Thank you to all who were able to attend the last Service Groups and Faith Alliance Meeting on August 18 on Affordable Housing. If you were unable to attend, you can find a link to that meeting below:

Meeting Recording: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/xJZ2EPbK021Je7fPxhz5Qp44MY_oaaa8hnUe__IJy U9JMD9UXJy5Pu9TeVzoUBvA
Access Passcode: =h8KC!Mk

Takeaways:

● Leaders can promote education on affordable housing and needs
○ Link to educational material and Apex Affordable Housing Plan:

https://www.apexnc.org/1422/Affordable-Housing-Plan

• ●  If you have a congregation member who has access to property that could be donated, please contact Beth Bordeaux: execdir@wwcm.org
• ●  *Please ask your congregations and supporters to complete the affordable housing survey:http://publicinput.com/affordablehousing​.Next Meetings:
  September 15 (Educational Disparities due to the pandemic, invitation coming soon) October 20 Equity
  November 17 Law Enforcement

Chief Letteney of Apex Police Department presented on the role of Apex PD in the community: here is a link to the recorded message.

a) Chief Letteney asked for prayers for the department. Also, chaplains are needed. Please contact cpo@apexnc.org if you are interested.

b) He also encouraged churches to help share events hosted by PD. You can follow them on twitter at @ApexPD or find them on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ApexPolice/. 

c) Apex Police Department will send an officer(s) to speak to groups at the church upon request to build bridges in the community. Contact Officer Kenneth Ragland at cpo@apexnc.org to make that request

d) A SGFA member recommended the Racial Equite Institute, Raleigh Organized Against Racism, the Encouraging Place (Reggie Edwards) for more information to addressing systemic racism. 

e) For addressing food insecurity, please go to westernregionfoodsecurity.com or email joselyn.williams@wakegov.com

f) A few SGFA members expressed interest in developing a more formal partnership with local law enforcement in the event of a crisis so that the faith community could quickly respond. For more information please email nicole@shieldnc.org.

On May 26, 2020 Shield North Carolina along with the Apex Police Department hosted a panel discussion on how the Town of Apex and the citizens of Apex have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel included Apex Mayor Jacques Gilbert, Danica Coleman (Victim’s Advocate at Apex PD), Sherry Presnall (Western Wake Crisis Ministry), and Emily daCamara (Case Manager at Project Fight).

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Bottom line: Our community needs our help to deal with the impacts of COVID-19. Would your service organization or faith group like to help?

Volunteers are needed to:

1. Help the Emergency Meals Program by helping to distribute meals. (Contact Officer Kenneth Ragland 919-249-3469 or kenneth.ragland@apexnc.org)
2. Western Wake Crisis Ministries need able-bodied volunteers to help in their warehouse.
3. Western Wake Crisis Ministries also need volunteers to help with food distribution and to serve as Impact Coaches to work one-on-one with families. 

Funding needed for:

1. Western Wake Crisis Ministries’ Family Recovery Fund. (see details below)
2. Covering the basic necessities (rent, utilities, food) for the clients of Project Fight (see details below)

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During the panel discussion, Mayor Gilbert updated us on the Town of Apex’s efforts to lessen the financial impacts of the Stay At Home order. The town council has appropriated $1 million for small businesses and made donations to local service organizations. Future financial impacts of COVID 19 will be discussed today at the 2021 Budget Workshop.

He communicated the importance of a calm and confident approach to addressing the challenges the pandemic may present. Mayor Gilbert expressed gratitude for the fiscally responsible Town management of past mayors. He was also proud of the way Apex citizens have united together to help one another, mentioning the recent fundraising efforts of a group of local realtors.

Danica Coleman, Victim’s Advocate at Apex PD, spoke next about seeing an increase in sexual assaults, male-identified victims and overall requests for victims services. Specifically, Ms. Coleman spoke about a spike in service requests regarding restraining orders. Legal Aid of NC and Interact have been particularly helpful in assisting with those cases. Fortunately, Legal Aid is able to provide free attorney services both before and after the restraining orders have been instituted.

Ms. Coleman explains that under the current conditions, many domestic violence victims are trapped with their abusers without their usual self-preservation barriers in place. In other words, they are not able to escape their abusers by visiting family members or having friends come check on them as they normally would. Unfortunately, she anticipates an increase in domestic violence and lethality when the Stay At Home Order has been lifted and victims are finally able to flee their abusers, as several of her clients are planning to do. Ms. Coleman is busy now meeting the future safety needs of her clients who are currently suffering domestic abuse, assuring that they have a strong support system in place to receive them.

