The Town of Mooresville Fleet Department recently entered a partnership with the NCWorks Career Center in Mooresville for hiring new staff using the Center’s On-the-Job Training services. Initial outreach by the Mooresville was made by HR Generalist Violet Carter during the COVID-19 lockdown in the summer of 2020. This began a series of meetings between the Mooresville staff and Jens Schmidt, NCWorks Career Center-Mooresville Center Leader.

The Community Development Block Grant program provides annual grants to entitled cities and counties to provide decent housing and a suitable living environment by expanding economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income persons. Since 2016 Centralina has served as the CDBG Program Administrator for Mecklenburg and Union Counties to ensure they are following HUD program rules and regulations and help manage the program requirements to get federal dollars moving as quickly and effectively as possible.

Every ten years, the General Assembly requires local governments that elect governing board members on a ward basis to revise their voting ward boundaries to correct population imbalances. Often, communities gain or lose population, or the population shifts over the ten-year period. Known as “redistricting,” revising imbalanced voting wards is necessary for local governments to remain compliant with the “one-person, one-vote” equal protection clause of the United States Constitution. The one-person, one-vote principle is meant to ensure that representation and voting power remain equally distributed among voting-age constituents.

Stanly County celebrated National Manufacturing Day with the Centralina Workforce Development Board (WDB) and NCWorks team on September 30 and October 1 of this year with events held at the Agri-Civic Center in Albemarle. Students from four Stanly County high schools had the opportunity to tour local companies and the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Technology Center at Stanly Community College. The tours included FiberOn in New London, Norwood Manufacturing in Norwood and Eudy’s Cabinet Manufacturing in Stanfield.

Older adults and caregivers of older adults have been disproportionately impacted by the effects of COVID-19. In an effort to remain safely distanced from others, caregivers and their loved ones have experienced social isolation, food insecurity and financial insecurity. And as they spent more time confined at home, they also became more aware of safety issues in their homes. To help address caregiver issues that have either arisen or become more obvious during COVID, the Centralina Area Agency on Aging Family Caregiver Support Program was granted funds through the CARES Act. These funds were allocated to provide financial relief to caregivers and their families with greater flexibility than previous funding.

Throughout the pandemic, our Centralina Area Agency on Aging Ombudsman have received numerous requests from long-term care residents and families to help increase visitation. One special type of visit is the compassionate care visit in which a family member or other visitor provides comfort, support and/or assistance to a resident whose well-being is suffering, at risk or who is dying.

One of the struggles for many elderly low- to moderate-income families in North Carolina has been the ability to maintain their homes while living on fixed incomes. Many families are faced with the painful decision of either paying for expensive medicine, food and utilities or attempting to pay for essential housing repairs. In many cases, the repairs are delayed and as more time passes, the repair issues become worse and more expensive.

To stay economically competitive, our region’s economy must have a dependable, multi-modal freight transportation network to efficiently and reliably move raw materials and finished products that consumers and industries need. This network supports the region’s economic growth, fosters job creation and helps create improved outcomes for individuals as well as the public and private sector.

Part of Centralina’s mission is to support older adults and those with disabilities, including dementia. One way we fulfill this mission is by leading an initiative called Dementia Friendly Charlotte Mecklenburg (DFCM) that seeks to increase awareness and enhance the lives of people living with dementia and those who care for them.

Through our dementia education sessions, Centralina has created over 500 Dementia Friends in the last two years. Dementia Friends are ambassadors that pledge to teach their communities about this illness, how to interact/communicate with those individuals and how to be a good community partner. In addition to education, we can also certify communities and businesses as “dementia friendly” and are currently in the pilot stages of certifying our first business. For more information on becoming a dementia friendly community or a Dementia Friend, contact the Centralina Area Agency on Aging.