Education, Early Childhood, and School Readiness

Debbie Goldstein is the Associate Vice President/Associate Vice Provost for Community Engaged Scholarship and Executive Director of the NC Leadership Forum. In this role, Debbie leads the new Duke Center for Community Engagement, a joint effort of Duke Community Affairs and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Office of the Provost. She also manages the community engagement and educational outreach teams at Duke Community Affairs.  

Prior to joining Duke and NCLF, Debbie was an Executive Vice President at the Center for Responsible Lending, a national research and policy organization based in Durham that focuses on protecting borrowers from abusive lending practices. In 2002, Debbie assisted local organizations and lawmakers in drafting and advocating for legislative remedies to address exorbitant fees on subprime mortgages in New Jersey and played a critical role in negotiating the New Jersey Home Ownership Security Act. She also advised the sponsors of the Massachusetts Predatory Home Loan Practices Act of 2004. She worked with lead organizations in the state of Massachusetts to support the enactment of the legislation. After contributing to developing key provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and other related federal regulatory efforts, Debbie also taught Consumer Law at the UNC School of Law at Chapel Hill as an adjunct professor. She has lived in Durham since 2001 and has been an active member of the local community.

Debbie has served on the boards of Durham Congregations in Action, Beth El Synagogue, Carolina Jews for Justice, and Bend the Arc. She is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, and enjoys spending time with her husband and two children when she is not at work.

Domoniqúe leads strategic education initiatives that deepen partnerships with local schools, nonprofits, and educational institutions. She oversees planning, evaluation, and cross-sector collaborations to advance equity in education across Durham and the region.

With more than 20 years of experience in community engagement and public service, Domoniqúe has held multiple leadership roles within DCA, including Associate and Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives. In these roles, she advanced diversity and equity priorities, led strategic planning efforts for DCA’s Strategic Community Impact Plan (SCIP), and managed the university’s Doing Good employee giving campaign, community grantmaking, and donor engagement strategies.

Earlier in her Duke career, she served as Assistant Director of Programs at the Duke Community Service Center, overseeing civic and community engagement initiatives such as DukeEngage-Durham, Into the City, and Dive into Durham. She began her career as the state Program Coordinator supporting public housing residents in Tennessee through a statewide AmeriCorps*VISTA project.

Domoniqúe holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from North Carolina Central University and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science with a concentration in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

David works closely with school officials and staff at eight partner schools to develop strategies and mobilize Duke educational technology resources to address their needs. He runs the PepsicCo-endowed, Duke EdTech Fellows Program with Duke students to develop AI, augmented reality and other projects with and for the public schools. David also directs initiatives such as Schools Days for first gen Durham 8th graders and the John Hope Franklin Young Scholars Program that helps encourage middle school students to explore hidden history.

David came to Duke in 2000 after serving for nine years as the community liaison for the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics. He scouted and marketed inventions for Harvard University for six years and, before that, was a community planner in Newark and San Francisco.

David is a licensed secondary social studies teacher with a degree from Antioch College and attended graduate school in City Planning at the University of California at Berkeley.

Victoria works with recent Duke graduates and the Duke College Advising Corps to increase college access and enrollment in North Carolina. Services provided include application assistance, help with applying for financial aid, help with applying for housing, and more.

Prior to joining Duke, Victoria led a college-transition program and first-generation college student support at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has experience in admissions, peer mentoring, and was a college adviser at Purnell Swett High School from 2014-2016.

Victoria is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and a first-generation college graduate from Maxton, North Carolina. Victoria earned both her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in Social Work from UNC-Chapel Hill and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University.

Andrea Underwood Petifer is a Durham-based educator, author, and passionate advocate for community care in learning. She earned a B.A. and MSA from North Carolina Central University, and an M.Ed from Meredith College. Andrea was named Durham Public Schools’ Assistant Principal of the Year in 2018, served as an adjunct professor in NCCU’s School of Education, and is the Assistant Director of Education Outreach Programs at Duke Community Affairs. With over 20 years of experience, she’s held roles from classroom teacher and gifted‐education facilitator to administrator, even serving as president of the Durham Association of Educators. Andrea is a published author specializing in children’s literature—her debut, The Juneteenth Alphabet (Duopress), was released April 2025.