Jessie Smith

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Advocacy
Project
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Budget Issues

At PORT Health Services, the budget was recently cut for

treatment as well as for food costs for clients. The food budget is
$400 a week for 9 clients plus 2 staff who are supposed to eat
meals with clients. This equates to roughly $16,000 a year.

There are also trips that are supposed to be taken every 3

months with clients for fun and learning such as trips to the zoo,
aquarium, etc. However, in the last 2 years there has been no
money for the clients to do so.
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Proposal

Being that PORT is a nonprofit program, I will recommend that

the state increase budget for PORT Health Services of
Aberdeen, NC. I will suggest that the budget be increased to
include another $4,000 a month for food costs, as well as an
additional $4,000 for leisure trips for the clients as long as those
trips meet educational criteria as well.
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Letter to NC Governor Roy Cooper
September 9, 2017
North Carolina Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
(919) 814-2000

Jessie Smith Jr.

276 Apple Tree Cir, Raeford, NC 28376
910-584-9005
Jsmith052986@yahoo.com

Governor Cooper,
I hope this letter finds you well Sir. I am writing you today to address an issue Ive
encountered since working for my current agency. I work for PORT Health Services of
Aberdeen, NC, and have realized since my time here and speaking with the supervisor that
there is a budget issue. As you may know, we work with adolescents with substance abuse
and mental health problems as an inpatient treatment facility.
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Letter Cont.

At PORT Health Services, the budget was recently cut for treatment as well as for food costs for clients. The food
budget is $400 a week for 9 clients plus 2 staff who are supposed to eat meals with clients. This equates to roughly
$16,000 a year. There are also trips that are supposed to be taken every 3 months with clients for fun and learning
such as trips to the zoo, aquarium, etc. However, in the last 2 years there has been no money for the clients to do so.

Being that PORT is a nonprofit program, I would like to ask that the state increase budget for PORT Health Services
of Aberdeen, NC. In asking this, I would like to ask that the budget be increased to include another $4,000 a month for
food costs, as well as an additional $4,000 for leisure trips for the clients if those trips meet educational criteria as
well.

I ask that you please consider this proposal for the well-being of the youth that attend this facility so that they may
have healthier choices, as well improve their mental state for their stay at this facility. Please feel free to contact me at
any time with the above listed contact information. I sincerely thank you for your time in reading this letter and all that
you do for our great state.

Very sincerely,

Jessie Smith Jr.

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End Goal

The goal of this letter to the Governor in in hopes that it will be

taken into consideration that in order for adolescents to have a
healthy and balanced diet that this agency needs more funding
to accomplish this.
It is also meant to accomplish the task of making the children
feel like they are not completely confined to this building. If the
program is supposed to include educational trips for them, they
should have the budget to do so.
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Questions