Duke, Durham community leaders and local business executives collaborated to raise a record-breaking $1.2 million to benefit 12 neighborhoods near campus and the eight schools attended by children living in those neighborhoods, Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership officials announced Friday.
"I am grateful to the Duke employees and students and the many volunteers who have worked hard this year to advance the goals of our partnerships with Durham," Phail Wynn, vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said in a statement. "These funds really do make a difference in the lives of people in our community."
The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership is funded by the Duke-Durham Campaign, which seeks donations from local companies and individuals. Goals for the partnership include boosting K-12 educational achievement, providing affordable housing, revitalizing local neighborhoods, making health care more widely accessible and engaging Duke students and staff in community service.
Campaign officials are still determining how the funds will be spent, but K-12 education and youth development will be emphasized in the coming year, said Sam Miglarese, Duke-Durham Campaign director and director of community engagement for the Office of Community Affairs.
The success of the 2008 campaign-which saw an increase of almost $500,000 from last year-was somewhat unexpected given the sagging economy, Miglarese said.
"I was warned as we began the 2008 campaign that this was going to be a much more difficult challenge," he said. "It was a sober beginning, but we are absolutely delighted."
The spike in fundraising occurred at least partly because the Duke Surplus Store-a University-operated warehouse that once peddled excess classroom and research supplies for profit-closed its doors in July 2007. The used but still usable furnishings, computers and medical equipment are now donated to charity, which has boosted Duke's contributions to the community significantly, Miglarese explained.
Increased donations from local construction companies also augmented the fundraising total, he said.
Miglarese added that contributions from the citizens of Durham set a new record this year.
"People really appreciate the fact that their donation is going to Duke's partnership with Durham," he said. "They know that their donation really leverages tenfold what Duke can do."
Wynn, whose position was created in May 2007, has played an integral role in the success of the Duke-Durham Campaign and other community affairs initiatives since beginning work with the University in January, Miglarese said.
With the addition of Wynn's post, President Richard Brodhead has given Durham a seat at the table of the University's top administrators, Miglarese said.
"[The creation of the position] has reinforced to the internal Duke community and to the external Duke community the importance of Durham to Duke," he said.
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