Health and Human Services Steering Committee Meeting
Tuesday, June 9 — 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. [Wake County]
Steering committee attendance is open exclusively to NCACC members, including county commissioners and county staff who specialize in committee-related fields.
2025-2026 Health & Human Services Legislative Goals
- Seek additional resources and state leadership for adult protective services, senior services and foster care.
- Seek state resources to fund dedicated physical spaces and necessary staffing to serve foster children held in county custody.
- Seek legislation to increase resources for behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities services and facilities, including dedicated resources for treatment of substance use disorders; care for individuals in county jails; inpatient crisis beds; and community paramedicine projects.
- Seek legislation that promotes opioid and other substance use prevention, intervention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery initiatives.
- Seek additional state resources for early childhood education, childcare services and pre-K programs.
- Seek legislation to increase recurring state funding to local health departments for foundational/essential public health services.
- Support legislation that restores state funding for accreditation for local health departments and to the Association of North Carolina Boards of Health for training activities required for accreditation.
- Support legislation requiring Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to disclose pricing, rebate arrangements and reimbursement practices to ensure fairness and accountability.
- Seek legislation to cover all costs associated with the School Nurse Funding Initiative.
NCACC Health & Human Services Steering Committee Guiding Principles
- Health and human services programs should encourage equitable opportunity for health, social, and economic prosperity. Programs should provide intergenerational success and address long term social impacts on health to help individuals thrive.
- County regional and state collaboration are necessary to improve agency automation and simplify programs to streamline administration and improve client interaction.
- Block grant funds should not be earmarked, and the state should increase funding for mandated services as the cost to provide and demand for those services increases.
- As partners with the state in funding and delivering services, counties must be actively engaged in setting health and human services policy and program requirements.
- Health and human services programs should be adequately funded and targeted toward the most vulnerable county residents.
- The state should take the lead in financing, implementing, and maintaining statewide information systems, and should ensure compatibility with county systems.
- Members of county human service agency boards and advisory committees should be appointed by the boards of county commissioners.
- The state should provide adequate funding and policy initiatives to support local health departments and public health services.
Discussions on County Health & Human Services Initiatives
Transylvania County Commissioner Page Lemel and Jaime Laughter, County Manager, and Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President, Social Impact, Sesame Workshop discuss how they are using the collective impact model and partnership with Sesame Street in Communities to cultivate resilient kids.
Commissioner Jeff Phillips discusses Guilford County’s innovative partnership on integrated care for behavioral and mental health Jeff Phillips (2019 NCACC Annual Conference Story Booth).
2019 NCACC Annual Conference Story Booth interview with Kay Cashion, Guilford County Commissioner, who helped develop the Guilford County Family Justice Center, a full service resource for domestic violence survivors.
CountyQuarterly Resources
The Family Justice Center: Restoring Hope with Care for Survivors, and Support for Caregivers
by Sara Mogilski, former NCACC Chief Operations Officer
CountyQuarterly, Summer 2019
Steering Committee Membership List
The following committee appointments were confirmed the week of December 9, 2025. Appointments for the 2025-2026 committees will end July 31, 2026. Committee membership is open to all county commissioners. Check the NCACC Calendar for meeting details.
- 2025-2026 Health and Human Services Steering Committee
Health and Human Services
Commissioners Cheryl Stallings (Wake; Steering Committee Chair), Melissa Hiatt (Surry), Houston Barrow (Rockingham), Marilyn Carter (Orange), June Cummings (Lenoir), Ann Floyd Huggins (Pitt), Amy Fowler (Orange), Darrell Frye (Randolph), Lewis Hoggard (Bertie), Jennifer Horton (Buncombe), Wendy Jacobs (Durham), Mark Jerrell (Mecklenburg), Antoinetta Royster (Person), Emily Truman (Gates), Charles Woodard (Perquimans)
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