Sherry Presnell of Western Wake Crisis Ministries (WWCM) describes the three prong approach they are employing to overcome challenges caused by the pandemic. First, they are focused on meeting the current need for food services. Many western Wake County citizens are reaching out to them because of job loss, underemployment, abuse or trouble paying medical bills. They have been serving meals to about 120 households a week by either home delivery or curbside distribution. Secondly, Western Wake Crisis Ministries is working to assure the sustainability of their agencies by applying for a small business loan, requesting help from the Town of Apex and other fundraising measures. Finally, they have set up a Family Recovery Fund with the goal of raising $150,000 to address the current and future financial impacts of the pandemic on local citizens. According to a survey WWCM recently did covering households in western Wake County, many of our citizens were impacted by an error in the national unemployment insurance system that initially denied their claim for unemployment funds. This put many families behind in their payments for rent, utilities and other necessary services. Representatives from WWCM have been helping families negotiate with landlords, service companies or even helping them pay for hotel rooms until they can secure housing. Donations to their Family Recover Fund will allow them to continue this type of assistance.

Our final panelist was Emily deCamara who is a case manager for The Salvation Army’s Project Fight which provides hands on services to victims of human trafficking. She concurred with the other panelists who stated there has been an increase in financial need and demand for victim services. Case managers at Project Fight are working hard to help their clients find ways to pay their rent or secure shelter. Ms.deCamara described a desperate shortage of beds due to health restrictions and the necessity to social distance in shelters, requiring case managers to relocate clients to Asheville, Boone or coastal cities. She noted that a local church had donated self-care baskets for their clients which was very helpful.

Officer Kenneth Ragland announced that the Emergency Meals Program is currently providing about 10,000 meals a week for school aged children. That program is requesting volunteers to help with food distribution at their feeding sites.

Nicole Bernard of Shield NC reviewed actions that Shield has taken to counter the added risk of online child exploitation due to the pandemic. Shield collaborated with NC Department of Justice, NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking and WRAL/Capital Broadcasting to design and disseminate a resource document and webinars to parents reminding them of the dangers of leaving their children unsupervised online and informing them of red flag indicators of a potential problem. Shield also began a demand reduction campaign with assistance of WRAL/Capitol Broadcasting that directs potential sexual abusers of minors to helpful resources to address their deviant behaviors. 

Minutes from 01/28/2020

Shield NC Meeting

Guest Speakers: Nicole Singletary and Justin Garrity

Attendees:

Nicole Bernard, Director, Shield NC
Lance Olive, Vice President, Board of Directors, Shield NC
Nicole Singletary, Drug and Injury Prevention Manager, Wake County
Justin Garrity, Rapid Response Administrator, Healing Transitions
Jim Ahler
Frances Bisby
Steven Bodhaine
Rhonda Jewell
Josh Komis
John Letteney
Mike Merker
Niki Miller
Matt Mitchell
Kenneth Ragland
Terri Reed
Kristofer Shuart
Brittney Travis
Annette Williamson

Lance Olive opened the meeting. He talked about sending out emails to other individuals who might be interested in Shield NC. He introduced the first speaker, Nicole Singletary. Nicole is a Drug and Injury Prevention Manager with Wake County. She is part of the Wake County Drug Overdose Prevention and Tobacco Use Initiative/Rapid Response Program. 

Nicole shared information about the increase in unintentional opioid poisoning deaths in Wake County from 2013-2017, as well as the increase in ED visits. She touched briefly on the 894% increase in E-cigarette usage among NC high schoolers between 2011– 2017. However, it is hopeful that number will decrease with a new law coming into effect, which raises the sale and consumption of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years of age. 

Nicole is also a member of the Wake County Drug Overdose Prevention Coalition which meets quarterly. The five goals of the coalition are: education and outreach as well as access to Naloxone; Data Analytics; syringe exchange; recovery initiative and maintenance; and first responders. The goal of education and outreach is to conduct drug use and overdose prevention education and outreach with a focus on vulnerable populations. They create pocket guides and distribute the material to the community. They also improve access to Naloxone kits, to prevent deaths from drug overdoses. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist used for the complete or partial reversal of opioid overdose. 

