For the 11th year in a row, Wake County Government is being honored with multiple prestigious Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties. The organization works to advance excellence in public service with this competitive awards program, pitting Wake County against more than 3,000 counties across the nation.
“I’m extremely proud of every #TeamWake employee who worked to innovate the programs that are now being recognized as models for other counties,” said Wake County Board of Commissioners Chair Shinica Thomas. “To receive a dozen of these national awards is extraordinary and just more proof our staff is always looking for better ways to help our community and connect to underserved populations.”
Of the 12 winning entries, Wake County’s Housing Affordability and Community Revitalization department took home top honors as a “Best in Category” winner, beating out almost 100 other entries in the Community and Economic Development category. Across the country, so many people with lower incomes are facing an uphill battle trying to find an affordable place to live. The Lease 2 Home: Matching Customers with Affordable Housing Opportunities program was honored for helping connect struggling individuals and families with trustworthy landlords and property owners who can offer them a place to call home within their budget, while also making sure those housing providers have the financial means to help the units remain affordable.
The Housing team partnered with Wake County’s Information Services department which developed the custom-built Lease2Home app and rapidly deploy. With a team of eight, staff manage a comprehensive database of affordable, available homes and use that data to coordinate tenant relocation efforts. Using incentives like security damage coverage and $500 signing bonuses on leases, the program hopes to bring on more than 50 property owners and create around 300 additional affordable home options within the first year.
“Our teams come to work every day ready to make a difference in their community and truly impact people’s lives for the better,” said Wake County Manager David Ellis. “Working for Wake means doing something that matters. These programs have all brought improvements that we can measure. These employees deserve a standing ovation for their dedication to public service.”
The other winning entries include:
- Wake County Tax Administration: Improving Homeowner Participation and Understanding of Property Tax Relief Options
This program serves to increase outreach to the county’s most vulnerable taxpayers, better ensuring they’re aware of options for relief on their tax bills.
- Wake County Housing Affordability and Community Revitalization: Bridge to Home
This is an expansion of the NACo award-winning Hotels to Housing program, continuing the same coordination carried out during the pandemic between 11 different agencies who worked to assist households experiencing homelessness.
- Capital Area Workforce Development: Pathway to Entrepreneurship
A program featuring one-on-one sessions for minorities, women, veterans, those formerly incarcerated or individuals with disabilities to help them enter the workforce as entrepreneurs and new business owners.
- Wake County Soil & Water Conservation District: Safeguarding Agriculture to Guide Sustainable Growth
With almost 23,000 acres of farmland lost in the past nine years in Wake County, this program sets out to preserve existing farmland by strengthening protections and incentivizing owners to preserve their land for agriculture and open space, instead of development.
- NC Cooperative Extension-Wake County Center: Tangelo Grocery Delivery Program
With one in eight Americans reporting some level of uncertainty about where their next meal will come from, this program teams up with community partners and a national food benefits mobile app to create, distribute and evaluate food benefits for at-risk members of the county.
- Wake County Water Quality: Wake County Well Water Protection
With 40,000 households in the county using well water for drinking, cooking and bathing, this program utilizes GIS technology to streamline the critical permitting process that identifies potential contaminants to better protect residents’ health.
- Wake County Information Services, Wake County Public Health, Wake County Human Resources: Harnessing the Power of Low-Code Programming to Automate Accreditation Compliance
Three departments teamed up to re-invent and streamline the employee accreditation process, helping maintain compliance with state requirements and ensuring training is always up to date.
- Wake County Wastewater Program: Permitting changes to existing subsurface wastewater systems with increased field accuracy, efficiency and safety
Wake County’s Water Quality Division implemented a program to decrease turn-around time for issuance of state-mandated permits. They now utilize ground penetrating radar equipment and other technologies to improve customer service and better protect public health and water resources.
- Wake County Environmental Health & Safety: Using automated data visualization to improve responsiveness to public concerns about regulated facilities
Staff responsible for regulating nearly 7,000 restaurants, hotels, pools and childcare centers worked with our Information Services team to create real-time, automated reports to provide data and visualizations. This results in more timely and accurate compliance, regarding consumer safety complaints, inspections and corrective measures.
- Wake County Fire Services, Human Resources and Community Partners: Career in a Year
With staffing demographics standing at 94% white male, Wake County Fire Services collaborated with Wake County Human Resources, municipal fire departments and Wake Technical Community College to increase the diversity of their workforce to better reflect the community. With increased education, outreach and an academy that now offers salary and benefits, this inaugural initiative yielded an unprecedented applicant response with a historic 45% diversity rate. The redesigned academy program resulted in a record-setting 88% pass rate for EMT certification.
- Wake County Human Resources: Onboarding Center
Faced with the effects of the Great Recession and a tight labor market, Human Resources worked in collaboration with key stakeholders to design tools and resources to improve the hiring and onboarding experience. The improved processes resulted in 30% more employees being onboarded with access to systems, 93% indicating they have tools needed for their job, and 100% giving a positive rating when recommending Wake County as an employer.
