Hello, Healthy Counties!

I’m Sig Hutchinson, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. I serve the 1.1 million residents of our beautiful capital county, which is the largest county in the state of North Carolina and the third fastest growing county of its size in the nation. Our population boom isn’t projected to slow down any time soon. We estimate our community will double in size in the next 50 years!

You may have heard of Raleigh or Cary – municipalities located in Wake County that are consistently ranked among the best places to live, work remotely or retire. You may also have heard of Apple, Amgen, Invitae or FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnologies. They’re just a few of the companies that announced plans last year to expand in Wake County, bringing a record-setting $3.75 billion in investment and nearly 6,000 new jobs with them.

We attract these companies and attain these accolades, because we have worked for years to create a healthy community where everyone can thrive. We recognize that your zip code may impact your life expectancy even more than your genetic code, and that’s why we’re focused on addressing the social determinants of health.

It’s hard to stay healthy and live a happy, productive life if you don’t know where you’re going to sleep at night.

One of those determinants is affordable housing. 

To address the growing demand for affordable housing, we set a goal in 2019 to create 2,500 new affordable units in five years. I’m proud to say Wake County achieved that goal in just three years! We’ve also spent more than $32 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding to help nearly 6,000 residents impacted by the pandemic avoid eviction and keep their utilities on.

Once we get people housed, we need to help them get around. Buying a car is expensive, especially right now, and not everyone can afford one. That’s where the Wake Transit Plan comes in. Thanks to the transit referendum voters passed in 2016, we’re tripling bus service and building commuter rail across the county. When the railway opens, it will serve as the spine of our transportation network, easily connecting riders with buses, rideshare options, sidewalks and cycling paths.

Another social determinant of health we’re addressing is access to quality health care. A white baby born in Wake County is twice as likely to see their first birthday than a Black baby born into poverty in Southeast Raleigh. To change that statistic, we’ve launched the Best Babies Zone. It brings together residents, businesses and local organizations in our most vulnerable zip codes to give all children born in “the zone” the best possible chance at a full, healthy life. 

We’ve also created the Live Well Wake initiative, a collaborative effort to empower and enable residents of all ages, from all backgrounds and across all neighborhoods to make healthy living the easy choice. One of its focus areas is our “familiar faces,” the folks who frequently use emergency, medical, social and law enforcement services. By getting these diverse service providers to share information about each familiar face, we can offer more holistic, integrated care and support, which ultimately leads to a healthier life.

Having places where families can go to walk, cycle, paddle or picnic is critical. 

Finally, I must mention my life’s work – expanding our amazing parks, greenways and open space. They offer opportunities for exercise in nature, which is healthy for our bodies and our minds. We currently manage more than 2,400 acres of parkland, and we’ve acquired more than 8,200 acres of open space, with more on the way.

We are excited to be working with Chair Phyllis Randall and Healthy Counties Leadership to host the 2022 NACo Healthy Counties Forum next month where we will discuss these exciting initiatives with you! It’s going to be an outstanding event. It will take place April 6-8 in the heart of Wake County – our vibrant downtown Raleigh. Registration is now open on the NACo website, so make plans today to attend. The sessions are full of interesting insights that you can take back and apply in your home counties. And, who knows? Maybe I’ll even lead you on a hike down one of our wonderful greenways!

Sincerely,

Sig Hutchinson

Chair, Board of Commissioners

Wake County, N.C.