Data analytics collects and applies data to better use interventions and measure prevention efforts. The data collected is used to obtain grant funding for the program. The coalition also supports syringe exchange programs that reduce the spread of disease by making sure syringes are available as well as Naloxone. Anyone can ask for Naloxone at a pharmacy without a prescription but s/he has to pay for it. 

The Coalition also provides recovery initiation and maintenance by providing 24 – 72 hour follow-up to those in need of specialized care and recovery resources. It was birthed in April 2013. The Coalition   identifies and supports community-based treatments that meet the needs of substance users. This includes training for fire fighters and law enforcement.

Nicole pointed out they realized they were doing good work but needed to do more so they established the Rapid Response Team and also partnered with contracted agencies to address tobacco use. They recognized that tobacco was a gateway drug to other more harmful substances. They partnered with Quitline NC, Poe Center for Health Education, NC Harm Reduction Coalition, Recovery Communities of NC and Healing Transitions. 

The Rapid Response Program receives incoming referrals from Wake County EMS, Sheriff’s Office, and Public Health Clinics. Two certified peer support specialists provide on call services to non-fatal overdose survivors in Wake County. Once an individual in need is identified, a Rapid Responder contacts him/her, provides support, and connects him/her to community resources. 

Rapid Response Team outputs from 1/1/2018 – 6/30/2019, had 1,072 Paramedic encounters for substances, had 495 clients engaged by Certified Peer Support Specialists, 321 clients referred to services by CPSS, 895 clients contacted by Injury Prevention Nurse in field-based settings, and 436 opiod overdoses received narcan (EMS).  The team had an overall show rate of 79% for those clients contacted for further services. 

Nicole introduced Justin Garrity as the next speaker. Justin, a Rapid Response Administrator, with the Rapid Response Team, works with Healing Transitions. Justin shared some of his own history and how he got involved with Healing Transitions.  He has experienced firsthand homelessness and addictions to heroin and crack cocaine. He went into Healing Transitions and became one of their success stories. 

Healing Transitions is a community that offers innovative peer-based recovery oriented services to homeless, uninsured and underserved individuals suffering from alcohol and other drug addictions. Their program’s purpose is to rekindle a person’s desire to return to a meaningful and productive life. A person that lands at Healing Transitions may stay in the program 12-14-18 months. It offers living     accommodations and provides a line of hope to those with substance abuse disorders. 

Justin shared there are three different levels of addiction; mild, moderate and severe. A person experiencing severe addiction cannot stop but is often in and out of recovery, has little to no transportation, may be homeless and have legal problems. An individual with mild addictions, such as alcoholism, may still function at a high level in society without others being aware. 

Currently, there are 700 people in Healing Transitions’ database. Seventy percent are white, 57% are male, and 61% are 25-44 years of age.  Healing Transitions is a good landing spot that offers a line of hope to those who are desperate and struggle with survival. Justin encouraged everyone to visit. 

Nicole Singletary can be reached at Nicole.Singletary@wakegov.com or 919-250-1187.. She encouraged all to visit http://www.wakegov.com/humanservices/publichealth/coalition/Pages/default.aspx.

Minutes from 11/26/2019

Shield NC Meeting

Attendees:
Nicole Bernard, Director, Shield NC
Lance Olive, Vice President, Board of Directors, Shield NC
Kim Adcock, Recruitment, Training and Licensing SW, Wake County Government, Child Welfare/Human Services
Jim Ahler
Jodi Bailey
Steven Bodhane
Danica Coleman
Sonya Edwards
Ines Freile
Josh Komis
Matt Mitchell
Niki Miller
Patty Patrick
Kenneth Ragland
Ellen Rose
 Kris Shuart
Britney Travis
Joi Whittington
Annette Williamson

Kim Adcock, with Wake County Government, Child Welfare / Human Services spoke today on sex trafficking and foster care. Child Welfare’s slogan is “Recruitment is Everybody’s Business.”  

Child Welfare gets involved with a family when a call is received about a prospective issue with a family. Child Protective Services completes an assessment on a child’s home situation and then decides on the safest environment for the child whether it is in their own home, a relative’s home, or foster care. 

Foster care is a temporary living arrangement for children ages 0-21 years, when they cannot remain in their homes with parents or guardians safely due to abuse, neglect, or chemical or alcohol dependency. Foster care provides a safe and nurturing home for a child with a foster parent or family where the child can get their basic needs met as indicated in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Once the child is in a safe environment, social workers work with birth parents to address issues that lead up to a child being removed from the parental home. It is the goal of foster care to eventually reunite the children with their parents or guardians. 

