 Let me again say good evening and it is really my distinct pleasure to welcome you to my twelfth annual State of the City address. To my fellow City Council members, fellow elected officials, I see Commissioner Recal present, City staff, business and community leaders, all of you who are present here tonight. I certainly want to thank you for being here. Each year I'm honored to have your presence when I give the State of the City address and I also like to welcome my fellow residents who are viewing us on DTV8 as well as those who are watching tonight's live stream from the City of Durham's website. At this time of the year my job as Mayor is to provide an honest assessment of the past year and look ahead to the coming year. As we exit a long period of economic uncertainty and challenges, our great city accomplished a lot on many different fronts, from downtown and neighborhood development to maintaining our strong financial standing. There is no doubt that while we accomplished a lot, a lot remains to be done. Continuing to fight crime and its underlying social causes remains high on the City's agenda. Hand in hand with that goal is something that Durham is perhaps one of the most diverse cities in this state has to intentionally strengthen, which is relationship building. Thereby strengthening trust between government and different communities than our city. But before I go on, I'd like us to get started by continuing our tradition of looking back at the year before. But looking at our accomplishments, our accolades, at how well we all work together to achieve our mission to make Durham a great place to live, work and play. In fact, some may have thought that with shrinking resources and efforts to do more with less, our goal might seem to have been a mission impossible. But as you view this short video, you'll see that in 2013, we took charge to make Outrage City and the next level, trying to move it to the next level. And by doing that, you'll see that what we did, we're able to make really a mission possible. I would really want to... Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make Durham a great place to live, work and play. I'd like to take a quick moment to thank the Office of Public Affairs for giving us a look back at many of the highlights of this year. So much of what we accomplished was the result of a successful partnership, a relationship between the City Council, the City staff, led by City Manager Tom Bonfield, and our remarkable community. And I'm going to tell my colleagues on the council, I'd ask the staff to make copies of that video so you guys wonder, is it all worth it? You can slide it into your computer and look at it and say, yeah, it's all worth it. You get it when it's all over. Two years ago, the City Council working with City staff established five strategic goals to guide us as we serve the residents of Durham. They are a strong and diverse economy, safe and secure community, thriving, livable neighborhoods, a well-managed city, and stewardship of city's physical assets. And while all of these goals are important to ensure that Durham is a city that we're all proud of, one of the issues that has a very high priority for me is embodied in the strategic goal, safe and secure community. This involves working to continue the reduction of crime, particularly violent crime. As you know, violent crime consists of aggravated assaults, rape, robbery, and homicides. We as a community in law enforcement have made progress in reducing crime in our city, and while violent crime, which is something we focus on in particular this past year, is down by 5.6% compared to 2012, property crime, which includes burglary, larceny, and theft, is up nearly 6%. Both categories combine to drive our overall crime up by 4.3% since 2012. And I continue to call on the community to work together with the police department to not only reduce crimes in the coming year, but also to help solve them. I'm of the opinion that for us to be a truly great city, we have to do more to reduce crime and enhance our feelings of safety in our communities. Another issue that is a very high priority for me is reflected in the strategic goal, thriving, livable neighborhoods. Increasing the amount of affordable housing and contingent neighborhood revitalization efforts, particularly those in neighborhoods that have been depressed for long periods of time, is a very important issue for Durham. I continue to believe that strong neighborhoods make a strong city and contribute greatly to the quality of life in Durham. In a way, those two strategic goals, a safe and secure community, thriving and livable neighborhoods, are interconnected. The one issue that connects the two strategic goals, but also differentiates between them, is the level of poverty or absence of poverty within a neighborhood. The presence of poverty is not a justification for crime, but its presence and accompanying deficits in education, job training, jobs, poor healthcare, and lack of access to services are all contributing factors to the level of crime. Poverty and its contributing attributes also help determine whether or not we have a safe and secure community and thriving, livable neighborhoods. Our city is great, as you've seen from our earlier video. Great things are indeed happening in Durham. The state of our city is good, but it can be better. But working together, focusing and addressing some of our key challenges, we can make it a much better city for those who live here, for those who visit, and for those newcomers who may choose to make Durham their home. A key challenge that we must undertake to make our city even greater is work