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Union County outlines growth, funding pressures and waitlist reductions in Community Support and Outreach report
Summary
Community Support & Outreach director Stephanie Starr told county leaders the department has expanded services since 2018, is funded roughly 40% by federal/state grants and 60% by county dollars, and has reduced the senior nutrition waitlist after recent municipal and county funding.
Stephanie Starr, director of Community Support and Outreach (CSO) for Union County, gave an overview of the department’s programs, funding and performance during a public meeting. Starr said CSO — created in 2018 — runs federally mandated economic-stability programs, senior and WIC nutrition services, and community outreach and volunteer programs that together serve vulnerable residents across the county.
Starr told the meeting that about 40% of the CSO budget comes from federal or state grants and about 60% from county funding. The department employs 35 full-time staff, five benefited part-time staff, two part-time staff and three seasonal workers used during the LIEAP season, she said. Starr highlighted program performance for fiscal year 2025: the parenting program increased service delivery by 55%; WIC average clients rose by 7–17%; WorkFirst processed 5% more applications; and staff processed 54% more Crisis Intervention Program applications and 44% more LIEAP applications compared with the prior year.
The presentation emphasized access barriers — transportation, service hours and childcare — and said expanding delivery options and community outreach are CSO priorities. Starr said the department conducts the county’s Community Health Assessment (CHA) in cooperation with Atrium Health and Novant Health; the CHA is a public-health accreditation requirement completed every three years.
Commissioner Sides asked about the senior nutrition program waitlist. Starr said the active waitlist fell to 358 people in early August from “mid-600s” after additional funding from the Board of County Commissioners and partnering municipalities and a vetting process that removed ineligible names. She said the county expected to remove about 110 names from the list by September but that 25–30 new applicants are added monthly, so the total may not drop by the full 110. Starr and other speakers emphasized that home-delivered meals are a critical weekly meal for many homebound seniors and that volunteer shortages create additional strain on staff.
Starr said CSO’s outreach programs include the Christmas Bureau, a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, school-supply and foster-care support and a 13-week evidence-based parenting program that expanded to serve children age 6 and older with enhanced funding in fiscal year 2026. She also described a partnership with Food for Families NC to provide grocery bags to seniors waiting for permanent home-delivered meals and noted the department distributed $11.5 million in rental and utility assistance through an emergency rental assistance program during COVID-19.
The presentation closed with a list of CSO priorities: reduce barriers to access, expand delivery options where appropriate, strengthen community partnerships and continue quality-improvement efforts.
