The Duke Endowment Grant Supports Neighborhood Projects

The Duke Endowment has awarded a grant of $777,500 to Duke University to support programs of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, President Richard H. Brodhead announced Monday.

The money will underwrite ongoing affordable housing programs, leadership training opportunities for local nonprofits, and after-school tutoring and enrichment programs aimed at closing the achievement gap among K-12 students.

Begun in 1996, the Neighborhood Partnership connects the university with local organizations and residents in 12 neighborhoods near campus to improve the quality of life and to boost student achievement in nearby public schools.

"Duke collaborates in so many ways with Durham, but we have a special focus on making a difference in neighborhoods and schools through the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership," Brodhead said.

"We have received incredible annual support from The Duke Endowment, which understands the importance of sustained backing for community programs," Brodhead added. "With this latest grant, The Duke Endowment will have invested almost $5 million in our partnerships in Durham over the past nine years. The Duke Endowment has helped make our community stronger, and we are extremely grateful."

One of the Neighborhood Partnership's highest priorities is ensuring the continued success of its after-school programs. In close collaboration with Durham Public Schools, the university is working to improve the quality of education and to close the achievement gap among white, African-American and Latino students. Duke's in-school and after-school tutoring and mentoring programs annually involve more than 600 school-aged children, while other supportive efforts benefit more than 4,000 children at seven partner schools. The programs not only help improve students' academic achievement, but utilize and enhance the skills of about 300 Duke students who serve as tutors. Project HOPE (Holistic Opportunities Plan for Enrichment), the partnership's comprehensive after-school program, is held in local community centers and African-American churches.

"Duke provides high quality resources and after-school services to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade," said Carl Harris, superintendent of Durham Public Schools. "We are grateful for Duke's sustained programming in neighborhood schools and community centers, which reinforces the work students do in class."

In addition to educational enrichment programs for at-risk students, the Neighborhood Partnership has three other thematic areas for institutional priority and investment. The Duke Endowment grant will support nearly a dozen distinct programs in those areas:

-- Neighborhood stabilization: With help from The Duke Endowment, three nonprofits (Self-Help Community Development Corporation, Durham Habitat for Humanity and the Durham Community Land Trustees) are working together to increase the supply of affordable housing in neighborhoods in Southwest Central Durham and Walltown. Since 1994, more than 160 houses have been purchased for rehabilitation for first-time homeowners under the city's affordable housing guidelines. More than a third of the houses already built and sold have gone to qualified Duke employees.

-- Empowering community organizations: A major Duke focus includes supporting the Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project, which formed partnerships to build the Pauli Murray Place neighborhood for low-income homeowners and is working on economic development of West Chapel Hill Street.

-- University engagement: More than 35 Duke departments and programs are actively engaged in community efforts that will benefit from The Duke Endowment's grant. Students, faculty and staff volunteer as tutors and mentors for at-risk students, coordinators of specific construction projects and nonprofit consultants. About 20 Duke undergraduates volunteered in Durham in the summer pilot program for DukeEngage, in which Duke provides financial support for students working on significant community service projects. The Duke Endowment and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed a total of $30 million to endow DukeEngage this year.

"The Duke Endowment is pleased to provide funding to Duke University for the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership," said Eugene W. Cochrane, Jr., president of The Duke Endowment. "The university is a national model in its approach, its long-term commitment and its involvement of Durham residents. We congratulate the Neighborhood Partnership's work and successes."