COMMUNITY ORGANIZING, PEACE, AND GLOBAL SOLIDARITY (COPGS)
JUSTICE, PEACE, AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION (JPIC)

Ken Chiha, Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), (919) 682-3449 Ext. 293

SELECTED PREVIOUS DURHAM CAN PUBLIC ACTION EVENTS

DURHAM CAN CANDIDATES ASSEMBLY

On Sunday, October 15, approximately 50 Immaculate Conception parishioners, led by our JPIC's Community Organizing Core Team, joined over 460-member organization delegates to hear from all eight candidates for Durham Mayor and City Council at the Durham CAN and the Congress of Latino Organizations “Candidates Assembly.” Delegates heard stories from people directly impacted by issues such as gun violence and the lack of affordable housing in our community. We procured commitments from all the candidates to support specific initiatives proposed by the CAN Gun Violence Action Team, Affordable Housing Action Team, and other commitments made at the Durham CAN meeting at Immaculate Conception last year. . We are truly grateful for your support. 

COUNTY COMMISSION A.R.P.A.
​(AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT) FUNDING ACTION

The County Commission A.R.P.A. (American Rescue Plan Act) Funding Action is an opportunity to ask our County officials to allocate $3 million in ARPA funding to bolster infrastructure and assist Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD) in planning and launching a public-private partnership aimed at the construction of a downtown day shelter for our unsheltered neighbors. This would be a transformational investment in the lives of our unsheltered neighbors downtown.
The downtown day shelter would: 
  • Preserve Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD) downtown location. 
  • Maintain Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD) services to the downtown community.
  • Expand basic, medical, and social services to Durham's unsheltered community. 
  • Provide an integrated continuum of care and services for our most vulnerable neighbors. 
  • Provide permanent supportive housing as well as transitional housing.
Durham CAN institutions pledged to bring 202 people!

CITY COUNCIL ACTION:
BILINGUAL INSPECTOR AND ​AFFORDABLE HOUSING

On Monday evening, May 15, over 65+ English and Spanish-speaking parishioners joined our Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Community Organizing advocacy efforts with Durham CAN at City Hall to convince the City Council to prioritize budget funding for two important housing issues discussed below. We are so thankful to all our parishioners who together with other Durham CAN institutions had approximately 150 advocates at the meeting to support those in our community most in need.​
1) Funding for a Bilingual Housing Code Inspector for Neighborhood Improvement Services
The addition of this bilingual position will:
  • Increase accessibility for Spanish-speaking families and ensure their housing inspection needs are a priority.
  • Improve response times for inspection requests.
  • Increase transparency and accountability in tenant-landlord relations in Durham.
 
Two Durham CAN leaders, including Immaculate Conception's Pastor Father Jacek Orzechowski O.F.M., spoke clearly and powerfully about the need for increased accessibility to be provided to our Spanish-speaking families. Although Neighborhood Improvement Services does have bilingual staff members, these staff members currently fulfill multiple roles within the department so they cannot be moved to inspect dwellings without leaving a gap in other essential services. This leaves our Spanish-speaking families with a second-class service or even no service at all. 

​Our collective efforts are already having an impact, as City Council members are reaching out to the City Manager to find ways to address CAN's concerns. CAN leaders will be meeting with the Durham City Manager to discuss solutions to this issue.​
2) The Purchasing of Carver Creek Apartments for Permanent Affordable Housing
The purchasing of the property would:
  • Save 48 units of affordable housing currently serving low-income senior residents (55 and older).
  • Prevent the likely displacement and/or evictions of these tenants if the property were to become market housing.
  • Allow for the construction of 60 new units of affordable housing to be built on adjacent property owned by Housing for New Hope.
This effort with Housing for New Hope calls upon both the City and County governments to prioritize $6 million in funding to enable the Carver Creek residents to stay in their homes as well as provide for the construction of an additional supportive housing complex across both properties in the future.  Although Durham CAN’s research indicates that most of the County Commissioners support the funding request, the City Council is still assessing the request and has yet to establish a position.

If you would like to offer additional support for Housing for New Hope in preserving the Carver Creek Apartments as affordable housing, please attend the "City Council Work Session" on May 18 at 1 pm. Housing for New Hope will be offering a presentation to City Council members during the public hearing section of the agenda. 

UPDATES!!!
​CITY COUNCIL ACTION: BILINGUAL INSPECTOR AND ​AFFORDABLE HOUSING

BILINGUAL CODE ENFORCEMENT INSPECTOR
Durham CAN also went to the City Council Meeting on May 15 to request funding in this year's budget for a Bilingual Code Enforcement Inspector for Neighborhood Improvement Services. Following the City Council Action, we had a team of leaders from CAN, Immaculate Conception, and the Latino Congress meet with Durham's City Manager to discuss possible solutions to our issue. Our work on this issue is ongoing, and we hope to have more good news to share soon. 
CARVER CREEK APARTMENTS
Durham CAN stood with Housing for New Hope on May 15 asking the city to commit $3 million to save the affordable housing units at the Carver Creek Apartments. We are happy to announce that the city granted the request, which will also be matched by $3 million from Durham County that had already been committed. In total, Durham CAN was able to help secure $6 million in funding that saves existing units of affordable housing and creates additional opportunities for more affordable housing units to be constructed later by Housing for New Hope. ​

DURHAM CAN ​REFOUNDING DAY

Thank you to all our Immaculate Conception parishioners who helped our Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Community Organizing efforts to support the Durham CAN Refounding Day on Sunday, April 30, 6-7:30 pm at Duke Memorial UMC. 105+ English and Spanish-speaking, new and long-time, and younger and older parishioners across all cultural and economic backgrounds took part in the gathering. Our parishioners joined 641 people from 30+ Durham churches and organizations.
Together, we listened to powerful testimonies, some from our own parishioners, that shed light on how our community is increasingly burdened by the crises of unaffordable housing, low wages, gun violence, poverty/homelessness, and other issues such as education, public transportation, racism, and lack of accessible care for our most vulnerable neighbors.

​Although we celebrate this success, we know that much work needs to be done. We remain energized, focused, and ready to organize more people, build more power, and see more change in Durham.
© All rights reserved.
If you have questions regarding our various JPIC ministries, please contact me directly.
Kennith M. Chiha, Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church - 901-A West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 682-3449 Ext. 293 - [email protected]
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IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHOLIC CHURCH   |  810 W CHAPEL HILL STREET, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA 27701  |  919-682-3449


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