to reduce poverty in Durham. Today, I am proposing that we as a city council, city administration, and residents of Durham accept that challenge and make it a key priority to reduce poverty in our city, neighborhood by neighborhood, year by year, starting in 2014. Now you might ask, why focus on poverty now? You may be aware that 50 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty, and in North Carolina, Governor Terry Sanford created the North Carolina Fund to create economic opportunity for people living in poverty. And although some progress has been made by many accounts nationally and locally, it's a war on which we've lost focus, with more people living in poverty than just 10 years ago. Secondly here in Durham, we have focused a lot on our effort on our downtown revitalization over the past 12 years, with many great results. Public-private partnerships have resulted in increased overall investment in downtown, with construction and revitalization well underway, and the success of DPAC is an example that can't go unmentioned. And two years ago, we dedicated a penny for affordable housing, enabling the transformation of the once-depressed South Side and Rowland Hills area into a housing for people of various income levels and serving as a source of revenue for future efforts to provide affordable housing. We're making progress on areas in which we have intentionally focused our combined efforts. We as a city have made significant progress, creating a can-do attitude on the whole of our city. Now is the time to take those same steps that we have used to move our great city forward to address those among us who have the least. Let me share with you some national facts, which some of you may even be surprised. According to the Center for Law and Social Poverty, known by the academic class and the new census data, almost one in five years' children are poor, which is almost 22 percent. In 2012, over 16 million children in the United States were living in poverty. And according to the official measure, poverty is defined as living in families with income under $19,090 for a family of three. Children are more likely than adults to be poor. Children under age three have the highest poverty rates, with potentially lasting consequences for education, health, and other key outcomes. Racial and ethnic minority children are disproportionately poor. Child poverty is linked to negative child and adult outcomes, and many children in poverty have working parents. Those were national statistics and facts, but did you know that poverty affects approximately 20 percent of people who live in Durham? That's nearly one in every five people, persons who are either homeless, cannot afford adequate housing, or paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, making them choose between food for their children, transportation to get to their jobs, and paying for other basic necessities like medicine. These are choices no one should have to make in our society, especially in Durham. Let's take a closer look. According to a 2013 study by the UNC Poverty Center, many of our poor neighbors live in areas that are just blocks from the most prosperous areas of our city. In certain parts of East Durham, which has been an area of focus for both the city and county, the poverty rate is even higher. It's just traveled down Dillet and Pettigrew Street, which is identified by the census tract 11. The poverty rate there is 37.5 percent. Travel east to the census tract 10.01 to the neighborhoods around Holton Career and Resource Center near East Durham Park, the overall poverty rate is 44.1 percent, with an overwhelming 63 percent of children living in poverty. And it gets even worse as you travel south to the census tract 14.00, the areas around Grant Park and Durham Technical Community College, where over half of the residents live in poverty, including 8 and 10 children. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that poverty is exclusive to Durham. If we look at the ranking of leading cities in North Carolina, according to US.com, Durham, North Carolina, the historical poverty level data and ACS 2010 data, Durham, which had a population then of almost 230, 29,000 people, 46,167, which is about 21 percent, live in poverty. As composed of 17.9, almost 17.5 percent in North Carolina, and about 15.3 percent in the US. If we look at Durham families that are in poverty, it's about 7,800, which represent about 14.67 percent. As compared to 13.3 percent of North Carolina families living in poverty, and 11.26 percent of US families living in poverty. Durham's poverty rate ranked at 21.03 percent, which is 6 in the state. And if you look at the chart, you might not see it very clearly, but we have cities ranging from the largest city, Charlotte, up in the Greensboro, Fayetteville, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham, High Point, Asheville, Gastonian, Wilmington. And Durham sort of sits right in the middle at about 21 percent of poverty. What I'm saying is that it is time that we as a community come together to do something about this affliction that directly or indirectly affects us all. As I described in the beginning of my remarks, whether it is manifested through crime, through health disparities, through high school dropouts, and unemployment, it's time to stop hoping that the solution to solving or reducing poverty will occur by some wealth which will trickle down or that rising tides will raise all boats. It's just not happening. In fact, the UNC Poverty Center showed that just opposite is happening. People living in many of the neighborhoods pointed out tonight are experiencing higher poverty