Shirley and Melvin Springs reside in Charlotte where they were referred by their insurance company to Centralina AAA for support services. Melvin was diagnosed five years ago with dementia. Melvin, due to his diagnosis, needs 24-hour supervision and hands-on assistance with activities related to daily living. Shirley is Melvin’s wife and primary caregiver. She assists him with bathing, dressing, transportation, meals and managing his medication. Shirley and Melvin have support from their family as well as their personal community, but Shirley was still adjusting to her new role as a caregiver and needed an extra hand with Melvin’s care.  

Shirley met with her Centralina Aging Specialist through FCSP who completed an in-person assessment to confirm what supports the couple values and would benefit from in the home. They also discussed ways to assist Shirley and reduce her risk of caregiver burnout. FCSP, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, provided respite services as well as supplemental services.  Respite is a break for caregivers from their normal responsibilities. Respite includes different supports such as in home aid, adult day care or respite in long term care.  Supplemental services are services that assist caregivers with caring for their loved one and include incontinence supplies, liquid nutritional supplements, home safety modifications, medical equipment or assistive technology. 

By receiving respite and supplemental services, Shirley was able to take time back for herself and even go to her granddaughter’s graduation knowing Melvin was home safe and receiving needed care. Shirley and Melvin’s respite caregiver, Barry, has provided continued services after FCSP completed its scope of involvement. Barry has become a valued pillar of support and a companion for both Shirley and Melvin. 

FCSP helped reduce Shirley’s risk of caregiver burnout as well as provided her with the support she needed to care for Melvin in their home. In addition to receiving a well-deserved break, Shirley also received referrals to programing in her community that can assist with additional respite, such as NC Department of Health and Human Service’s Project C.A.R.E. and Centralina AAA’s Building Better Caregivers.   

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Finding a new Town Manager is a major decision for any community as the Town Manager oversees the day-to-day operations of their municipality, helping bridge the expertise and experience of staff with the desires and will of the public. This requires a unique skillset that is not easily acquired. When faced with finding such a candidate, it can be extremely difficult to know what to look for, how a potential candidate may interact with relevant parties and how they will perform once in the role. The Town of Granite Quarry knew that they needed outside expertise and an externally facilitated process to judge and evaluate potential candidates fairly and thoroughly. 

This is where Centralina stepped in. Centralina’s team developed a community-specific recruiting brochure that advertised the position, then accepted applications, screened and vetted applicants and developed an interview process to evaluate the final round of candidates. Centralina worked closely with the Granite Quarry to ensure that each of these steps reflected the community’s values and vision while assessing potential candidates on relevant issues. 

After the preparation and planning stages, the candidate interviews came to fruition and the Town of Granite Quarry selected Jason Hord as their new Town Manager. Hord previously served as the Director of Granite Quarry’s Public Works Department and Chief of the Granite Quarry Fire Department.  

Centralina’s successful organization of the recruitment process from beginning to end is a testament to our team’s expertise in managing the complex and unbiased hiring processes needed for public sector leadership positions and demonstrates our commitment to helping member communities find the best talent. One applicant specifically noted that the brochure created by Centralina was what drew him to the position, as some local governments do not provide the same level of community detail. The Town of Granite Quarry was pleased with the organized process and has already sought Centralina’s assistance with another prominent hiring process. 

If your community is interested in learning more about how we can help with your recruitment process, review our sales sheet to learn about Centralina’s scope of services. We look forward to working with your community to simplify the recruitment process, identify candidates that best match your criteria and ensure your staff is prepared to onboard your new hire. 

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The Blue-Sky Disaster Preparedness training program was built to support local government disaster preparedness activities by providing insight into recouping FEMA grant dollars and enhancing long-term recovery. Funding for this training was provided by the State of North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Emergency Management. Centralina, in partnership with the North Carolina Association of Regional Councils of Government (NCARCOG), worked with consultants and subject matter experts to develop the Blue-Sky Disaster Preparedness training.  

Fruitful discussion with the group led to the conclusion that all disasters are local. For effective recovery, many roles outside of emergency management departments play an important part in resiliency work. Through this partnership with Union County, Centralina has been able to gather resources for all communities, large and small, to put into action before a crisis emerges. Please visit our member portal to access the course materials and learn more about your role in disaster recovery. Additionally, we encourage you to have a conversation with your emergency management leads and locate your emergency operations plan, hazard mitigation plan, and other disaster-related guides. 

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Closer to home, here in NC, individuals who are ‘Hispanic or of Latino Origin’ comprise roughly 3% of the state’s 65+ age group. This broad category includes persons of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other geographic origin regardless of race. This is the third largest racial/ethnic group in the state for this age group, following the ‘White’ (77.8%) and ‘Black or African American’ (16.8%) categories.  

