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Duke Community Affairs serves as a hub for community engagement across the university and health system. Our partnerships are guided by five focus areas, outlined in the Strategic Community Impact Plan (SCIP).
In 2024-2025, the SCIP goals were updated to reflect post-pandemic learning and feedback from community members, many of whom contributed to the original version, as well as Duke stakeholders.
Our Focus Areas
In addition to the focus areas outlined in the Strategic Community Impact Plan, DCA's work is guided by the recommendations of the Duke Board of Trustees' Duke and Durham Today and Tomorrow Task Force. Charged with broadening collaboration between Duke and Durham communities, the task force engaged in a year-long process of listening and learning, determined high-level findings and recommendations for the institution, and endorsed the five strategic priorities in the SCIP. Their recommendations included:
- Building a digital platform to document impact for meaningful and sustained engagement
- Creating strategic councils comprised of university and community experts in each of the five focus areas outlined in the Strategic Community Impact Plan
- Launch a Center for Community Engagement to coalesce resources and connect academic schools to community affairs
- Develop a set of indicators based on local economic data that demonstrate progress and outcomes related to the five focus areas.