Co-Leaders:

Work Group Members:

Updated 3/21/2024

2023-2024 Priorities

• Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers 
• Expand access to higher educational opportunities
• Expand Medicaid eligibility
• Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care more adequately. 
• Support people with disabilities and those in recovery, veterans, and reentry populations to live their lives as fully included members of the community implementing key employment initiatives like CIE and Employment First.
• Support early college while in high school — pipeline programs

2022 Proposed Policy Initiatives

The following are the proposed policy initiatives from the 2022 NC SHIP report.

Poverty:

• Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers
• Ease negative impact of “benefits cliffs” caused by reductions in benefits, by lengthening phase-out periods
• Eliminate taxation on sanitary products including menstrual supplies, diapers, and breastfeeding supplies
• Expand Medicaid eligibility
• Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care more adequately
• Raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour
• Restore the North Carolina Earned Income Tax Credit
• Support “early college while in high school” programs, such as REaCH and SEarCH

Unemployment:

• Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers
• Expand access to higher educational opportunities
• Expand Medicaid eligibility
• Expand transit options in rural and low-income communities
• Improve access to personal finance credit scores
• Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care more adequately
• Increase access to broadband internet
• Pass fair chance hiring policies for county and local employees, and work with employers to adopt fair chance hiring policies for themselves
• Shift funding from industrial recruitment to support small businesses and social enterprises
• Support people with disabilities and those in recovery, veterans, and reentry populations to live their lives as fully included members of the community by implementing key employment initiatives like Competitive Integrated Employment and Employment First

2023-2024 Poverty & Unemployment Work Group Meeting Schedule:

• Friday, October 13, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Friday, November 17, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Friday, December 15, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Thursday, January 25, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, February 13, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, March 12, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, May 14, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday,  June 11, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, Microsoft Teams

Tuesday, March 12, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Fenaba Addo, Diannee Carden, Sue Lynn Ledford, Trudy Logan, Jessica Maas, Nakiya Smith, Staff: Ashley Rink

• Updates
  • The co-leaders completed the Mid-Year Progress Review for the work group to assess the group’s progress. So far, the work group has highlighted policy priorities and added additional priorities at the previous work group meeting.
  • The next steps are to attach action items for the priorities discussed.
• 2023-2024 Priorities
  • The priorities the group had previously identified and discussed were:
    • Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers
    • Expand access to higher educational opportunities
    • Expand Medicaid eligibility
    • Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care
    • Support people with disabilities and those in recovery, veterans, and reentry populations to live their lives as fully included members of the community implementing key employment initiatives like CIE and Employment First
    • Support early college while in high school — pipeline programs
    • Support education, awareness, and outreach for services for people who are in poverty, unemployed, and/or are unhoused (added)
    • Increase access to broadband internet (discussed potentially adding)
  • The 2023 NC SHIP report indicator pages are available at https://schs.dph.ncdhhs.gov/units/ldas/docs/1-PovertyIndicator2023NCSHIP.pdf and https://schs.dph.ncdhhs.gov/units/ldas/docs/2-UnemploymentIndicator2023NCSHIP.pdf.
• Digital equity
  • At the previous work group meeting the group had discussed adding increasing access to broadband internet as a priority. The importance of digital equity and inclusivity, including platforms for internet connectivity for rural areas was discussed.
  • The White House had an Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) that will be ending. Additional information is available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/getinternet/.
• Repository of resources
  • There is a need for coordination across NCDHHS for efforts addressing poverty and unemployment, including housing and employment programs for veterans and formerly incarcerated populations.
  • The group discussed a need for interlinking resources and programs that are currently available at the state level regarding employment, NCID, Medicaid. There could be a more streamlined process between those departments.
  • Additional questions for consideration:
    • What kind of support could be provided to community-based organizations?
    • How could this group be a resource to them?
  • An action that was discussed was developing a repository of resources.
• Paid Family Leave
  • The bills shared at the previous meeting are not up for consideration during the General Assembly’s Short Session.
  • An action discussed was preparing advocates to be ready for the next time a bill is put forth; using advocacy to get those bills on the docket.
• Priority Action Items
  • The group discussed the following priority action items and potentially what the group could accomplish together for the year.
    • Repository of resources to include Digital Equity.
    • Integration of poverty points in NC DHHS.
    • Advocating for Family Leave bills.
• Next Steps
  • Fenaba, Nakiya, and Yas will consolidate the current priorities. Overarching areas discussed included the following. The consolidated priorities will be shared back with the work group prior to the next meeting.
    • Digital Equity
    • Paid Family Medical Leave
    • Medicaid
    • Education
  • Additional information will be shared with work group members to add and provide feedback on action items and/or next steps the group could take for the updated priorities.

