Pittsboro, North Carolina, Chatham County : an action-oriented community diagnosis including secondary data analysis and qualitative data collection
Creators: name: Schmal, Susanne
name: Pescador, Molly
name: Eckroad, Dana
name: McDaniel, Heather
name: Manning, Michelle
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2001

description: PURPOSE OF COMMUNITY DIAGNOSIS The Chatham Coalition for Adolescent Health and five graduate students from the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the UNC School of Public Health collaborated to conduct this community diagnosis of Pittsboro’s adolescents. The purpose of this community diagnosis was to learn about the health and quality of life concerns of residents of Pittsboro, both adult and adolescent, and the resources and strengths that exist in the town for dealing with these concerns. The community diagnosis process used primary and secondary data to discover and analyze both the concerns and strengths of Pittsboro and its adolescents. INTRODUCTION TO OUR COMMUNITY Pittsboro is a small, semi-rural, Southern town that has been in existence for over 200 years. It is the Chatham County seat, located 35 miles west of Raleigh and 17 miles south of Chapel Hill. The town was founded in 1787 and until recently, the population increased very little. The “quaint” downtown is Mecca for antiques lovers, and features over ten antiques stores. In addition, there are several old-fashioned country stores, and a local farmers market situated in the town fairgrounds. However, while antique shopping and tourism entice many to come to Pittsboro, the cornerstone of the community is the people who live, work, and are educated there. Within the larger community of Pittsboro, we focused on adolescents. These teens, ages 11-18, either live or work in the town of Pittsboro or attend school in the Pittsboro District. While many of the adolescents do not actually live in the town of Pittsboro proper, those who work or go to school in the district are just as much influenced by the resources and activities in Pittsboro as are those who live there. This is particularly the case with after-school activities and the county health, educational, and recreational resources that are within reasonable distance of the schools and places of employment. Because we were working in Pittsboro with the Chatham County Coalition for Adolescent Health, it was not difficult to identify teens as our target population. The challenge came in determining which adolescents to include: only those who live within the city limits or residents as well as those who go to school or work in town. Through communications with our preceptor and the service providers we interviewed, it became clear that including the teens who come into Pittsboro daily, for school or work, along with teen residents was necessary since they all have access to the various county departments and other resources in the town and convene at local places such as convenience stores and restaurants. While adolescents are an integral part of Pittsboro, they are a group that tends not to have a collective voice. In addition, it became apparent from the interviews that we conducted that there are several issues facing the entire Pittsboro population that have both direct and indirect effects on the adolescent community. In particular, the growing number of businesses turning teens away, the lack of funding for a city-run recreational center, and the community’s lack of awareness about the existing Teen Center have precluded the ability of teens to convene in a single setting or come together around organized activities. According to one service provider, the consequence is that teens have lost their sense of community and are increasingly prevented from gaining it back. Hence, while we have defined Pittsboro as our community and teens as our focus within that community, the teens may not, in fact, sense that they belong to it. Our intent through this community diagnosis is to help Pittsboro recognize the strengths and needs of its teens and take ownership over the issues relevant to them in order to help the adolescents find their own voice and role within the larger community.