Durham Commissioners Back Cultural Roadmap and Probe Health Gaps
The Durham County Board of Commissioners welcomes new leadership at the Youth Home, approves a joint city–county Cultural Roadmap after public discussion, launches a Violence Reduction Working Group, and issues proclamations on recovery, wellness, and diaper need. Commissioners also hear residents on dementia and gun violence and review a record-setting community health assessment that highlights housing costs, mental health strain, and income-driven disparities across the county. 39mins
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Original Meeting
Monday, September 14th, 2026
12266.612
Board of County Commissioners on 2026-09-14 5:30 PM - Regular Session
In This Video
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Commissioners Michelle Burton and Stephen Valentine, along with Manager Claudia Hager, celebrated Director Bratz’s promotion, affirmed that young people are not defined by their current circumstances, and voiced confidence in the Youth Home’s leadership to support vulnerable youth and families in Durham.
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Michelle McKinney from Recovery Communities of Durham thanked the County Commissioners for a behavioral health recovery proclamation, described the “Recovery is Real” theme emphasizing visible, vocal recovery and its positive community impact, and invited residents—including those considering a first step toward recovery—to attend a community event supporting recovery.
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Local artist and business owner Aya Shabu urged the Board to approve funding for the Durham Cultural Roadmap, emphasizing that arts supported storytelling, social justice, and marginalized voices and needed stronger infrastructure and resources to remain viable in an increasingly unaffordable Durham.
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Durham Arts Council Executive Director Katie Wyatt highlighted Centerfest as a major collaborative arts event embodying the Cultural Roadmap’s pillars, voiced support for a joint city–county arts management structure, and emphasized that investing in arts and culture sustained Durham’s shared humanity and community life.
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Trish Lim from the Museum of Life and Science voiced strong support for the Durham Cultural Roadmap, emphasizing how arts and culture advanced economic development, education, neighborhood vitality, and community well-being while helping preserve Durham’s history and future as a vibrant place to live and work.
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Vice Chair Allam congratulated a Cultural Advisory Board member on being cancer free and continuing service to Durham County, and then asked how the Cultural Roadmap would connect with Durham Public Schools and health initiatives, highlighting how arts supported speech therapy and broader well-being for children.
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Rebecca Holmes from the City of Durham explained that the Cultural Roadmap prioritized arts education, outlining plans for youth programming with the Durham Arts Council and collaborations with participatory budgeting staff and Durham Public Schools to engage local artists in school murals and other initiatives.
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Vice Chair Allam and Commissioner Burton emphasized the role of arts in healing and youth development through partnerships with Durham Public Schools, while County Manager Claudia Hager outlined an upcoming youth grants process that would include arts-related projects and expressed support for the Cultural Roadmap team’s work.
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Chair Lee introduced a presentation on the Durham County Community Health Assessment survey results, and Public Health Director Rod Jenkins outlined the collaborative 2025 assessment with Partnership for Healthy Durham and Duke Health that achieved a record response rate while focusing on residents’ overall health and well-being.
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Public health staff and Partnership for a Healthy Durham introduced the community health assessment team, explained the triennial collaborative survey process, described shifting from door-to-door to event-based data collection with new statistical weighting tools, and acknowledged ongoing selection bias in the results.
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A presenter explained that violence was identified in 2024 as a new long-term top health priority based on earlier survey results and outlined how safety concerns varied by income level—ranging from walkability, lighting, and traffic enforcement to community connectedness—while noting that residents ranked more school-based mental health resources and addressing bullying as their leading school security needs.
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A presenter reported that nearly 60% of survey participants experienced depression or anxiety and about two-thirds reported stress in the past year, noted that most believed their community would support someone in a mental health crisis, and explained that work, finances, and personal relationships remained leading sources of stress consistent with earlier assessments despite changed survey methods.
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A presenter reported that survey participants identified lack of affordable housing, cost of food, and homelessness as top quality‑of‑life issues, with nearly half worried about basic survival needs, and said residents prioritized income‑related supports—such as medical expense assistance, housing, and uncovered health services—for people over 50 and money‑driven, safety‑focused supports like more youth recreation, affordable childcare, and safer schools for children under 18.
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A presenter reported that most survey participants felt prepared to shelter in place for 72 hours and relied on tools like Alert Durham, highlighted that residents prioritized more accessible addiction treatment and youth opioid education, and emphasized that lower-income households faced greater barriers to housing, healthcare, and mental health despite the county’s overall resource richness.
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Bria Miller outlined the collaborative writing timeline for completing Durham’s community health assessment, noted it would be released for public comment before finalization next spring, and explained that community partners would continue working on and later update community health improvement plans.
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Chair Lee and Public Health Director Rod Jenkins reflected on how the health assessment data—especially indicators of underlying struggle—could inform future budget discussions and joint work across schools, law enforcement, and county departments, emphasizing the need to make the data easily accessible and usable at public events and board meetings.
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