Durham, N.C. – Fifty members of the Durham community gathered recently for the first working meeting of the Durham Benefits Access Coalition (DBAC). The Coalition includes members of local non-profits, local government, Duke Health, UNC Health and others who have come together to increase Durham residents’ access to benefits such as WIC, SNAP, Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and local government benefits as well.

Durham Board of County Commissioners Chair Nida Allam and Mayor Leonardo Williams announced the formation and leadership of the Coalition at the July 24 initial meeting.

“Durham County currently leaves as much as $80 million on the table annually in unclaimed benefits that are available to our residents—especially our most vulnerable residents,” said Chair Allam. “We strongly support this new coalition effort to greatly increase benefits access in Durham. With decreased federal funding for essential benefits, this local effort is right on time.”

“We are talking about federal benefits like WIC, SNAP, the child tax credit, and the earned income tax credit,” said Mayor Williams. “But we also want our residents to have easy access to local benefits like the City’s mortgage support and the City-County tax relief for low-income homeowners.”

Mayor Williams and Chair Allam also announced the co-chairs of the Coalition: Greg Marrow, Chief Information Officer for Durham County, and Alison Dorsey Eden, an advisor to philanthropies on economic mobility and benefits access for Bell Creek Consulting.

Former Mayor Steve Schewel, who has been helping to pull together the Coalition, praised the co-chairs. “We’ve got two of the best Durham has to offer to lead this effort. Alison and Greg have the right expertise, but more than that, these are two deeply committed people who love Durham and its people and know how to make a difference.”

Durham County Project Manager Zawadi Powell is also playing a key role in organizing the coalition and keeping the work moving forward.

The first meeting of the Coalition established three working groups. “We are excited to get these working groups off the ground,” said Greg Marrow. “One group will concentrate on tax credit benefits, another on SNAP and WIC, and the third on data sharing, which everyone agrees is crucial to increasing benefits access. The working groups will address the barriers which keep Durham residents from accessing the benefits which are available to them. It will take a multi-faceted team to devise a strategy to make these benefits easily available to the individuals and families that need them the most.”

Co-chairing the tax credit group are City Council member Carl Rist and Cara Williams, director of VITA free tax preparation sites for Reinvestment Partners. Kate Hanson of Meals for Families chairs the data group. And Maggie Clapp, director of Durham Social Services, and Love Anderson, chair of Breastfeeding Family-Friendly Communities, co-chair the working group on SNAP and WIC.

Any resident interested in signing up for one of the working groups should contact Zawadi Powell at zawadipowell@dconc.gov. For more information, contact Steve Schewel at steveschewel@gmail.com.

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