February 17, 2003

A Duke University trustee emeritus and alumnus from Pennsylvania has given $500,000 to support programs in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, President Nannerl O. Keohane announced Wednesday.

The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership was launched in 1996 with the goal of working with community leaders to improve the quality of life in 12 neighborhoods near campus and to boost student achievement in the seven public schools that serve those neighborhoods. The partnership focuses on priorities identified by residents, including combating crime, increasing home ownership and providing educational and enrichment opportunities for children.

Morris Williams, a 1962 graduate, who also earned a master’s in teaching from Duke University in 1963, is a resident of Gladwyne, Pa., and president of Williams & Co. Williams and his wife Ruth ’63 have made many gifts to Duke over the years, primarily in areas such as the Divinity School, athletics, medicine, arts and sciences, and scholarship support.

"Morris and Ruth Williams are some of the staunchest and most generous supporters of Duke University," Keohane said. "This gift to the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership is special in that it helps us support efforts that specifically benefit Durham. It is in keeping with the Williams’s emphasis on building community and on encouraging Duke and others to make a positive difference in the lives of people. We are immensely grateful."

Williams said he wanted to contribute to the Neighborhood Partnership because he had been following the progress made by the residents and schools, assisted by Duke faculty and staff members in more than 35 departments. He attended a report presented to the trustees in the fall in which it was noted that test scores in four of the partner schools have increased a minimum of 20 percentage points in the past few years. The report also noted that Duke has been instrumental in opening a science resource learning center at E.K. Powe Elementary and a teen center in the West End neighborhood.

In addition, through Duke’s partnership with the Self-Help Development Corporation, 43 houses in Walltown have been renovated and sold to first time, low-income homeowners.

"It made me proud to see the kind of work Duke was doing in the schools and in the lower income neighborhoods, often in conjunction with neighborhood churches," said Williams, who is the son of a Methodist minister. "I think the efforts to increase quality affordable housing and to provide children with better, more positive alternatives in life are particularly needed in this day and age."

Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers, a Durham native, echoed Keohane’s gratitude for the gift, which will help sustain anti-gang efforts in the West End and Walltown neighborhoods. Those efforts include the work of neighborhood partners such as Walltown Children’s Theater, the Teen Focus program at the Juanita McNeil and Joseph Alston West End Teen Center, and the Partners for Youth mentoring/tutoring program.

It will also augment Duke’s Holistic Opportunity Plan for Enrichment (HOPE), an individualized after-school/summer enrichment program in partner community centers, funded by a $2.25 million grant from the Kellogg Foundation.

"Times are tight in Durham and the whole community needs to make extra efforts to provide resources," Chalmers said. "I’m just so appreciative that a Duke alumnus who doesn’t even live in Durham would recognize the need and see the value of the strong partnership role Duke University has played in empowering and supporting grassroots neighborhood efforts. We fully support the concept of community-oriented policing, in which the police department partners with the community. In essence that is what Duke University is doing with the neighborhoods.

"We’re never going to stop the criminal activity until we can cut off the supply of young people who are going into the gangs. Programs with positive alternatives and dedicated staff like the Boys and Girls Clubs and the community centers that Duke is sponsoring are the only substitute," Chalmers said.

Duke has pledged to raise $10 million for the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership in the Campaign for Duke, which concludes at the end of 2003. To date, about $9 million has been raised.

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