NACo Podcasts

Today, more people between the ages of 25 and 64 are dying from a drug overdose than from a car crash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of overdose deaths has created a multifaceted challenge for counties. Tune in to hear Suffolk County, N.Y. discuss how they are addressing this challenge. This podcast features music from Chris Zabriskie, Digital Primitive, BOPD and Broke for Free.

This past January, NACo held a joint Healthy Counties Initiative, Smart Justice and Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee forum in Charleston S.C. This special video podcast takes a look at two of the issues discussed during the forum: addressing racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system, and the intersection of behavioral health and justice systems. During the podcast, we hear from Commissioner Joan Garner and Commissioner Katie "Kay" Cashion, respective chairs of the NACo Healthy Counties Initiative Advisory Board and NACo Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee, as well as James Bell, founder and executive director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute, and Judge Steve Leifman of the Miami-Dade County Court Criminal Division. This podcast features information and data presented at during the NACo 2015 Health Justice and Public Safety Forum, including statistics presented by James Bell and Judge Leifman during their sessions.

County leaders are realizing that instead of relying on outside investments, there are multiple forms of wealth found within their communities. This podcast explores the Ford Foundation’s WealthWorks approach to community and economic development, which encourages community stakeholders to grow many forms of capital to promote local ownership and invest in mutually supportive value chains linking residents, places and firms in a region. Visit wealthworks.org (http://www.wealthworks.org/) to learn more about the WealthWorks approach to community and economic development. This podcast features music from Latch Post, Digital Primitives, Christian Bjoerklund, Chris Zabriskie and U.S. Army Blues.

In 2014, NACo in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, held Community Dialogues in six counties across the country. In this week’s episode listen to county elected officials and other county leaders from those six counties discussing the Community Dialogue held in their community. This podcast features music from Broke for Free, Digital Primitives, et_, Christian Bjoerklund, Kevin MacLeod, Latch Swing and Northbound.

There are some experiences that occur over the course of our childhood that stay with us for a lifetime. For nearly half of the children in the United States ranging from newborns to 17 years of age, these events have been adverse experiences or childhood trauma. Of children aged 12 to 17, almost 1 in 3 have had 2 or more traumatic events according to the National Survey of Children’s Health (http://www.childhealthdata.org/browse/allstates?q=2614). Furthermore, the prevalence of childhood trauma ranges across the country from 1 in 5 South Dakotan children having 1 traumatic event to almost 30 percent in Florida and Nevada. As the entities responsible for protecting, caring for and/or treating children across the country, counties are not only addressing childhood trauma, but also creating trauma-informed communities. Today, you will hear from Wilson County, N.C and San Diego County, CA describe why and how they are creating a trauma-informed culture in their counties.  This podcast features music from Broke for Free, BOPD, Yacht, Dexter Britain, Chris Zabriskie, Digital Primitives and Podington Bear.

Surrounded by rivers on three sides, Sherman County is located in rural northern Oregon. Because of the region’s low population density—about half of all residents live in unincorporated areas—access to quality broadband was once difficult to find, and many people were still bound to dial-up and expensive satellite service as recently as the late-2000s. In 2009, county officials initiated a county-led effort to provide affordable broadband to all residents. Taking advantage of the existing 911 system, Sherman County expanded broadband infrastructure to rural parts of the county, allowing residents to access affordable Internet service.  The new system went online in the summer of 2011 and by summer 2014, 13 percent of all households in the county had signed up, with more subscribers signing up every month. Many of the new customers had no access to quality broadband before the new system was developed, while others opted to switch from a different Internet provider because the county-owned system is less expensive and more flexible than available alternatives. Access to broadband has allowed several at-home businesses to expand and help supplement household income, including a family-run hardwood brokerage company. Sherman County Commissioner Michael Smith joins the podcast to detail the county's innovative approach and explain how using the existing 911 system as the basis for broadband development can be an efficient strategy for bringing high-speed Internet into low-density areas. This podcast includes music by Broke For Free, Christian Bjoerklund, and Sul Rebel.

In the second episode of this series, we sit down with Pat Fleming, Director of Behavioral Health Services in Salt Lake County, Utah; Lore Joplin, Principal at Lore Joplin Consulting; Nancy Griffith, Correction Health Director for Multnomah County, Ore.; and Donna Strugar-Fritsch, Managing Principal with Health Management Associates, to talk about health coverage provisions that impact individuals in jails and ways counties can use these provisions to save money. This podcast features music from Broke For Free, Chris Zabriskie and Yacht. 

In the first episode of this series, we sit down with Donna Strugar-Fritsch, Managing Principal with Health Management Associates; Pat Fleming, Director of Behavioral Health Services in Salt Lake County, Utah; and Salt Lake County, Utah, Mayor Ben McAdams to discuss how health reform impacts county jails and why health coverage in jails should matter to counties. This podcast features music from Digital Primitives, Christian Bjoerklund, Chris Zabriskie and Broke for Free.

