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Posted: January 30th, 2013 Brant Aycock

Three local organizations have come together to work on a project that will increase access to care and services for those that are underserved, including Internationals here in Charlotte.   Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee, Community Building Initiative, and Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary Care Research (MAPPR) are answering the call put out by these communities by collaborating to create an online database of resources and service providers available to help these vulnerable populations.

“We have been working with these communities for a while now,” says Annetta Foard of Community Building Initiative.  “What we were hearing was that there was a need for a centralized place where people could go to find the information they were looking for.  Initially we were compiling social service information and working independently from MAPPR, but when we got word that they were working on a database focused on health care  - it made sense to partner with them and try to do something comprehensive.”

The new website will allow users to input search criteria specific to their needs, and match them to organizations providing these services.  Additionally, there are social networking features allowing users and organization administrators to communicate directly with each other on the website.

As word is getting out, enthusiasm is building.  Thus far more than 60 organizations have registered to be included on The MAP. During this initial phase of development, only government agencies and not-for-profit organizations are populating the database.  The MAP will initially be tested by these service providers, but the goal is for the portal to be available to the general public.  Participation is free of charge for both the service providers and for the users seeking services.

Organizations are still being recruited to join the website!  If you or your organization would like to learn more about The MAP, please contact Brant Aycock at Brant.Aycock@carolinashealthcare.org.

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Posted: August 23rd, 2012 Aaron

Over the next 15 years, a wide range of developments will lead to many new IT-enabled devices and services. Rapid diffusion is likely because equipment costs will decrease at the same time that demand is increasing. Local-to-global Internet access holds the prospect of universal wireless connectivity via hand-held devices and large numbers of low-cost, low-altitude satellites. Satellite systems and services will develop in ways that increase performance and reduce costs.

By 2015, information technology will make major inroads in rural as well as urban areas around the globe. Moreover, information technology need not be widespread to produce important effects. The first information technology "pioneers" in each society will be the local economic and political elites, multiplying the initial impact.

• Some countries and populations, however, will fail to benefit much from the information revolution.
• Among developing countries, India will remain in the forefront in developing information technology, led by the growing class of high-tech workers and entrepreneurs.
• China will lead the developing world in utilizing information technology, with urban areas leading the countryside. Beijing's capacity to control or shape the content of information, however, is likely to be sharply reduced.
• Although most Russian urban-dwellers will adopt information technologies well before 2015, the adoption of such technologies will be slow in the broader population.
• Latin America's Internet market will grow exponentially. Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil will accrue the greatest benefits because of larger telecommunications companies, bigger markets, and more international investment.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is best positioned to make relatively rapid progress in IT.

Societies with advanced communications generally will worry about threats to individual privacy. Others will worry about the spread of "cultural contamination." Governments everywhere will be simultaneously asked to foster the diffusion of IT while controlling its "harmful" effects.

Posted: May 25th, 2012 Ana Brown

Incoming CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison held a media briefing this morning at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center. Dr. Morrison unveiled his entry plan, which establishes a framework for his first few months on the job. He officially begins his new duties on July 2, but has been visiting Mecklenburg County regularly since being appointed in April. To see Dr. Morrison’s entry plan in full, please visit the CMS website.

Posted: March 29th, 2012 Lee Howard

The Rev. Cassandra Jones stood in the pulpit at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, a guest pastor with a message of grace and salvation through humility.

Jones, an African-American who on most Sundays may be found serving as associate pastor at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, spoke to the largely white audience at The Plaza’s Holy Trinity on Sunday, March 25.

Her theme focused on a difficult passage from John 12: 20-23, in which Jesus humbles himself by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He at once is ridiculed.

Yet Jesus’ reputation had already intrigued a pilgrimage of Greeks, who wished to meet him in person. “They didn’t just want a third-party message,” she said.

Jones explained that Greeks were an uncommon race in Jerusalem and yet they had journeyed there to join his flock.

Jones was participating in a series of ongoing Xchange Sermons being sponsored by Mecklenburg Ministries and Crossroads Charlotte.

In addition to her work at Friendship Missionary Baptist, Jones serves as an adjunct faculty member at Shaw Divinity School and recently joined the faculty at New Life Theological Seminary as a professor of Christian education.

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