Ideas sought for community human services plan

By April Bethea
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Posted: Monday, Aug. 31, 2009

A community meeting set for Thursday aims to get public input on how to create a single strategic plan to address the area's growing health and human services needs.

It was at a similar event in late June that the idea for a strategic human services plan first surfaced. Since then, a wide array of community leaders – including from Mecklenburg County, the Charlotte City Council and Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board – have said they want to craft such a plan.

Thursday's meeting is planned for 7 to 9 p.m. at University Park Baptist Church, 6029 Beatties Ford Road. It is being jointly sponsored by the Community Building Initiative, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee and Mecklenburg Ministries.

According to the building initiative's Web site, the event aims to get input from various segments of the public to discuss how the community can work together to meet basic human needs. Among the questions to be considered: “Do we need a coordinated plan for the delivery of human services? What is currently underway? How do we connect the dots? Who do we look to for leadership?”

Scheduled panelists are: Taylor Batten, the Observer's editorial page editor; Brett Loftis, executive director of the Council for Children's Rights; Dana McDonald, of University Park Baptist Church; Pat Mumford, director of neighborhood and & business services for the city of Charlotte; and Mary Wilson, director of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services.

Moderating the event will be Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, and Willie Ratchford, executive director of the Community Relations Committee.

To sign up for Thursday's meeting or for more details, contact Renee Thompson at 704-336-2424 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .