*MLK Oratorical Contest at Mt. Bright Missionary Baptist Church in Hillsborough, with contestant* ***Brooklyn Olivia Cary***

Happy New Year, everybody.

I hope you and your family are starting 2026 in a good place — or at least in a hopeful place. Folks are carrying a lot right now. Prices are high, life is expensive, and too many people feel like they’re doing everything right but still can’t quite get ahead. In times like these, what matters most to me is faith, family, community, and taking care of one another. That’s why serving as your county commissioner and doing what I can to help our community means so much to me.

Community Highlight

*MLK Oratorical Contest at Mt. Bright Missionary Baptist Church in Hillsborough, with Elementary Category winner* ***Ethan Hawkins***

On January 10, 2026, I had the pleasure of attending an MLK Oratorical Contest at Mt. Bright Missionary Baptist Church in Hillsborough. Two elementary contestants, Ethan Hawkins and Brooklyn Olivia Cary, did an outstanding job. The theme this year was “Reflection on the Dream: the work for justice." Those young people spoke with such confidence, purpose, and heart, I left feeling truly blessed. Ethan Hawkins was the winner, but I want to recognize both students because they represented their families and our community so well. Commissioner Earl McKee also brought greetings on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, and I’m grateful for his presence and support.

Superintendent Dr. Jones was recognized at the event for the fact that all of our Orange County schools are in the “met or exceeded expectations” category, and the fact that we do not have any low-performing schools in our district. Congratulations to our students, our educators, our families, and Superintendent Jones. We are so proud of all of you, and am both proud and grateful for the support our community provides our schools.

I have the honor of being the guest speaker at this year’s Chapel Hill Carrboro Chapter of the NAACP’s Martin Luther King Day celebration. I will be speaking about “The Fierce Urgency of Now.” In this dire time, it is important for all of us to find the strength and courage to stand up for our rights and the safety and well-being of others. I hope you can join me.

Follow-Up to Questions During Northern Orange Speakers Series

At the December Northern Orange Speakers Series, community members asked direct questions, especially about affordable housing, housing stability, and basic support. As promised, I followed up and below are the responses I received from county staff:

1. Affordable Housing: What measurable goals do we actually have?

Orange County has a Housing for All goal in our Strategic Plan, and we track progress through performance measures. Those measures include things like:

how many affordable housing units are being built using County funds
how many homes are being repaired or rehabilitated to keep people housed
how many households are being housed through Permanent Supportive Housing
fair housing complaints being processed
and how eviction diversion efforts are working

Here are a few early updates the Housing team shared for the first quarter of this fiscal year:

25 additional households housed through Permanent Supportive Housing
11 homes repaired and 2 rehabilitated
2 additional housing discrimination cases processed

On January 16th, during the Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) Retreat, we will be receiving an update on the progress of our 6 strategic priorities. Feel free to come out or tune in to hear the details, and I will continue to share updates as I learn new information.

2. Support for failed septic systems

County staff explained that there is a small amount of funding to assist low-income homeowners with failed septic systems, funded through Environmental Health fees, but there is no County funding dedicated to middle-income residents facing these repairs at this time.

If residents need support, inquiries should go through the Housing Department to Aaron Cohen, or Housing_email@orangecountync.gov.

3. Support for families at risk of homelessness

Staff shared that the Housing Department is always exploring grant opportunities, but expanding services in the long term usually requires additional funding. We do have some resources for things like emergency rental assistance and eviction prevention, and I will continue pushing for more, because I believe it is more humane to prevent homelessness than to respond once it happens.

We also had questions about fairness and whether our housing efforts really reach:

immigrant families
lower-wealth households
and people who work in Orange County but can’t afford to live here

County staff explained that affordable housing efforts for these groups are part of their overall affordable housing work. They are also exploring ways to support known immigrant communities, including mobile home parks, though this work is complicated by mobile home ownership provisions and the fact that the units are often not durable over time.

They also shared that the Office of Civil Rights and Civic Life investigates fair housing complaints.

4. How do we make sure developers follow through on the affordable units to which they commit?

County staff shared that when projects receive HOME funding or Bond/CIP funding (Orange County Housing Programs), development agreements require affordability terms of at least 25 years. The County must approve sales or transfers before those terms end, and if there’s misuse of those units, the County can investigate and pursue severance or repayment.

Unfortunately, the North Carolina General Assembly has passed several laws that make it difficult to pass local ordinances that require developers to include affordable units in all projects. In other words, if we could, we would.

Fare-Free Buses - Update

We are all excited about the fare-free buses for the next year, because transportation is a barrier for so many people. In case you missed it, all fixed routes in Orange County are fare-free for the next year.

I always appreciate when folks share their concerns with me, so I would like to share the result of one such concern that I learned about during a holiday social.

Someoneshared that people with disabilities, and residents age 65+, can qualify for a free bus pass, but to get that pass, they have to go to the Orange County Public Transportation office north of town. The problem this presents is that there is no public transportation that goes to that location. So if you don’t have a car, can’t drive, or have limited mobility, you can’t even get to the place you need to go to receive the free pass.

So I asked our County Manager, Travis Myren for clarification right away. The County Manager followed up with the Interim Transportation Director to ensure we were providing the public with accurate information.

Transportation leadership confirmed that bus passes are NOT required on the fare-free routes. They also shared that if anyone was asked to show a pass, it was likely an honest mistake — and leadership has reminded staff so this doesn’t keep happening.

Fare-free has to be fare-free in practice. If anyone experiences something different on a fare-free route, please reach out to the Transportation staff at (919) 245-2008, and feel free to reach out to me as well.

Finally, I want to share something else I’m excited about. Orange County is accepting applications for the 2026 Government Academy, and I’m truly encouraging families and residents in District 2 to take advantage of it. A lot of times, people feel like the government is confusing, or like decisions get made somewhere behind closed doors. This program is the opposite of that — it’s about learning, seeing, asking questions, and getting comfortable being part of the process. If you care about this community, this is one simple way to step into involvement. Applications are open until February 11. Sign up here!

As always, I wish you and your family nothing but the very best in this new year.

Yours in service,

January Update