Local News Briefs

Grace Ann Nordhoff, owner of Mad Hatter's Café and Bake Shop and a 1982 Duke graduate, has given $200,000 to help endow the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, Duke President Richard H. Brodhead announced Monday.

Nordhoff, who now lives in Seattle, co-founded Mad Hatter -- which she still manages -- in 1994. Now located adjacent to Duke's East Campus, the eatery is a popular destination for members of the Duke and Durham communities.

The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, a collaboration between Duke and 12 neighborhoods and eight public schools near Duke's campus, concentrates its efforts and investment in four thematic areas: education enrichment and youth development; neighborhood stabilization; strengthening community organizations; and engaging Duke students and staff in community service. Since 1994, for example, Duke has provided $4 million in affordable housing loans to Self-Help, leading to more than 130 houses being purchased for renovation in Walltown and Southwest Central Durham. More than half have been sold to first-time low-income homeowners.

Since the partnership was created in 1996, Duke has raised more than $12 million for its programs, including local nonprofit organizations, churches, schools and communities.

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