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Guilford County Seeks To Oversee Homeless Services

Greensboro officials have sought to create a separate organization to manage homeless services. KERI BROWN/WFDD

Guilford County is taking steps to oversee groups that provide services to homeless people. 

County Commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to take over management of the Guilford County Continuum Of Care, an organization of nonprofits that provide homeless services including food, shelter, and health care.

The News & Record reports the move heads off an effort by the Greensboro City Council to create its own Continuum of Care organization under the direction of city staffers. That effort would need to be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Some advocates believe that a separate agency focusing on Greensboro would hurt homeless services in the long run. One Continuum of Care board member told county commissioners that a Greensboro-based agency would detract from collaboration with High Point and other towns.

The YWCA of Greensboro's CEO Lindy Garnette told the commissioners that a countywide organization would be more efficient.

The county's plan to oversee homeless services must now be approved by HUD.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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