rates, especially children than they were just 10 years ago. We as a city and county are rich in many resources. We live in a great place in this state, in this country. We have great universities, we are home to the research triangle park, many talented persons, a city classified as a creative city with many entrepreneurs, innovators, and more. We must find a way to harness those many resources to focus or target the reduction in poverty in our community. Now fortunately, some leaders in our faith community took the lead last year to take some very specific action steps to reduce poverty in our community. And one major priority that they've taken is to develop what they call intentional relationships across the lines of privileges and poverty at all income levels. A plan for reducing poverty, neighborhood by neighborhood, year by year, must incorporate specific actions. I'd like to ask the Reverend Mel Williams and Cameron Smith if they would mind standing. Now some of you may remember Mel as the former pastor of Watch Street Baptist Church. But Mel is also the coordinator of In Poverty Derm. This organization is helping to lead the way by putting a laser-like focus on how we as a community can work together to reduce poverty. What is key among their approaches is to develop intentional relationships across lines of privilege and poverty. And working with Mel is Cameron Smith, who coordinates a project called Relationships, Equipping Allies and Leaders, or the acronym, Real Derm. And here's how it works. Starting in March, Real Derm will match individuals of families in poverty with four volunteers who offer not only friendship and understanding, but other important resources such as access to financial planning, job training, and interview skills, finding safe and affordable housing, and health care options, the essential needs to step out of poverty. This program is modeled on the National Circles Campaign, which has seen measurable success in the lives of people they've touched since 2008. I and many others believe this program has real promise. Thank you, Mel. Thank you, Cameron. Another organization that is focusing on steering our young people in the right direction for gainful employment is a program by Manpower Development Corporation, M.D.C., and it's called Made in Derm. This program is chaired by Dr. Victor Zhao, Chancellor of Health Affairs at Duke University and President and CEO of the Duke University Health System, and consists of Derm's top public business and community leases, such as NCCU Chancellor Deborah Saunders-White and our own city manager Tom Bondfield, along with others. But before I speak more about Made in Derm, just let me share a few national facts that were provided by the Center for Law and Social Policy. One, the high unemployment situation of black males has been persistent and historically unacceptable. It has endured for decades. Work opportunities for black male teens have all but disappeared. The great recession dealt a knockout blow to young black men. Black males, as well as Hispanic males, are overrepresented in low-waste jobs and underrepresented in professional and management jobs. Despite subsistent education gains since 1970 and high school completion in college enrollment for young blacks, along with young blacks males, they still lag substantially behind their white counterparts in educational attainment. The criminal justice system is delivering a crippling blow to an employment prospect for young black men. Consider this, black men 18 and 19 years of age were imprisoned at more than 9 times the rate of white men. Black men 20 to 24 years of age were imprisoned at more than 7 times the rate of white men. When surveyed, 60% of employers indicated they would not hire an ex-offender. Studies show that increased availability and accessibility of criminal background data is associated with worse labor market outcomes for ex-offenders. Now while all these facts that were given by claps may not be the same for Durham, I suspect that to a certain extent it mirrors Durham. And while the study focuses on the plight of black and Hispanic males, Made in Durham is a program that is gender and ethnic neutral. But because Durham mirrors many of the statistics cited by claps, that is why it is important and more important that the program Made in Durham be a success. It is known that only about half of Durham's youth will complete high school, go to college, and get a job by the time they are aged 25 years old. Moreover, many will struggle in the process and some will not make it at all. There are now between 4,500 and 6,000 disconnected youth enough to fill four Durham high schools who are either at significant risk of dropping out of high school or who are not pursuing any education, training, or employment. All of them have talent and aspiration for a better life. Together they represent a source of workforce skills, civic participation, and taxpayer revenue that Durham can ill afford to waste. Made in Durham seeks to mobilize Durham's top public business and community leaders to help lead an education to career system through the creation of a formal partnership. The Made in Durham program is important. If our young people are not able to acquire the necessary training for the jobs in our community, they may very well become a part of the jobless, unemployed, which may result in a life of poverty, acquiring all of the attributes that come with living and poverty. Located in one of the distress census tracts that I mentioned earlier, the East Durham Children's Initiative, is an example of public-private partnership, working to prepare children to succeed in school and