Currently in Wake County, 488 children have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care. Of that number, 13 have been removed from Apex homes, 10 Cary and 5 from Morrisville. Oftentimes, when children are removed from their homes, they lose connections with their schools, churches and communities, etc. Thus, it is vital every attempt is made to place them in foster homes close to their community or in their town. By removing them from their town or community, foster children become vulnerable and easy prey to sex traffickers and others who would view them as easy targets to exploit. 

From the 488 children removed from Wake county homes, 368 have been placed in foster family/kinship care, 5 in IAFT (Intensive Alternative Family Therapy), 83 in therapeutic, 7 in group homes, 15 in psychiatric placement therapy, and 1 in acute care (medical placement – possible hospital). Of the 368 children placed in foster family/kinship care, 17 have been placed in Apex homes, 15 in Cary, and 3 in Morrisville. 

Parents of foster children may be found to suffer from social and community needs such as; unemployment, mental health issues, homelessness, substance abuse or poverty. This may stem from parents having their own Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), which affects their own ability to keep a child safe. This results in parents’ possible inability to access unsafe situations and leaving children unsupervised, their needs not being met and/or developing unsafe methods of getting their needs met. Thus, what can be defined as the trauma cycle is the reason children end up in the foster care system. However, prevention services such as; employment assistance, parenting classes, financial counseling as well as a host of other services assists in breaking the trauma cycle. 

Wake County is in need of more foster families to help meet the demand they are experiencing as more people move into this area. Eligibility requirements to become a foster parent are: must be 21 years of age, a Wake County resident, stable home and income, adequate sleeping space for child, willing to complete a background check and have an open heart and mind. It takes six months to complete the process to become a foster parent. During that time, there are two four hour home visits/interviews to discuss how one was brought up and how they were disciplined. Once a family or individual has been approved as a foster family or parent, they participate in eight training sessions per year. Foster parents are Wake County’s best recruiters. 

Wake County has over 2,000 faith organizations. It is the hope of Child Welfare/Human Services that one family from each church would become a foster family to host a child. 

A placement usually lasts one year but can last anywhere from seven days to two years. Each foster child usually has two to four families. 

Once a child reaches the age of 13, they participate in Links Academy, which teaches them basic life skills such as how to rent an apartment, balance a budget, plan a meal, etc. A lot of foster children leave the system at the age of 18; however, they are eligible to return to the program until the age of 21 as long as they are in school. 

Nicole Singletary, Injury and Drug Prevention Consultant, with Wake County Drug Overdose Prevention and Tobacco Use Initiative, will be speaking on January 28, 2020. 

Minutes from 10/29/2019

Shield NC Meeting

Attendees:

Nicole Bernard, Director, Shield NC

Tommy Bernard, Emergency Medicine Physician

Lance Olive, Mayor of Apex

Kim Adcock

Steven Bodhaine

Danica Coleman

Matt Curry

Ryan Doherty

Sonya Edwards

Josh Hill

R. J. Haggard

Mitchell McKinney

Mike Merker

Karen H. Morant

Patty Patrick

Kenneth Ragland

Kristofer Shuart

Brittany Travis

Joi Whittington

Annette Williamson

Deputy Chief Mitchell McKinney, Apex PD, spoke briefly on how significant a problem human trafficking is for our state. He indicated that the Town Manager of Apex has made human trafficking training mandatory for all Town of Apex employees. Officer McKinney introduced Officer Shuart and then departed for another meeting. 

Master Police Officer Kristofer Shuart, one of the Community Outreach Officers, introduced the subject of Christmas with a cop. The program called Shop With A Cop, takes kids to Target where each child gets to spend $200 – $300 picking out gift items. Officers take the kids back to the police station where they watch a movie, complete a craft, eat snacks and wrap gifts. He asked for help in locating Apex families who are in need of help. He indicated that Officer Kenneth Ragland is also a Community Outreach Officer and either of them can be contacted with the names and contact information of families. 

Nicole spoke briefly and introduced the speaker, Dr. Tommy Bernard. Dr. Bernard is an Emergency Medicine Physician who is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area and is a NCEEP Board Member. He was appointed to the NC Human Trafficking Commission by Governor Cooper. It is Dr. Bernard’s hope to make a difference as physicians are often the first point of contact for victims. Nicole said Dr. Bernard speaks on the state level and is responsible for getting Shield NC off the ground. 

