want them to be a big part of any of our strategic planning. Our food system assessment will start with formation of a steering committee which will include our our staff at extension will work with the vendor with the contractor to develop the steering committee which will include community members a variety of food system stakeholders as well as other other stakeholders for the strategic planning. there'll also be a variety of community engagement throughout the entire process with many many different activities to help ensure that many different people throughout various communities and neighborhoods and populations in Durham are heard.
So this will include things like listening session, interviews, storytelling and the community will be involved in the whole process including being part of the review of the drafted plan. So I think sometimes with this kind of work the communities included the inputs commun included but they don't necessarily get to see the draft before it's finalized to see if we interpreted the information correctly. But this will be a part part of the entire process here. At the same time, the community engagement is going on. the data review and the spatial analysis will also be taking place. so we already heard about GIS today and we'll be using GIS here. Our vendor has extensive expertise in GIS analysis and they will be using it to assess food access in Durham. So seeing what groceries and markets we have. also understanding our farms and other food production both within Durham and close by in our region. Knowing how important the whole region plays to food production.
As well as our distribution. How is food getting out to people who need it and where do we have a lot of distribution and where might we have gaps that we need to think about more resources? in addition to the spatial analysis, they'll also be doing a policy and comprehensive plan analysis. so this will be reviewing policies and plans at every level of government both here in North Carolina and throughout the country to learn best practices to identify what might work best here in Durham. and the findings both from this policy analysis as well as the the spatial analysis. This will be used to evaluate what we're currently doing in Durham to see what our assets are and then what some gaps are that we need to address in the plan.
So all of this information that's being gathered by the community engagement and the other analyses will be used to develop the the final project will which will be the 10-year strategic plan and the final recommendations will really center around the three aims you see on this slide which speak a lot to our values in Durham as well as all the different components and really settings that are affected by our food system. So this is including access to affordable, safe, nutritious foods for everybody in Durham. Also thinking about the economic opportunities within the food system ensuring that we are again leveraging those and really centering people in the food value chain. So people that work in our food system so that they are also able to to flourish and also incorporating practices that are considering our environment sustainable practices protecting our natural resources as well as considering animal welfare which we know is is a big part of our food system.
The format of the strategic plan, as we've mentioned, it will be a 10-year plan and it will include priorities. We know we can't do everything at once. And as Donna mentioned, we have so many great investments in food security within the county. and this will help us to prioritize what we're already doing and then the new practices that we are finding through this through the assessment. The the vendor will also include suggestions for phased implementation so that we know what we need to do now and then we know what's coming later. There there'll be an implementation toolkit so they're not just giving us a plan and kind of running away. They're going to give us some tools on how to best implement it which will include governance and partnership framework so that we can continue to work on this these activities and these goals with community and partnership with community. there will also be an evaluation plan so we can ensure that we are staying accessible and accountable to our Durham community members.
The vendor that we chose, we just wanted to tell you a little bit about them., we had 11 bids for this, which was a lot. It was our committee was busy reading for for a long time., but and Key environmental were we're very excited to work with them. They were selected based on their experience the credentials among their team and then their their bid really aligned well with our project vision. They are located here in the triangle with a good amount of experience right here in Durham. They have a multidisciplinary team with experience in food system planning, urban planning, public health, data science and community development.
So all the parts of this pretty extensive assessment that we were looking for, they they have that coverage within their their team. They have had successful projects in all areas of the food system, including local government. So they're familiar with the type of work that we do here. They also have great technical experience in data collection and analysis as well as really great work in community engagement and stakeholder participation. and Don and I have met with them several times since they submitted their bid and they're very excited to work here in Durham with us and we can tell that they just really align well with with the type of work that we want to continue to do. So we're we're excited our next step. So as I mentioned this is a 18-month project. So once the once the bid once it's app once you all have approved us to do the contract we will complete and execute the contract and then there's a timeline here and you can see that some of the components.
Overlap a bit. So we'll do the project kickoff and planning in the first six months. and then about halfway through that time is when the assessment activities will actually start. that'll be month 3 to 12. The strategic plan development will start while the assessment activities are still going on because we'll use the data that's already already gained to start the strategic plan which will be as mentioned written in collaboration with community and the steering committee. and then the last three months will be finalizing, publishing and presenting the strate strategic plan.
So thank you all so much and we are happy to answer any questions. Thank you so much for this work. I know getting a lot of getting 11 bids means also that the work that you all have been doing is recognized for folks to even want to bid and be participating in collaborating with Durham County. So, thank you for all of the work that you lead in this space and for reviewing all of those applicants., and again, like this is very timely that we're having this conversation because food security is a major issue right now with federal cuts. I ran into Mr.
Miguel who runs the food pantry out of Emmanuel Iglacius Church and he was saying that just last week that they had 5,000 people that they served. and it's amazing to hear that number of that the community's come together and been able to serve 5,000 people, but it's also terrifying that there's that many people on a given day who need help with a food pantry and those services. So, this is really vital and I'm glad that, you know, Durham County is looking at this holistically because it's going to take everyone coming together with the level of cuts that we're seeing to not just, you know, fill this gap while we have it right now, but also long term, how do we make sure that our residents aren't struggling, that they're able to put food on the table. So, thank you, Commissioner Burton.
>> Yes. Thank you, Chair Lam. I'm really glad this work is being done. being in public education teaching little people for 30 years and just understanding that at that level so many of our kids came to school being food insecure and I was just looking at the data from the slide that you know it's affecting a lot of our marginalized communities right so I'll be interested to see okay you know how is it being trickled down like from, you know, the start process all the way to the end process. And before I came to Chambers today, I had to go into one of the I went into a Dollar General store and I was just amazed at the amount of poor quality food that's in there and, you know, it was chips and, you know, donuts and canned food and, you know, and that's what a lot of our residents are able to afford and we know that affects health disparities. So, I'm really glad that this is being done.
