Request will be made at Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen meeting
New Bern community members and non-local activists will urge the New Bern Board of Aldermen to “Ban the Box” for hiring city employees at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 12.
“Ban the Box” is a hiring practice that encourages employers to identify potential hires with the best skills and experience and delay asking applicants about their criminal records until after a conditional offer is made.
Durham and Carrboro are among cities in North Carolina that have already adopted this “fair chance” hiring practice.
Ban the Box is a movement started in the early 2000s by All of Us or None, a national organization created and led by individuals directly impacted by incarceration and the criminal legal system.
People who have been involved in the criminal justice system often face collateral consequences, difficulties people face in finding housing, education, and employment because of a criminal record.
Trouble finding employment is one of the most common collateral consequences that people face upon release. Those who have a record and disclose it on their initial job application are 50 percent less likely to receive a callback than their peers without a record.
Ban the Box programs do not prevent employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal record, but rather calls for employers to remove the initial question about criminal records from job applications (“the box”) and delay any related questions until after a conditional offer is made. This process ensures the best person is being hired for the job and also allows the employer to continue to make decisions about the relevancy of the record to the job.
What: Public comments on ‘Ban the Box’ at New Bern Board of Alderman meeting
When: Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m.
Where: City Hall Courtroom, 300 Pollock St., New Bern
Who: New Bern community members and representatives from All of Us or None – NC and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice Clean Slate Project
Posted in Aldermen, Board of Aldermen, Community, Community issues, Crime, Economy, Economy and Employment, Housing, Mayor, New Bern
The Craven Community College Foundation is accepting nominations for the 9th Annual Community Fabric Awards, an event that awards individual, educational and business leadership in the community. The deadline to nominate is 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21.
The Community Fabric Awards were created by the Craven CC Foundation to celebrate and showcase excellence in leadership as demonstrated by outstanding initiative, impact of service and the inspiration of others.
Previous individual recipients include J. Troy Smith, Jr., Dr. Jim Congleton, Linda Staunch, New Bern Alderman Sabrina Bengel, Nelson Bell McDaniel, Maj. Gen. Tom Braaten USMC (Ret.), David L. Ward, Jr. and Robert L. “Bob” Mattocks. Business recipients include Trent Cadillac Buick GMC, Century 21 Zaytoun-Raines, The UPS Store, A Dog’s Dream, Mitchell Hardware, Moen, CarolinaEast Health System and Minges Bottling Group, Inc.-Pepsi. Previous educators to receive the award include Jorge Benitez, David Wang, Dr. Shelly Hines-Brooks, Jessica Cofield, Jeffrey Brown, Jessica Saxon, Donald Carpenetti and Dr. Bruce Waugh.
Funds raised through event sponsorships and tickets are used to support the Craven CC Foundation’s programs, as well as equipment, facilities and emerging initiatives of the college. To date, the Community Fabric Awards have netted more than $350,000 in support of the Foundation’s mission.
Submission forms for all three categories are available online at www.cravencc.edu/cfa.
After all submissions are in, the three award recipients will be selected by a confidential and independent committees. This year’s awards luncheon will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 18 at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center.
For additional information about the Community Fabric Awards, contact Tanya Roberts at 252638-7351 or robertst@cravencc.edu.
The Craven Community College Foundation has supported the vision of higher education for the residents of Craven County and beyond for more than 40 years. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides financial support to students through scholarships and funding for programs, equipment, new and emerging initiatives, facilities and other priorities on the New Bern and Havelock campuses.A
Craven Community College is part of the North Carolina Community College System. With campuses in New Bern and Havelock-Cherry Point, Craven CC serves about 3,200 curriculum students and more than 10,000 continuing education students each year. The college offers a wide range of associate degree and certificate programs, as well as college transfer courses, career and occupational offerings, partnerships with four-year universities, specialized workforce training options, developmental studies and basic skills classes. The Lifetime Learning Center and Adult Enrichment Program offer lifelong learning opportunities. Craven Early College High School programs are available on both campuses. Craven CC is also home to Public Radio East, one of the few community colleges nationally with this distinction. For more information about the college, visit www.cravencc.edu.
Posted in Community, Community Fabric Awards, Community issues, Craven Community College
The City of New Bern will resume certain utility fees that were suspended during hurricane Florence.
Due to the storm’s widespread impact across our area, the Board of Aldermen unanimously agreed in September to temporarily suspend late fees, delinquencies and shutoffs for nonpayment. The Board also agreed to waive new deposits for current customers until mid-November. These actions effectively extended the due date of unpaid bills until such time that the City could recover from the hurricane.
