Tina Bullard

Reentry Month in North Carolina is a Reminder of Challenges and Resiliency

Governor Roy Cooper has announced that April is Second Chance Month in North Carolina, a time to focus on the challenges facing the more than 20,000 people returning to their communities each year after completing sentences of incarceration. Barriers facing previously incarcerated individuals can be overwhelming. The Orange County Local Reentry Council is now in its fourth year of service to Orange County and its formerly incarcerated residents.

The purpose of the Local Reentry Council (LRC), as mandated by the N.C. Department of Public Safety, is to coordinate resources in the community in order to assist residents and their families as they transition from incarceration to society. In addition to assembling these resources and addressing gaps, the LRC and its umbrella agency, the Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department, provide case management services, funding and support to formerly incarcerated clients.

This year was heavily influenced by COVID-19 and the attending restrictions and limitations. Due to the pandemic, the LRC and clients experienced challenges similar to those that most human services providers experienced and continue to experience. The work for both provider and client is tough and required creativity and adaption on all fronts.
Despite often overwhelming barriers, LRC clients experienced many successes this year.

t is difficult to present them all, especially when there are so many different person-centered goals and needs for a client caseload that averages around 30. In the paragraphs below, the LRC celebrates a few client success stories to shine light, power, encouragement, and strengthened community support for a resilient population who have been navigating and adapting since well before COVID-19.

Click here to read about the success stories.

Increased tax benefits available for low, moderate income families

Under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, more money is available to families and/or individuals with low to moderate incomes. Filing your taxes is how you can claim benefits like the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Families can now receive an increased Child Tax Credit ($3,000 or $3,600, depending on child/dependents age), and more people with low incomes are eligible for a larger EITC.

“The Earned Income Tax Credit benefits families and communities by providing economic support and security for eligible workers with children,” said Orange County Vice Chair Jamezetta Bedford, who is a CPA and works at a local firm doing tax work for small businesses, trusts and estates, nonprofits and individuals. “These EITC dollars are returned to the local economy as residents use their tax credit to pay for necessities like food, rent, utilities, medical expenses, etc. The EITC especially benefits children and is aligned with higher educational and better health outcomes. Many of those eligible do not know to claim this benefit. This tax credit along with the child tax credit are important anti-poverty tools for families.”

Claiming the credit can reduce the tax you owe or give you a larger refund, and the amount of your credit may change if you have children or other dependents, are disabled or meet other criteria.

“The EITC is a great resource for these families,” said Orange County Department of Social Services Director Nancy Coston. “We encourage everyone who is eligible to claim the credit on their tax returns.”

Receiving these benefits will not impact eligibility for other federal benefits (UI, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, SDI, TANF, WIC, Section 8 or Public Housing). Even if you did not earn enough to file taxes, you are eligible for the Child Tax Credit and potentially thousands of additional dollars in benefits.

Orange County Department of Social Services can offer access to computers and help taxpayers with navigating to the sites to file taxes online, but staff are prohibited from helping residents file taxes or providing tax advice. The Orange County Skills Development/Career Center (100 Europa Drive, Suite 101, Chapel Hill) and the Orange Works Employment and Training Center (113 Mayo Street, Hillsborough) have public computers available Monday thru Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The deadline to file 2021 income taxes is Monday, April 18. For more information and to learn how to get free assistance with filing your taxes, visit www.ChildTaxCredit.gov.

Click here for a flyer on the EITC (English | Spanish)

Orange County offers absentee voting by mail to all registered Orange County voters who wish to vote by mail rather than at a one-stop early voting site or on Election Day. Registered voters may request a ballot through the Online Absentee Request Portal by clicking the graphic above.

Photo of Orange County DSS staff in front of pinwheel garden

Social Services recognizes Child Abuse Prevention Month and encourages you to #BeAConnection

Orange County Department of Social Services kicked off Child Abuse Prevention Month on April 1 by wearing blue and planting a pinwheel garden. Pinwheels are the national symbol for child abuse prevention and they represent the bright future all children deserve
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“No effort that is spent on children is ever wasted,” Pat Garavagalia, Board of Social Services Chair said.

This month, and throughout the year, Orange County Department of Social Services encourages all individuals and organizations to play a role in making Orange County a better place for children and families. By ensuring parents have the knowledge, skills and resources they need to care for their children, we can help prevent child abuse and neglect by making meaningful connections with children, youth and families in our communities.