Tuesday, February 13, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Fenaba Addo, Hope Bryant, Sue Lynn Ledford, Jessica Maas, Yas Shepard, Staff: Ashley Rink

• Updates: The following updates were shared during the meeting.
  • Yas Shepard:
  • There is a public facing data dashboard for Medicaid Expansion that includes enrollment by race, ethnicity, age, and other metrics. The Medicaid Expansion Dashboard is available at https://medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/reports/medicaid-expansion-dashboard. Working with them to find data on income levels for those being enrolled at the state and/or local level.
  • There is not any legislation in the General Assembly’s Short Session on paid parental leave. The proposed bills related to paid parental leave are still available for review at https://www.ncleg.gov/Legislation/Bills/ByKeyword/2023/All. To view those bills, search “Paid.”
  • NCDHHS Veteran’s Services does provide support for employment services and education. Additional information is available at https://www.ncdhhs.gov/assistance/veterans-services.
  • Hope Bryant:
    • Contacted the Director of Accessibility Services of her local community college. She is working with her on data at the local level and how to access the data statewide. They are still working on the grant for employment for those with disabilities.
    • Will continue to work on getting data for the local communities and the state community colleges.
  • Jessica Maas:
  • Community health worker employment is varied across the state; some community health workers are employed by providers, health plans, and health departments. The certification program is in place. Currently, fourteen community colleges offer certification training.
  • Sue Lynn Ledford:
    • The NCCARE360 portal can be utilized across the state for referrals and referral tracking.
    • Impact Health in western North Carolina is part of the Healthy Opportunities Pilot. As part of the pilot, they can work with their Medicaid clients that have health and safety issues, including food, housing repair and remediation of homes, transportation, safety/ violence, etc. They have covered about 1,300 clients in western North Carolina since March 2023. Healthy Opportunities Pilots: https://www.ncdhhs.gov/about/department-initiatives/healthy-opportunities/healthy-opportunities-pilots
    • Impact Health- Network Leads: https://impacthealth.org/who-we-are/our-team/
    • The Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) will be expanding to a statewide system- What are the projected number of beneficiaries the HOP expansion would impact?
    • There are opportunities to review numbers around Numbers around housing remediation, supplemental food boxes, transportation, etc.; there are a lot of tracking within the Healthy Opportunities Pilots that could lend voice to what the issues of poverty and unemployment are.
    • From the lens of poverty, HOP is a mechanism for families that have been hopeless and unable to address their needs to begin to address their needs.
    • NCWorks provides employment assistance through reentry programs for people involved in the justice system. The state is expanding reentry services.
    • NCDHHS Expands Investment in Reentry Services for People Involved in the Justice System: https://www.ncdhhs.gov/news/press-releases/2024/02/12/ncdhhs-expands-investment-reentry-services-people-involved-justice-system
• Additional Discussion:
  • There is flexibility in the work group’s focus related to poverty and unemployment. The group has been reviewing programs and policies to move the needle on poverty and unemployment.
  • The group initially reviewed policies from Healthy North Carolina 2030 and narrowed the list to focus on Medicaid Expansion, paid family leave, reentry, and unhoused populations.
  • The group continues to make connections with stakeholders to track how those programs and policies are impacting poverty and unemployment across the state.
  • Previously there was a policy in the list related to broadband that was not prioritized. The group discussed potentially adding, “Increase access to broadband internet,” as a priority. Housing is another issue in rural and urban areas. Stabilizing drivers of health, such as affordable for housing needs, broadband, and healthcare, etc.
• Next Steps:
  • Yas- Confirm if contact is still working with HOP. Explore HOP data.
  • Sue Lynn- Share HOP contacts; will sharing that contact information with Yas.
  • All- Consider:
    • What is the next actionable thing the group could do?
    • What is moving the needle for families being served?
  • All- Share if you have a conflict with the next meeting that is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm via Microsoft Teams.