life. Under the leadership of David Reese and Barker French, and I like David and Barker to stand if you don't mind, Barker is chairman, and I see Ellen Rakow is here. He's a member of the East Durham Children's Initiative, and I know we had someone else here that was also. Chris, okay, I want to get to Ms. Bass later. I want to get to Ms. Bass later, okay. Ted Fisk, they're all up in my office. In fact, all of the persons that are associated with the East Durham Children's Initiative, if you might understand, I'm serious, this is important. The reason I mentioned EDCI is because of what I said earlier in terms of trying to reach out. Tonight, they have Ms. Bass, and Ms. Bass, I like you to stand. I met Ms. Bass earlier this evening in my office, but Ms. Bass is raising her grandson, who attends Y.E. Smith Elementary School. And although they are a family of low wealth, she's taking the necessary steps to help her grandson see that there is another path out of poverty. Ms. Bass is engaged in his school, in the community, and with EDCI. And I'd like to thank all of them, as well as all the members of the EDCI Board and any staff for being with us tonight, and more importantly, for the work that you do and will continue to do. Thank you. As mayor, I want to use the office of the mayor to raise the visibility of poverty in Durham. For some people, poverty is hidden in plain sight. Others see poverty and do not acknowledge that it exists or that it affects them. Some feel poverty and live in poverty every day, and some are just not aware of the extent of poverty in Durham. If in fact we're going to work to reduce poverty, it is important that we develop specific benchmarks for the reduction of poverty within the targeted neighborhoods. The state through its healthy North Carolina 2020 project has set a goal of reducing the poverty rate in the state to 12.5% by the year 2020. And the county's public health department and partnership for a healthy Durham are working together to help reach that goal in Durham. Durham County's public health director, Dale Harris is here, and I know Gail very well. Please stand. Please stand, Gail, as I like people to see you. Probably everybody knows you. Again, I want to thank Gail for all the work she does to help improve the lives of Durham residents. And just as the city and county have been working together on specific areas of their respective strategic goals, I want to encourage the city, the county, and partner organizations to work together to achieve this goal of reducing poverty. As a city, we must work in partnership with existing efforts of those non-profit, private sector, and county government. Those sectors work well together when we're revitalizing downtown, and we should be able to work just as well to reduce poverty in our community. We must utilize and better prioritize existing financial resources. Now, this is not a call at this time for more financial resources, but a call for better coordination and collaboration of existing resources. Strengthening partnership efforts, building what has already been started by our faith community. In closing, I'm reminded of the recent Sunday ceremony on January 19, 2004. That was delivered by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove during the Watch Street Baptist Church Martin Luther King service. Jonathan spoke about the actions of Reverend King and his civil rights efforts. It was called for a collective action during the Montgomery bus boycott. The mayor, the city, the city council, the city administration, we don't have any monopoly on solutions to reducing poverty in Durham. It will take collective action by all in Durham who have a concern about the level of poverty in Durham. And tonight, I'm calling on all of us to begin to take that collective action toward reducing poverty in Durham neighborhoods, year by year, starting now. This road to reducing poverty will not be an easy road. It will be a road of endurance and time. The achievements will not be readily seen or felt by many. It will not be analogous to the revitalization of a neighborhood, a revitalization of downtown Durham, where we can see the physical transformations take place with ongoing construction that eventually gets completed and results in a finished product. Our focus is on people. People live in poverty. And for many, though no fault of their own, who have been in poverty for many years. The road out of poverty for many does not happen overnight and many roadblocks have to be overcome. It is not a road to be traveled along. People in poverty will have to be willing to travel that road in partnership, acting collectively with those who are willing to assist in that journey. But I remain convinced that if we as a community have the will and determination, and if it can be done anywhere, reducing poverty can be accomplished in Durham. Where great things happen, great things do happen, and this will be one of the things to add to our list. In the coming months, I will be calling together community leaders, people in poverty, and organizations to help develop an overall plan and roadmap with the benchmarks to meet that challenge. Again, I want to thank you for your time and patience. And I want to again say, Durham, let us move forward together to achieve the goal of reducing poverty in Durham, neighborhood by neighborhood, year by year, starting in 2014. Thank you, and God bless Durham, and God bless America. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to take a short break to begin our regular council meeting at 7.40 p.m. and I see that Senator Mike Wood, former city council person, is with us. Thank you, Mike. Thank you.