So we can learn and figure out how we can better help our residents with getting high quality food. So, thank you so much, >> Commissioner Jacobs. >> Thank you so much for presenting this. I think this is really important for our community to see what we're embarking on and investing in. this is a big investment to do this plan and then come up with a way to implement it. And I see this really as an outgrowth again of this board investing in this as another one of our priorities systemically to address food security, access to adequate and healthy food for everyone. I think we have a really good foundation to build on. you know, that slide that you showed with the farm campus and $3 million in ARPA funding, which is huge., the work that's happened since CO, the the whole food group that evolved from CO that still meets every month. the food day that you have helped lead for our whole community dur you know world food.
Day and honestly the amount of effort that Durham County government has put into preserving farmland and I just also want to lift up the new UDEO process is really important because you know we one of the things is making sure that people are going to be able to grow food everywhere in Durham., you know, in the in the northern part of the county obviously, but also throughout our neighborhoods and continuing our effort to preserve land that can be grown for food. You know, my dream would be that if we ever face this kind of situation again that we would be fine.
Can you imagine if our community could if we could be self-sufficient when it came to food for everyone? That would be incredible. I just want to one thing I wanted to ask related to the timeline. I was concerned that I mean this is a long process 18 months. It just shows you only coming back to us at the end when the when the plan is actually already done. I would ask that there actually be some intervals where you do come back to us whenever you think it makes sense.
So, I don't know that I can see up there when it says something about the findings, synthesis of findings, whether that would make sense to come back to us or when there's a draft, but I I don't know what what were you thinking? >> Yeah., thank you, Commissioner Jacobs. That was just the final presentation, but we can absolutely come and present before that. and key environmental the vendor has throughout the strategic plan development different opportunities for stakeholders to be involved in listening and the feedback and I you all are stakeholders so we'll make sure that you're updated about all those opportunities. So whatever you want to join.
>> Yeah. I just when you come back officially to present it's also an opportunity for the public to see kind of where things are at. So >> and we might model that similarly to the way we did with farm campus. We had you know when we do our kickoff meeting with them we'll integrate that into what those you know we did like kind of one pager updates with the key points. And if there were some interim reports we were able to provide those along the way and I think that worked well. So we'll we'll work out kind of a schedule for that.
>> Okay. and then obviously there's lots of county departments and boards that you know they weren't mentioned specifically here but that you know should be you know farmland board and so water obviously cooperate extension but also a lot of the different boards as well that would be pertinent like environmental affairs board is one that comes to mind. but just ensuring that they are also engaged. Yeah. >> Some of them were readers. >> Okay. Yeah. All right. So we did we have utilized them. We also do plan to build on existing plans. So this is not existing in a vacuum. So obviously the farmland plan is being updated currently. We just did all of this work with farm campus. So we certainly will integrate existing plans. Yeah. and touchstone on the places like ECAP does mention basic needs and food security like where what other plans. So in that that initial analysis, we'll be sure to pull those things together. and also when it comes to the steering committee, we'll make sure some of those interests.
Are represented. >> And also related to the UDO rewrite, a lot of what is is going to be implemented is allowing for neighborhood commercial to be available throughout the community. And that's also about getting access, you know, fighting against food deserts and making sure that food is available throughout neighborhoods., so that's another thing for you to be tuned into with the UDO. And I I will offer that us along with open space and with water, we have actually worked together and talked together and also talked with the staff working on the UDO around specific issues and some gaps that we have seen to help them develop their awareness and depth of knowledge too around agriculture and what some of those opportunities might be because there's a lot of unexpected ways in which we can participate in agriculture.
>> Absolutely. Thank you. Maker, did you have anything? >> No, I was just going to thank Donna and Raina for their efforts with this process. the work that their team does and coordinating with so many partners is phenomenal and grateful we're doing this plan. Before this season that we're in right now, I imagine our vision of what the plan would have looked like would have been different., now that we've gone through this season with some unknowns with the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, SNAP, it's changed many of our perspectives. I know it's mine especially in how we create a sustainable environment to make sure that individuals are food secure. So again, thank you. We will make sure as you know cooperative extension does a phenomenal job with outreach and making sure all the right players are at the table but we will document that and so that you'll see what those individuals and stakeholder groups are. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for your presentation and the important work that you're engaged in around food security in our community. I was just wondering this seemed to be a very competitive process and key environmental consulting is that someone that the the county has worked with in the past. >> I don't believe that the county has worked with them. they were new to us. and they were really impressed with how deep their connections were in the triangle and in Durham and just how they on their team they have someone working in academia. they have a lot of planning and kind of nonprofit administration and then as well as that very deep data science component that extends to very innovative types of community engagement.
>> Yeah. >> And as part of the 18-month timeline I read that that a legal review has to be done with regard to the service contract. Has that already been done or that something that still needs to be done? It's been done. >> Okay. Good. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. >> I sort of thought that might be the case, but Okay. Thank you. >> Oh, is the attorney. >> Well, thank you so much. Do we need to Okay, we are going to approve this. So, I'll entertain a motion for approval of the entering into this contract.
>> So moved. >> I'll second. Okay. >> Moved by Commissioner Burn, second by Vice Chair Mike Lee. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Item is approved. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Now we will go into close session pursuant to general statute 143-318.11 A4. Do I hear a motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> Moved by Vice Chair Mike Lee, second by Commissioner Valentine. All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? none. We are in close session.
In close session. No action was taken. Direction was given to staff. All we are I'll enter a motion to adjurnn. So move. >> Second. All in favor say I. I. Any.
Opposed? We are adjourned.