Thursday, January 25, 2024, 3:00 to 4:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Yas Shepard, Fenaba Addo, Hope Bryant, Diannee Carden-Glenn, Jessica Maas, Melanie Osborne; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Introductions
  • Yas Shepard and Fenaba Addo welcomed everyone and asked for introductions.
  • The co-leaders for the work group are Yas Shepard, Fenaba Addo, and Nakiya Smith.
• Priority Review
  • The work group reviewed the priorities the group had identified previously.
    1. Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers
    2. Expand access to higher educational opportunities
    3. Expand Medicaid eligibility
    4. Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care
    5. Support people with disabilities and those in recovery, veterans, and reentry populations to live their lives as fully included members of the community implementing key employment initiatives like CIE and Employment First
    6. Support early college while in high school — pipeline programs
    7. Support education, awareness, and outreach for services for people who are in poverty, unemployed, and/or are unhoused (added)
  • The group has made some progress on data available related to the priorities and track progress to address poverty and unemployment. The priorities are not prioritized over the others.
  • #3 With Medicaid, some of the data is not tracked at a state level about poverty and unemployment and is not readily accessible.
  • #3: There has been a focus on finding data to assess whether poverty and unemployment has been or not been improving.
  • #5: Hope Bryant- Her local community college has written a grant to support individuals with disabilities and connect them with jobs. There should be data from the colleges. Bring additional information to the next meeting.
  • #1: With the growing work group, there are more opportunities to explore different avenues to support this work.
  • #5: There are not enough social workers in the prisons to prepare for reentry. There are some pilots to encourage linkage with MCOs and may need additional support.
  • #5: Efforts to increase and encourage use of the NCCare360 system.
  • #5:  NC Serves- veterans services of the Carolinas, Veterans Bridge Home- link to resources, huge advocate; ABCCM.
    • https://nc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=def612b7025b44eaa1e0d7af43f4702b
    • https://veteransbridgehome.org/
    • https://www.abccm-vsc.org/
  • Have DSS offices been tracking the number of people are unemployed? Does Medicaid have that data about employment/ income level?
  • Hope- Connect to services.
  • #1: Is there any legislation being drafted? Where do things stand related to this kind of legislation?- Yas- can ask Matt Gross. Parental and family leave- Build Back Better efforts, any current movement?
  • Changes will have to be made related to Medicaid, related to behavioral health.
  • Bills related to paid parental leave- https://www.ncleg.gov/Legislation/Bills/ByKeyword/2023/All
  • NC is among the worst states for working parents, study finds. Here’s why (yahoo.com)
  • Support and buy-in related to parental leave policies.
  • Work with people in poverty and are unemployment- be advocate for those people to educate those people that don’t qualify for Medicaid
    • Support education, awareness, and outreach for services for people who are in poverty, unemployed, and/or are unhoused
• Next Steps:
  • All- Consider data and partners related to each of the priorities in preparation for the February meeting.
  • All- Review the proposed bills related to paid parental leave.
  • Ashley- Send out Doodle Poll for February. (Not 3:00 pm)- Monthly recurrence
  • Yas- Will resend the link to parental bills.
  • Yas- Ask Matt Gross about bills related to parental leave in the short session.
  • Yas- Will reshare priorities with the group.

