The DEKALB COUNTY Board of Health last month helped promote National Children’s Dental Health Month by offering free dental exams to children meeting income eligibility requirements. Year-round, the county offers low-cost dental services to preschool and school-age children and seniors 60 and older. Last year, the county treated 8,800 children.On an ongoing basis, the county also makes specialty clinics available for the low-income Spanish-speaking community and to HIV residents who receive HIV/AIDS clinic services.
LAKE COUNTY will hold its second annual education summit this month. The meeting was designed to enable educators and employers to learn how to make current and future students and employees “work force ready.”
Topics to be discussed include skill standards, health care, service industries, manufacturing and the role of unions. The summit was developed in response to the 1992 Lake County Economic Development Commission (EDC) Business Retention Survey. It found that businesses had trouble hiring employees with necessary education, skills and training. For more information, contact the EDC at 847/360-6350.
Several parishes in Louisiana are considering forging a sister county/parish exchange relationship with Tong Shan County, Jiangsu Province, in China.
A representative from Tong Shan County recently visited Louisiana to explore its culture, trade, education, and economic and social data. “We all have to realize that we live in a global economy and certainly we want to explore any economic opportunity for the parishes,” said James Hays, executive secretary of the Police Jury Association.
The association has extended an invitation to the Chinese for a return visit.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY recently dedicated its new Language Discovery Center, which is designed for children ages 3 to 8, to develop their speaking, writing and communications skills. Located in the Gaithersburg Regional Library, the center is equipped with computers, CD-ROMs, books, audio cassettes and a puppet theater.The center was funded with a $20,000 donation from a local real estate company and a percentage of receipts from area merchants. A computer company donated computer equipment.
ROCKLAND COUNTY last month inaugurated the Rockland Online Directory, the first project of the county’s Computer and Telecommunications Initiative (CATI). CATI is a coalition of area residents from schools, businesses, social services, libraries, health care, government and parents.
The directory will give citizens access to information about county services, libraries, schools, colleges and non-profit organizations. “We want it to involve the whole community,” said Rockland County Legislator Harriet Cornell, chair of CATI. The Internet address is: http://www.roldirect.com.
The effort began with a meeting last October. “The interest was enormous,” Cornell said. Computer experts donated their time to create home pages. For information about starting a directory, contact Cornell at 914/634-3304.
Due to increased interest in regional issues and international trade, the Great Lakes Council of County Associations was recently renamed the Midwest Conference of Counties. Member states include Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. A revision to its bylaws and constitution has expanded membership eligibility to associations in Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. For membership information, contact Reed Madden, president of the Midwest Conference of Counties, at 513/376-5006.
The Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) recently announced the start of a new lease/purchase program to help counties secure equipment and facilities. The program gives counties access to financing at tax-exempt rates, with an emphasis on reducing approval time. VACo says the program is an option when it’s not feasible to pay cash or when there is a desire to avoid the cost and time involved in issuing municipal bonds.
(News From the Nation’s Counties is compiled by Mary Ann Barton, senior staff writer.)
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