As we approach the age of cyber everything, whether in our smart devices, our homes, our business or our government, life in America’s counties is becoming more connected to the internet. NACo continues to be on the forefront of bringing cybersecurity awareness to counties. Today we hear three different stories concerning cyber, and the experts joining share their experiences and opinions around cybersecurity in counties. Helen Purcell, Maricopa County Recorder, discusses cybersecurity and how a denial of service attack disrupted the county's election of 2012. Oakland County CIO/Deputy Executive Director, Phil Bertolini engages Albany County Legislator Brian Clenahan about his advocacy and legislation on Cyberbullying.  Phil Bertolini also sits down with Steve Hurst, Director of Security Services at AT&T about emerging cybersecurity issues essential to elected county officials and IT practitioners. This podcast features music from Yacht, Christian Bjoerklund, Chris Zabriskie, Jahzzar, Digital Primitives, Northbound, Holy Coast and Broke For Free.

Counties spend more than $70.2 billion every year on justice and public safety, and in many jurisdictions a major part of this is the provision of public defense services – providing attorneys to defendants who cannot afford to hire one on their own. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees an individual the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense, and the Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainwright held that states bear the responsibility for providing such counsel. In many states, however, this function has been passed to the counties, leading to overburdened systems and increasingly high costs. In this podcast, we sit down with David Carroll, the founder of the Sixth Amendment Center, and Dan Chadwick, executive director of the Idaho Association of Counties, to talk about why it’s so important that counties get public defense right and learn about the solution Idaho’s counties have devised to help improve representation without increasing their costs. We also speak with Patti Puritz, executive director of the National Juvenile Defender Center, about particular issues with public defense of children, and hear about Montgomery County, Texas’s innovative juvenile public defender system. This podcast features music from Christian Bjoerklund, Digital Primitives, Broke For Free, Yacht and State Shirt.

In order to remain healthy, vibrant, safe and economically competitive, America’s counties must be able to anticipate and adapt to all types of change.  Coastal Louisiana is one part of the country that is taking strides to adapt and strengthen its resiliency in the face of threats from increasingly severe weather events. Composed of ten parishes with over 1 million residents, Greater New Orleans Inc, or GNO Inc. for short, is southeast Louisiana’s economic development organization. Given the importance of water to the region’s culture and economy, in 2010 the state of Louisiana provided funding to GNO Inc. to develop the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan. The Urban Water Plan represents a region-wide effort to explore and invest in smart and sustainable water-related infrastructure. Robin Barnes, Executive Vice President and COO of Greater New Orleans Inc., joins the podcast to discuss the Urban Water Plan and explain its implications for the Southeast Louisiana region. This podcast includes music by Latch Swing, Digital Primitives, Christian Bjoerklund, and Chris Zabriskie.

Alyssum Pohl, NOAA Digital Coast Fellow at NACo interviews Jeff Stone, Senior Project Manager at the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), about a new website called the Great Lakes Planning Guide. The Guide provides Great Lakes region stories, data, tools and other resources related to flooding, bluff erosion, invasive species, and other coastal concerns. Mr. Stone shares the impetus for creating the guide, a bit about the process, as well as how users can best benefit from the resource. The podcast includes music by Digital Primitives, Christian Bjoerklund, Kevin MacLeod, Broke for Free, YACT, and Gabl.

Counties across the country are conducting Community Needs Health Assessments (CNHA) as required by law. Wake County, North Carolina has achieved great success in not only building and sustaining partnership to conduct their CNHA, but also to using it to improve the health of their community. Tune in to hear Wake County Chairman Joe Bryan and Regina Petteway, Director for the Division of Administration, discuss their county’s approach and how the CNHA serves as a foundation for fostering and promoting good health. This podcast includes music by YACT, Wichita State University Chamber Players, and Digital Primitives.

Craig Cornu of the South Slough Estuarine Research Reserve in Coos County, Oregon, and Alyssum Pohl, NOAA Digital Coast Fellow here at NACo, join to discuss the role of data and information in community decision making and community engagement. Since 2009 the South Slough Reserve has been working with local stakeholders to create information – environmental and socio-economic – to help inform the community’s decision making process. Hear about the reserve’s efforts, the ups and downs of the project, and key takeaways for counties interested in developing a similar engagement program. This podcast includes music by YACT, Christian Bjoerklund, Podington Bear, Jahzzar, and Monk Turner.

The RWJF Culture of Health Prize is an annual award of $25,000 to communities that are on the journey towards building a culture of health. This year, up to 10 communities will be chosen for the Prize. The deadline for the first phase of the application is September 17th at 3pm EST. NACo sat down with Julie Willems Van Dijk from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute to discuss the Prize, as well as the three county winners of the 2014 RWJF Culture of Health Prize- Durham County, N.C., Buncombe County, N.C. and Spokane County, Wash. This podcast includes music by Kevin MacLeod, ProleteR, Patrick Lee, Ergo Phizmiz, and Monk Turner.