Friday, December 15, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Yas Shepard and Volker Frank; Staff: Hannah McDiarmid and Ashley Rink

• Notes:
  • Yas Shepard shared updates from her discussions with Nakiya Smith on parental leave and the General Assembly. Attached is additional information about the modifications from June 2023.
  • Yas has contacted Medicaid about poverty and unemployment data they may have available. They are rolling out a data dashboard. She is also contacting Honey Estrada with the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association about if there has been or will be expansion of community health workers hired by health plans with the changes to Medicaid.
  • A Doodle Poll will be shared in early January 2024 to assist with setting the new meeting schedule.
  • Continue to consider others to invite to join the work group.
  • The work group’s current priorities are included below. The co-leaders (Yas, Nakiya, and Fenaba) have been reviewing the priorities using an equity lens They also wanted to choose policies that could connect with agencies, groups, and people that could provide data.
    • Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers
    • Expand access to higher educational opportunities
    • Expand Medicaid eligibility
    • Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care.
    • Support people with disabilities and those in recovery, veterans, and reentry populations to live their lives as fully included members of the community implementing key employment initiatives like CIE and Employment First.
    • Support early college while in high school — pipeline programs
  • There is potential momentum and opportunities around employment with Medicaid Expansion and with leave policies. The group will continue discussions at the next work group meeting.
  • The next steps are to continue to learn about the priorities regarding policies at the state level and the landscape and then to develop action plans as a work group for the priorities.

Friday, November 17, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Fenaba Addo and Yas Shepard; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Notes:
  • Discussed the following next steps related to the identified priorities and how to find out where there are bottlenecks and missing pieces related to how the priority areas are impacting unemployment and poverty.
  • Priority: Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers 
    • Identify what is currently in place or progress related to paid family medical leave. 
    • Review family leave policies for public institutions and state government.
      • Yas to contact OSHR.
      • Fenaba to reach out to human resources for UNC. 
  • Priority: Expand Medicaid eligibility
    • Learn about current initiatives related to Medicaid Expansion. 
    • Explore how Medicaid Expansion will directly and indirectly impact poverty. 
      • Data may be available through the Care Share Alliance, Justice Center, Department of Commerce, Census tract, etc.
      • Yas to contact Medicaid about related data that may be available.

Friday, October 13, 2023, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Fenaba Addo and Yas Shepard; Staff: Hannah McDiarmid and Ashley Rink

• Notes:
  • Discussed which policies to work on this year; first and foremost, the work group wanted to look at policies using an equity lens and examine policies to address closing the gap. Additional considerations included choosing policies that could easily connect with agencies, groups, and people that could provide data. The identified priorities for 2023-2024 are:

1. Create and expand legislation and advocate with employers to provide paid family medical leave, earned paid sick leave, kin care, and safe days for all caregivers 
2. Expand access to higher educational opportunities
3. Expand Medicaid eligibility
4. Expand the availability and amount of childcare subsidies to reflect the cost of care more adequately. 
5. Support people with disabilities and those in recovery, veterans, and reentry populations to live their lives as fully included members of the community implementing key employment initiatives like CIE and Employment First.
6. Support early college while in high school — pipeline programs

• Planned to meet on November 17, 2023, in the afternoon; the time is to be confirmed. 

• Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Low-income Households and Communities in North Carolina, The North Carolina Community Action Association (NCCAA), (March 2021): https://www.womenadvancenc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/assessing-the-impact-of-covid-19-final.pdf
• The ARC of Justice: From Here to Equality (2021), Duke Sanford School of Public Policy Ways and Means Podcast Series. https://waysandmeansshow.org/2021/02/24/new-season-arc-justice/