Partners: Governments
City of Durham
Several divisions of city government work closely with the Neighborhood Partnership, including:
- Parks and Recreation – works with the Lyon Park Community Center and through Street Reach in Walltown. Staffers helped identify grant funds to help Walltown Children's Theatre purchase its building.
- Housing – housing loans for low-income homeowners
- Economic Development – Develops strategies to bolster the business climate on West Chapel Hill Street
- Police – Work closely with Duke Police to patrol neighborhoods near East Campus
Durham County
These sections of county government pitch in with the Neighborhood Partnership:
- Cooperative Extension Service - West End Community Center summer programming
- Social Services - Provides services to the HOPE program
- Juvenile Justice -- A New Day is a program for repeat offenders
Federal government
Though the Neighborhood Partnership is primarily a local effort, partners look for ways to leverage federal resources in the service of neighborhood priorities.
For instance, President Bill Clinton introduced America Reads in 1996 to help recruit and organize college students as tutors fighting illiteracy. Neighborhood Partnership schools still participate in America Reads -- and America Counts, the math skills program since added.
Partnership efforts have attracted the attention of U.S. Congressman David Price, on leave from Duke's political science department. He has visited the St. James Baptist Church and Family Life Center and the headquarters of Walltown Neighborhood Ministries, two former eyesores in Walltown that have been transformed into community hubs through the partnership.
"I'd read a good deal about these partnerships," said Price, whose district includes Durham . "It's much more impressive to see firsthand how Walltown and West End leaders are providing a vision for the future, and how Duke and others are supporting that. I'm looking for ways that federal support can be brought to bear on the situation as well."
Price secured funds for partnership efforts such as Lyon Park Community Center and Partners for Youth.
