• Orange County Board of Commissioners charge UNC Hospital, UNC School of Public Health and the Orange County Health Department with initiating Healthy Carolinians of Orange County.

• Completed Community Assessment and established priorities that included: availability and use of preventative health services, teen pregnancy, availability and use of prenatal care, illegal drug sales, child abuse and neglect, substance abuse, poor parenting skills, health insurance coverage, poverty rates among minorities, sexual assault, and AIDS awareness.

1997

• Committees and objectives established, implementation begins.

• Governor Jim Hunt awarded certification to Healthy Carolinians of Orange County.

• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey completed, new partnerships established, assessment of data provided from BRFSS, priority areas revisited.

• Executive Committee acquires joint funding and approval for full time Healthy Carolinians position with the Orange County Health Department.

• The Governor's Task Force on Healthy Carolinians recertified Healthy Carolinians of Orange County through 2003.

• Received grant awards from the Office of Healthy Carolinians for staff support.

• Developed the Adult and Youth Health Report Card for Orange County.

• Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) completed in Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

• Received a Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission grant for $232,000 to start our Youth Tobacco-use Prevention Program in both school systems.

• Presented the Health of the County report at a community forum in the fall to report on progress made.

• Administered $12,000 to six community-based organizations in Orange County to address the goals of Healthy Carolinians.

• Coordinated a county wide community health assessment to determine current attitudes and beliefs of community members about health issues, this information was used to guide the focus of Healthy Carolinians for the next four years.

• Held a Family Fun and Fitness Day and domestic violence and child abuse prevention workshops.

• Received $45,000 from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust for staff support.

• Received second recertification from the Governor’s Task Force on Healthy Carolinians.

• A listing of 60 “Teen Friendly” providers was developed by the HCOC Advocates for Adolescents Committee and a recreation map of all public recreation areas was completed and over 10,000 were distributed.

• The Advocates for Children Committee offered Brown-Bag-Lunch Seminars and Domestic Violence Professional Training Sessions to the community and local professionals to help them better recognize and respond to family violence.