January 17, 2003

A $700,000 grant from The Duke Endowment will help Duke University increase programming at the Walltown Children’s Theater, open a health clinic in the new Lyon Park community center, continue affordable housing initiatives in Walltown and support efforts by Durham Public Schools to close the achievement gap.

The grant from the Endowment’s Children and Families Initiative brings to $2.5 million the amount that the Charlotte-based organization has donated to the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership over the past five years.

"We don’t normally fund programs for such a long period," said Elizabeth H. Locke, president of The Duke Endowment. "The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership is making a qualitative difference in Durham neighborhoods close to Duke, however, and we’re pleased to have been able to continue and even to expand support for it."

The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership was launched in 1996 with the goals of improving the quality of life in 12 neighborhoods surrounding the Duke campus and boosting student achievement in the seven public schools that serve those neighborhoods. The focus is on issues identified as priorities by residents, including combating crime, increasing home ownership and providing educational and enrichment opportunities for children.

"In times like these, when the economy is suffering, more people turn to nonprofits for help," said Michael Palmer, director of Duke’s Office of Community Affairs, which coordinates the partnership. "Our community partners are experiencing growing demand for services, at the same time that resources are more scarce. The Duke Endowment is to be commended for extending its commitment in assisting us to meet real needs."

About one-third of the grant will support projects designed to help improve the lives of children in low-income families in partner neighborhoods. One project is the Holistic Opportunity Plan for Enrichment (HOPE), an individualized after-school/summer enrichment program in Neighborhood Partnership community centers. HOPE is designed to complement efforts of Durham Public Schools to close the achievement gap.

The Walltown Children’s Theater will receive $20,000 to expand programming. The nonprofit theater, started two years ago by Joseph Henderson and his wife Cynthia, has produced "Bangin,’" an original play with an anti-gang theme. The school offers dance and acting classes. The Hendersons want to offer piano lessons and produce "Romeo and Juliet" in Spanish.

"The theater has become another safe haven for children, another landmark in Walltown, along with St. James, St. John, Northside Baptist (churches)," said Joseph Henderson. "These funds will allow us to open doors for more children to come in. It gives us the incentive to work harder."

In addition, the money designated for children supports three ongoing programs: Partners for Youth, an award-winning teen mentoring program for West End youngsters; Partners for Success, a Duke program to improve tutoring skills of volunteers; and the Teen Focus program, offered by the Joseph Alston and Juanita McNeil West End Community Center, which provides productive alternatives for West End youths at risk of long-term and short-term suspension, dropping out of school and teen pregnancy. The teen center was purchased and renovated with Duke’s support.

"The Duke money and our relationships with Duke allow our children to have safe places to go," said Mary Davis, program director of the teen center. "The center wouldn’t exist without Duke. The support has allowed us to hire staff, get technology assistance and run a successful after-school tutoring program with Duke student volunteers.

"We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve come a long way. Our neighborhood teens are learning how to communicate, how their relationships with friends and parents should be, how to have a spiritual base and how to find alternatives to violence."

The Duke Endowment grant also will support projects that include:

• Affordable housing -- Self-Help Credit Union has been renovating housing, creating opportunities for home ownership and promoting community development to support its collaborative revitalization work in the predominantly African-American Walltown neighborhood. With help from $2 million in affordable housing loans from Duke and ongoing support from The Duke Endowment, Self-Help has completely rebuilt and sold 43 homes to first-time, low-income home owners and has control over an additional 11 properties;
• Community health care initiatives -- Duke is expanding innovative community health care programs to residents in the Walltown and West End neighborhoods through the Dental Tooth Ferry Van; the Promising Practices program, a community effort to send nurse practitioners into the homes of patients; and a new health clinic that will open in March in the new Lyon Park Community Family Life and Recreation Center;
• Anti-gang and anti-crime programs: Duke is working to increase the police presence in Walltown by purchasing and rehabilitating a house on Sedgefield Street to sell to a Durham police officer, as well as to provide young people with attractive alternatives to gang activity;
• West End community development: Duke is working with residents of the West End neighborhoods to develop a grassroots community quality-of-life plan to better coordinate delivery of services by the many nonprofits based there.

"When we call this the Neighborhood Partnership, partnership is the key word," said Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane. "We could not do it without the partners involved, not only the university and the people in the neighborhoods, but our wonderfully generous funders, above all The Duke Endowment."


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