Orange County Department of Social Services encourages community members to learn how we can all prevent child maltreatment by registering for PCANC’s free webinar “Ensuring Strong Foundations for Children | Learn the Basics & Take Action” on April 20.

Learn how you can #BeAConnection at www.preventchildabusenc.org.

OCAC, CJRD present Our Lens, Our Voice

The Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department in partnership with the Orange County Arts Commission announce the opening of Our Lens, Our Voice, a photography and emotional expression project that reframes and refocuses narratives of justice-impacted youth. The photography exhibit will open to the public on Friday, April 29 from 5-8 p.m. at the Orange County Courthouse (106 E. Margaret Ln.) as part of Hillsborough’s Last Fridays ArtWalk. In addition to the exhibit, attendees will enjoy live music and spoken word artists.

In September 2020, Criminal Justice and the Arts Commission, together with photographer Emily Baxter and artivist Soteria Shepperson, created Our Lens, Our Voice, where justice-impacted youth used photography and poetry to create a series of anonymous photographs using meaningful words and phrases as prompts. All cameras and supplies were provided, thanks to the generosity of community members. The exhibit will feature the final photographs together with named emotional experiences by each participant.

Growing positive outcomes have led to creative expression becoming a more commonly used tool for engaging justice-involved individuals. A study by the California Department of Corrections showed six months after release, rates of parole violation for arts-in-corrections participants were 15 percent lower than nonparticipants; after two years, this difference climbed to 30 percent1. Seventy-five percent of program participants had fewer disciplinary infractions than nonparticipants.

Involvement in the arts is also critical for student outcomes. Students engaged in arts learning have higher GPAs and standardized test scores and are two times more likely to graduate college4. Low-income students who participate in the arts, both in school and after school, have a dropout rate of just 4 percent—five times lower than their peers. Participation in after-school arts programs causes juvenile crime to fall by 4.2 percent on average, and slightly more (5.4 percent) in lower-income cities.

Click here for information about the artists.

April is National Poetry Month! Celebrate by making a blackout poem & submitting it for display at the library. Get supplies at the library while they last or use your own.

Register of Deeds to host Passport Fair on April 23

The Orange County Register of Deeds office will resume offering passport services fulltime beginning Monday, March 20. Hours of service will be from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The office will also host a passport fair on Saturday, April 23, from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., walk-ins ONLY, at the office located at 228 S. Churton Street, Hillsborough.

For more information about what is required to obtain a passport, visit our website at https://www.orangecountync.gov/771/Passports or call (919) 245-2681.

The Register of Deeds now offers fraud alert protection service to provide email notifications whenever a document is recorded in the Register of Deeds office that matches your name. You can enter up to five names per email address. If a document is recorded in either of the names you submit, you will receive an email notifying you.
To sign up for the service, visit this website: https://fraudalertme.com/ORANGENCNW/FRAUDDETECTION.ASP.

Orange County to host discussion on green burial option

The Orange County Department on Aging and the Project EngAGE End of Life Choices Senior Resource Team invite the public to attend a virtual discussion, Bluestem Conservation Cemetery: An Introduction, on April 12.

Why conservation burial, and why Bluestem in particular? Cemeteries are places for people to be permanently memorialized and places at which family and loved ones may gather for reflection. Conservation burial grounds serve as places where individual and community commitment to conservation and perpetuity come together. Bluestem will be a conservation cemetery designed as a nature preserve and place of reverence, with a trail network, quiet areas for reflection, open space for contemplation, and designated areas within its restored landscape for natural burial.

Join us to learn more about this exciting community endeavor. If you would like to learn more in advance of our conversation with Bluestem co-founders Heidi Hannapel and Jeff Masten, please visit www.bluestemcemetery.org.

The event will take place on Tuesday, April 12, from 4 – 5:30 p.m. via a virtual platform.

Register for the virtual event using the link www.orangecountync.gov/Bluestem. Registration is open through April 12.

Upcoming activities at the Orange County Senior Centers

Conversation Project Workshop PART I:
In small conversation groups, patterned after the Conversation Project, Project EngAGE End of Life Choices SRT members will coach participants how to engage their loved ones in end of life care conversations. Attendees will receive the Conversation Starter Kit from The Conversation Project and a free copy of The Five Wishes Booklet.

Passmore Center

Date: Tuesday, April 26 4-6 p.m.

Fee: FREE

Max in-person attendance: 12.
Register by: Friday, April 22 at 919-968-2070

www.orangecountync.gov