Vulnerable vs. MOST Vulnerable Community

With help from Wake County Long Range Planning, CAWD took a deeper dive into Wake’s vulnerable communities. The question was are we serving the pockets within these communities with the greatest need? Once the pockets were identified, we sought verification and agreement from community partners and other organizations that operate in those areas. In Wake County, we concluded that Wake Forest needs our attention.

Equity scores consider unemployment, age dependency, low educational attainment, housing vacancy, and poverty level. Compared to other areas, Wake Forest had the worst equity score. Though data shows we are serving some customers from that area, there’s significant room for improvement.

A roundtable with faith-based organizations, community advocates and others is being scheduled to identify the greatest needs and priorities.

We want to learn
• Exactly where the poverty pockets are
• What are the access issues and any work being done around the issues• Where residents go for information or resources
• Who are the existing faith-based and community organizations already established in the area

CAWD’s existing Wake County partners will participate in the planning of roundtable in addition to implementation of the resulting outreach strategy.