Justice United of Orange County

Justice United of Orange County (Community Organizing)

 

“My children, love must not be a matter of words or talk; it must be genuine and show itself in action.” (John 3:17-18)

Contact:
Evelyn McBride
[email protected]

What is Orange County Justice United? 

There are about 20 churches, neighborhood groups, and NGOs that form this broad-based community power organization dedicated to developing leaders to take effective public action on social justice issues that affect the lives of those who live, work, and worship in Orange County, North Carolina. The Catholic Community of St Thomas More has been a founding and dues paying member since 2009. Some of the issues that have been addressed over the years are fair jobs and wages, tenant rights, court fees and fines, improved bus service, and affordable housing. Present concerns continue to be affordable housing, greater teacher diversity in Orange County schools, the hiring of bilingual staff in the schools, and working to address problems faced by local residents who live in trailer parks in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, which are not being taken care of by those who own these parks. This is a bilingual parish effort. Membership is open to all.

Mission Statement/Purpose
We are organized so that families and institutions have a way to respond to the economic, political, social and cultural pressures we are facing. We want to make positive changes in the community that will make Orange County a better place to live and work.

Major Accomplishments
St. Thomas More and 25 other faith-based organizations/institutions come together to work for the common good. We are called Orange County Justice United in Community Effort – Justice United,  for short.

Our Action Teams have worked diligently and have accomplished the following:

• incorporated a living wage policy in Chapel Hill and updated the policy in Carrboro
• partnered with RENA/CEER to make sure that the Board of County Commissioners do not locate a transfer station in the Rogers Road community
• negotiated with the Town of Carrboro and apartment complexes to make sure they are safe and healthy
• completed an affordable housing study in the Town of Chapel Hill and proposed a strategy which was adopted by the Town to use to review affordable housing needs.
• conducted an audit of the Pine Knolls and Northside communities and had the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro address the health and safety issues in each neighborhood
• determined short term and long term solutions for the 300% increase in the Efland community sewer rates which were adopted by the County Commissioners.

Major Activity
Listening to the families in our community to determine the concerns and issues that need to be addressed, researching the solutions and presenting the information to the community to affect change.

Meeting Frequency
A strategy team meets the first Thursday of the month at Empowerment, Inc.

Meeting Venue
Besides our monthly strategy team meetings, there are countywide leaders meetings held every 90 days and an annual meeting held usually in October-December to determine our direction and future work.

Estimated Time Commitment for Volunteers
One 2-hour meeting per month and two-three major events per year. The time commitment will depend upon the issue being researched and how the members would like to work together.

Special Skills
None are needed; Members need only an interest in helping those in need.