All past due amounts must be brought current by close of business on Friday, Dec. 7. If customers are unable to get caught up or current, they are encouraged to visit the Utility Business Office (UBO) at 606 Fort Totten Drive and speak to a customer service representative about a special storm payment arrangement.
The UBO is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. No appointment is necessary. However, appointments are encouraged to reduce customer wait time.
These special storm payment arrangements will not count toward the four payment arrangements allowed each fiscal year under the City’s current business practices, but customers must remain current once the arrangement is made.
If the special storm payment arrangement is broken, the past due account balance must be paid in full. Attached is a document reflecting our business practices in regards to deposits and payment arrangements.
Late fees, delinquent fees and shutoffs for nonpayment will resume after Dec. 7. Deposit requirements will resume after Nov. 15. Deposits caused by late and delinquent actions will resume after Dec. 7.
The reinstatement of fees comes more than 80 days after hurricane Florence ravaged New Bern and eastern North Carolina.
“The Board of Aldermen and management staff have carefully considered this resumption of fees after the storm,” said Mark Stephens, City Manager. “We remain sympathetic to the hardships faced by our residents and are implementing special storm payment arrangements to ease the burden on our customers. We appreciate the community’s understanding during this recovery process.”
Utility staff are prepared to answer questions and assist customers with payment arrangements. As a reminder, customers have several options for paying City of New Bern utility bills: online at www.newbernnc.gov, at the Utility Business Office, and at Walmart stores in this area.
Posted in Board of Aldermen, Community issues, Hurricane, Infrastructure, New Bern, Utilities
George Alsberg, age 103, of Wilmington, was one of the oldest voluntary evacuees of Hurricane Florence. Photo credit: Taylor Knopf
NORTH CAROLINA HEALTH NEWS |
That’s the takeaway from a state-compiled list of the adults who died as a result of the catastrophic storm. It shows that two out of three North Carolinians who died during or as a result of Florence were 60 or older, and nearly half were 70 or older. The median age of adults who died during or as a result of the storm was 67, while the statewide median age is 38.3.
“Vulnerable adults are more likely to be impacted because of their social isolation, or not having the supports they needed in areas like transportation,” said Heather Burkhardt, program coordinator at Resources for Seniors in Raleigh.
The list of deaths tied to the catastrophic September storm grew to 39 on Oct. 1, when Gov. Roy Cooper announced two deaths, one of a Pender County man, 69, who fell off a roof Sept. 22 while repairing storm damage. A list supplied by the Department of Public Safety showed that people older than 65 represented:
Three of the victims were infants and two others did not have listed ages. Of the 34 adult deaths with ages attached, 21 were older than 65.
Perhaps the most poignant death was that of a man, 82, who committed suicide in Carteret County after Florence devastated his home. “Shot self when house condemned,” read the terse DPS account of the death.
Posted in Community issues, Economy, Economy and Employment, Environment, FEMA, Health, Hurricane, State news, State politics
Craven Community College’s (Craven CC) Adult Enrichment Program (AEP) will host a symposium entitled “Stop the Cravin’!” in an effort to promote substance abuse education, prevention and intervention. This event will take place at Orringer Hall on the New Bern campus from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27.
The event will host a diverse panel of speakers from the local health care system, local and state law enforcement and community-based organizations. It will provide statistics for the area, health effects and the science behind the many aspects of addiction, case studies and firsthand accounts from those in the medical field, and law enforcement considerations and viewpoints. There will also be perspectives shared by former addicts, an emergency room charge nurse and a local high school student.
Professional panelists include Kenneth W. Wilkins, Jr., MD, FACP, endoscopist and president of Coastal Carolina Health Care, PA; Matt Knight of the NC Task Force for Safe Schools and NC Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) branch; and Henry D. Beckwith, PsyD, a licensed psychologist.
Participants will learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms of opioid and substance abuse and how to intervene and prevent future addictions. Equipping people with knowledge so they know what to do in such situations can ensure that loved ones don’t become just another statistic.
“I feel that the symposium is important on a level whether the crisis has hit home, whether you are a parent, whether you are an educator or if you are in the trenches of this crisis,” said Megan Johnson, Craven CC’s adult enrichment coordinator. “We all need to have our boots on the ground so we can tackle this as a community.”
The cost for the four-hour event is $20 and CEUs are available for eligible professionals. Doors open at 7:45 a.m. and light refreshments will be served.
To register or find out more information, contact Johnson at 252-638-7273, johnsonm@cravencc.edu or visitwww.cravencc.edu/aep/enrichment-special-interest/#stop.
Posted in Community issues, Craven Community College
New Bern Now
