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Measuring progress toward providing important services for Durham citizens is the goal of a community progress report to be released from the City and County of Durham. This progress report will be distributed as an insert in the September 8, 2005, edition of the Herald-Sun, on the City's website, on the County's website, and in the lobby of City Hall at the Durham One Call desk.

"It's the first time that we, as a community, are objectively measuring where we are and comparing that to where we want to be," said Durham Mayor William V. "Bill" Bell. "This first report establishes a foundation on which we will build subsequent years' reports," he said.

The report, produced jointly by Durham City and County governments, is the result of a year-long effort called the Community-Wide Results-Based Accountability Initiative. The effort, which involves government officials and community members, looks at eight different areas deemed important to improving the quality of life of Durham citizens, indicated Ellen Reckhow, chairwoman of the Durham County Board of Commissioners.

"While this report provides some answers about where we are as a community, the objective is broader. This report gives us a starting point for continuous improvement. Results-based accountability recognizes that no one entity, even ones as large as city and county governments, can make sufficient progress alone. Rather, significant progress requires concerted action involving the entire community," Reckhow said.

The eight areas are: 1) Durham citizens are safe; 2) Durham enjoys a prosperous economy; 3) Durham citizens enjoy a healthy environment; 4) Durham citizens enjoy a community that is vibrant, rich in aesthetic beauty, and embraces and promotes its cultural heritage; 5) Children are ready for and succeeding in school; 6) Every citizen in Durham has access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing; 7) Durham citizens are healthy; and 8) Durham citizens enjoy a sustainable, thriving neighborhoods with efficient and well-maintained infrastructure.

"Assembling data for his report was a true partnership of the two local governments as well as Duke University, the Durham Chamber of Commerce, the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, neighborhood associations, arts groups, realtors and citizens from all walks of life," Bell said. "Because of the diversity of participation, we can rest assured that this report reflects an honest assessment of where we are as a community," he said.

The report, hopefully, will become a tool to keep Durham residents informed of the efforts to make positive and accountable change, Reckhow said. "After reading this report, we want people to choose to get involved to develop and implement strategies that work. Obviously, some strategies can be put into place quickly, while others may take some time. Either way, we encourage members of the community to become a part of this 'work-in-progress' to make our community the best it can be. That takes all of us," she said.

Media Invitation: A special celebration to unveil the first annual community progress report card and thank the participants in the results-based accountability process will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 2005, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Community Family Life Recreation Center at Lyon Park at 1313 Halley Street in Durham. Along with City and County government leaders, co-chairs of three areas measured will reflect on their experiences.

Background Information about the Results-Based Accountability Initiative
Measuring Our Progress: Durham's Community-Wide Results Based Accountability Project is a combined effort by the local governments of the City of Durham, the County of Durham, and the larger community of Durham, North Carolina. The initiative began several years ago with the County leading the effort. It wasn't too long before the County engaged the City of Durham in a partnership effort with the City Council and the County Commissioners agreeing on eight priority outcomes for our community:

1. Durham citizens are safe.
2. Durham enjoys a prosperous economy.
3. Durham citizens enjoy a healthy environment.
4. Durham citizens enjoy a community that is vibrant, rich in aesthetic beauty, and embraces and promotes its cultural heritage.
5. Children are ready for and succeeding in school.
6. Every citizen in Durham has access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing.
7. Durham citizens are healthy.
8. Durham citizens enjoy sustainable, thriving neighborhoods with efficient and well-maintained infrastructure.

Staff was directed to move forward with a community-wide project to develop indicators to measure the community's progress toward achieving the eight outcomes. A key element of this project is to make it a community effort, with the recognition that the city and county governments alone can not achieve success in the eight outcome areas.

Eight groups were established to work on each of the outcome areas. Mayor Bell and Chair Reckhow invited two persons to co-chair each group. Some of the work was taken on by an existing committee and work in other areas was assigned to new committees. In the areas where new committees were established, the co-chairs invited others to participate in the committee work. Eight community groups, composed of almost 300 citizens, have studied issues associated with the outcomes we seek. Most of the committees have been meeting on a regular basis since October. These committees have developed three to five indicators that they recommend tracking to measure each outcome.

The committees have developed progress reports on their work to date and have made recommendations for indicators that can be used to measure our success on achieving the eight outcomes. The progress reports were presented to the City Council and the County Commissioners at their retreats held in January and February.

The work of the groups has been incorporated into a Durham Community Progress Report Card, to be published as an insert in the September 8th issue of the Herald-Sun. This initial production of the report card will really be an interim progress report, with a more substantial report card developed and distributed in June 2006. The Progress Report Card highlights some of the work of our outcome groups. To view their work in its entirety, please visit the City and County websites.

We hope to annually produce a report card thereafter in order to continue tracking our community's progress toward achieving our outcomes. With the publication of the progress report, we will seek feedback on the proposed indicators and focus on next steps for engaging more of the community in strategies to achieve the eight outcomes. The focus will shift to engaging more community partners in developing strategies and doing the work. The achievement of these outcomes will require much more than City and County governments alone can accomplish.

Our plan is to use the indicators as yearly measurements to evaluate what is working well in our community to achieve our outcomes. We will submit yearly community report cards as a measurement of our progress.

Media, please contact Beverly B. Thompson, City of Durham, at (919) 560-4123, ext. 229, or Deborah Craig-Ray, County of Durham, at (919) 560-0002 for additional information.