He is currently leading a subcommittee on public health. The committee is studying the public health effects that human trafficking has on NC. They are evaluating and creating training for people who will most likely interact with victims. He indicated the committee will need buy in from agencies for training. 

Dr. Bernard shared one of his first experiences in identifying a human trafficking victim. He said because he had overheard Nicole talking about some of the signs of a victim, he was able to identify a human trafficking victim who came into the ED where he was working and get her help. 

Dr. Bernard shared examples of human trafficking victims. 

• 23 year old female presents to ED for opiate withdrawal and facial trauma.
• 17 year old female for STD check for 5^th time in 2 months and possible pregnancy.
• 35 year old male for heat exhaustion. 

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery in both sex and/or labor. It is a multibillion dollar industry. Those at risk of being trafficked are migrants, teens who run away, those with mental health issues, and substance abusers. 

Since 2007, they have had 5,569 total contacts and 1,290 total cases. In 2018, they have had 287 cases with 186 females and 41 males with 54 presenting as minors. Victims may bring in $1,000 per day for their pimps. 

Wake Med has developed a toolkit – TUIT: What the ED Nurse Needs to Know. The toolkit is effective in providing markers for identifying victims and how to treat them. It also helps them in providing ways of separating the victim from the pimp. In bathrooms, victims can apply blue stickers on a urine specimen cup which alerts the doctor the victim wants to talk alone. 

Many victims will go to an Urgent Care facility because they can pay with cash or credit cards. If they go to an ED, they have to pay and show a form of identification. 

Dr. Bernard shared that it is the committee’s intention to reach out further in educating tattoo parlors, school nurses, dentists, smaller EDs, and local colleges and universities in helping them to identify human trafficking victims. 

Dr. Bernard addressed some human trafficking myth busters.

• Only women/girls
• Why don’t they run away?
• Usually a stranger
• Went willingly so not trafficking
• Held against their will/trapped
• Kidnapping victim
• Usually associated with violent crime
• Only people who are sent from out of the country
• Not here in NC or my town

Mayor Lance Olive shared that the Apex PD shut down a massage parlor used for human trafficking. There were Chinese ladies bussed down from NY who were used for those purposes. It became a federal case because it was a much larger operation. 

The Mayor implied one should look at human trafficking from a business viewpoint. It is not always associated with poverty. People with disposable income want access. Teens who have time on their hands and money but not enough affection from family may fall prey to this lifestyle. 

Dr. Bernard shared that Nicole Bernard had written a book on the process. He shared that some people cannot leave the lifestyle because of family needs, money or threat of exposure. He said some of the red flags for human trafficking victims are: working and living conditions, branding or tattoos, unable to make decisions without approval, rolls of cash, multiple phones and gift cards. 

In October, Shield NC had a freedom week where UC/PCP participated in office visits and worked on developing relationships. 

Dr. Bernard shared that Shield volunteers are needed to help with outreach to Apex medical staff. He asked that human trafficking training be added to any ministry. He indicated it would be helpful to attend HTC meetings, lobby legislature, and research medical responses nationwide to get best practices. He shared vital telephone numbers 888-373-7888 (Human Traffickking Hotline) and 919-410-6586 (Project Flight). 

Nicole Bernard spoke on how to prevent human trafficking. She said Shield NC is investing in peer to peer education through youth groups. She indicated childhood trauma is often the beginning for victims and traffickkers. She shared that the correction system wants to get involved. She said TN has combined opioid coalition with Shield. 

Mayor Olive shared if there is no buyer then there is no business. He said one way to reduce demand is by informing the buyer s/he is known. Another way to reduce business is by having churches share sermons on prevention. 

Nicole explained that SBI human trafficking is in limbo until the NC budget is approved. There currently is one SBI agent in NC focused on human trafficking. 

For churches:

• In infancy stage to get faith leaders trained
• Congregations receive sex addiction training
• Foster families provided

Brittany Travis spoke briefly as a representative from Wake County. She said currently there are only 200 foster homes for 500 foster kids. She said the County is in need of additional foster homes. At present, some kids have been moved from Wake County into adjoining counties. Thirteen kids alone have been moved from Apex because of the lack of foster homes. 

The topic for the November 26, 2019, meeting will be foster care.