To meet the requirements of the OAA, Centralina Area Agency on Aging (Centralina AAA) spearheaded a variety of new collaborations to reach out to the underserved Hispanic older adult population in the region. This included hiring consultant Myra Green, a community health worker who is not only bi-lingual but is also an expert in services for older adults. 

Centralina AAA Director Linda Miller said, “Myra has been a leader the Centralina region’s aging services network needed for decades. Myra has helped create and strengthen connections in the Spanish-speaking community and has supported Centralina AAA to make information and resources available in Spanish. We are excited to have her expertise so that we can better connect with underserved populations.” 

One activity Centralina AAA engaged in with the intention of reaching older Hispanic adults was the Aging and Disability Vaccination Collaborative (ADVC), a grant Centralina AAA received from the U.S. Administration for Community Living to support flu and pneumonia education. Centralina AAA worked closely with Centralina’s Planning Department to identify areas of the region in greatest need. “The ADVC project was just the beginning,” explains Green, “as this connection with older Hispanic adults shed light on additional unmet needs of the underserved population.”   

Centralina AAA then launched a media campaign specifically to educate Hispanic older adults about vaccines and other health-related issues. Part of this campaign included very successful call-in radio and television segments offering answers in Spanish from a local physician. Green elaborates further, “In addition to the need for community services, we identified that many older Hispanic and Latino individuals needed support and resources to overcome barriers and address their own issues.”    

Outreach efforts across the region reached an estimated 1.3 million individuals and included: 

• Billboards in Spanish promoting vaccine education; 

• Educational classes and games for the Latino Group at Eastway Recreation Center; 

• Fall prevention education programs in Spanish; 

• Collaboration with Samaritan’s Feet, Age-Friendly Mecklenburg, Latin American Coalition, Columbian Club-El Puente Hispano in Cabarrus County, local health departments, housing authorities and faith communities; and 

• Flu vaccines were provided to 382 Hispanic older adults across the region. 

In closing, Green suggests that Centralina AAA continue efforts to identify and meet the needs of older Hispanic adults in our region and emphasizes the importance of creative interventions to make these critical connections with agencies and the older Hispanic adults they serve. 

More specific demographic information about older adults for the entire state and each county can be located at  North Carolina Aging Profiles 2022 (ncdhhs.gov). 

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From 2017 to 2021, the City of Charlotte recorded 93 bicycle crashes involving children ages 0 to 17. This number is higher than that of any other city in the state. To protect our children and their right to ride safely, the Clean Cities Energy and Environmental Justice Initiative (CCEEJI), an extension of the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition, successfully applied for an NCDOT grant that awarded Centralina Regional Council with 50 helmets to distribute to local youth in underserved communities.  

CCEEJI is also partnering with the Historic West End community and local community-based organizations to help educate community members about clean transportation, starting with the completion of a transportation visioning and action planning process. In collaboration with the community, CCEEJI has identified the need for increased bicycle safety awareness among community members and local children. 

To achieve increased awareness, CCEEJI will partner with an elementary school to provide bicycle safety education to children in the West End community. CCEEJI hopes to reduce the number of bicycle-related injuries by reaching children early on with tools on how to ride safely and proactively. Following the completion of the safety program, children will be awarded a new helmet. 

Learn more about the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition and CCEEJI here. 

Members can revisit this Centralina Learns for more information about environmental justice. 

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Centralina Partners with NCDIT and NC State University

The state prioritizes digital inclusion for all, as evident through its digital inclusion initiative, being led by NC Department of Information and Technology (NCDIT). The goal of this initiative is to ensure that all communities, especially disadvantaged populations, can connect to and use the internet. Recognizing that a regional approach is critical to closing the digital divide, Centralina partnered with NCDIT and the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University to improve broadband access and equity in our region through a program called the Building a New Digital Economy in North Carolina or BAND-NC.

Developing Digital Inclusion Plans

The BAND-NC initiative helps county leaders and staff develop and implement digital inclusion plans that include implementation strategies to reduce and eliminate barriers to broadband access and technology use. The goal of these plans is to help identify community assets and implement strategies to increase access to the internet and bolster participation in the digital economy. Centralina is currently working in partnership with the counties in our region to support development and implementation of customized digital inclusion plans that reflect local conditions and needs. The Centralina Regional Digital Inclusion Plan will contain a regional section that covers objectives and goals, current conditions and statewide initiatives, in addition to chapters for each county’s specific plan.

As part of this initiative, Centralina has launched a Regional Digital Inclusion webpage, which will house these plans and additional regional, local and statewide digital assets and resources. If you’re interested in learning more about digital inclusion, please take a moment to review the curated resources on our Regional Digital Inclusion webpage and stay tuned as we launch the Centralina Regional Digital Inclusion Plan this fall.

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