Application Fairs

DSS to Co-host

Application Fairs

Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services and five community partners will be hosting two job application fairs on Saturday, March 13 and Saturday, March 20 to screen applicants for The Opportunity Project. The Opportunity Project is a subsidized employment program supported by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. This initiative will provide 500 temporary jobs to low-income people.

The fairs will be held at Founders Hall, 100 North Tryon Street. This site and three parking locations have been donated by Bank of America. The fairs will be open to the public from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on March 13, 2010 and March 20, 2010.

During the fairs, applicants will be screened to determine if they meet the eligibility criteria for The Opportunity Project. For an applicant to participate in the program, he/she must: live in Mecklenburg County; be a United States citizen or qualified immigrant; meet income requirements (for example: a four-person household must have at or below $3,675 gross monthly income); be a parent or legal guardian (provide day-to-day care for a child age 17 or younger); and be deemed job ready.

The five partnering agencies (Arbor Education and Training, The Center for Community Transitions, Goodwill Industries, Jacob’s Ladder Job Center, and Urban League) will be available to discuss job readiness/training with interested customers.

After the fairs, eligible applicants will be placed in a database to be matched with employers who are recruiting for specific jobs/ skills.

The Opportunity Project is an opportunity for people to gain work experience and skills that will increase their opportunity to obtain a permanent job. It is an opportunity for employers to gain staff to help meet the demands of their workload. Employers will receive a TANF subsidy to offset 100% of the gross hourly rate for wages for up to one year.

Board members with questions should contact Social Services Director Mary Wilson at 704-336-6276 or via email at .

Child Support Enforcement Update

On March 3, Mecklenburg County staff met with the Deputy Director of the NC Department of Social Services, Jack Rogers, and other members of his executive staff. The meeting was held to discuss questions and answers involving the transition of Child Support Enforcement (CSE) from the state to Mecklenburg County oversight. Detailed information was shared around various areas of the transition to gain clarity on the implementation process. Several other Mecklenburg County departments are involved in the transition because these departments will be responsible for providing support services for CSE (e.g., human resources, IT, etc.) These departments have developed a plan of action for their area of responsibility and are working with state counterparts to insure all issues are addressed.

On March 10, County Human Resources Department staff met with current CSE staff to discuss the interview process and begin the first set of interviews. All interviews are scheduled to be completed by the end of April and CSE executive staff determined by May.

Board members with questions should contact General Manager Michelle Lancaster at 704-336-2621 or via email at .

Removal of POLARIS Name

Search Function Unpopular

On February 16, 2010 Mecklenburg County GIS responded to a request from the Board’s Criminal Justice Committee to gauge public reaction to the potential removal of the name search function from the Parcel and Land Records Information System (POLARIS).

Respondents were asked to provide feedback and were given the opportunity to provide comments to the following questions:

· Do you currently search for property information by entering someone’s name?

· If the ability to search for information by someone’s name was removed from POLARIS would it make POLARIS more difficult to use?

· If the ability to search for information by someone’s name was removed from POLARIS would you be inclined not to use POLARIS?

· Would the ability to search by parcel number and address meet your needs?

A total of 1660 responses were collected from people representing a broad range of users, including legal and real estate professionals, librarians, florists, homemakers, community organizations and public safety personnel. The overwhelming response from respondents indicated that removal of the name search function from POLARIS would have a negative impact on users. Specifically:

· 94% of respondents said they currently search for property information by entering someone’s name

· 89% either Strongly Agreed or Agreed that removing the name search function would make using POLARIS more difficult

· 60% either Strongly Agreed or Agreed that they would be inclined not to use POLARIS if the name search function was removed

· 81% said that having the ability to only search by parcel number and address would not meet their needs.

More than 1100 people provided additional comments in support of their responses to the questions above.

Board members with questions should contact General Manager Michelle Lancaster at or 704-336-2621.

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