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"Duke has made an incredible commitment to improve struggling Durham neighborhoods and support affordable housing efforts across the state. We believe that Walltown represents one of the largest neighborhood revitalization programs under way in the nation. It would not have been possible without Duke's support."

-- Martin Eakes, president of Self-Help Community Development Corporation
Did You Know?
In addition to the Self-Help loan, Duke has invested significant resources in helping to revitalize Durham's Walltown neighborhood. The funding helped turn a former neighborhood store that was a magnet for drug dealers into the headquarters of the Walltown Neighborhood Ministries, and transformed the old Walltown Elementary School — once a vagrant hangout -- into the St. James Family Life Center. In at least two important areas of crime — burglaries and robberies — rates declined by about half between 1999 and 2004, and fewer people fired or carried guns illegally, according to the Durham Police Department. (News & Observer, March 2004.)
As a result of the Duke/Self-Help partnership in Walltown, Durham's Habitat for Humanity began focusing on building their houses in the neighborhood. To date, a total of 13 now exist in Walltown. Two of them were built primarily with support from Duke University and the Duke Habitat for Humanity student chapter, which provides a steady stream of volunteers throughout the year. In 2003, students organized a Blitz Build to erect a house on campus to raise awareness about affordable housing needs.
Duke has donated houses in other partner neighborhoods, including nine new or renovated homes on Duke property in the Burch Avenue Affordable Housing Project, and assisted qualified Duke employees with home mortgages. Duke donated three low-cost vacant duplexes in the Crest Street neighborhood to Habitat for Humanity, along with $10,000 to turn them into single-family residences.
Duke's affordable housing initiatives are part of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, launched in 1996 with the goal of improving the quality of life in 12 neighborhoods near campus and boosting student achievement in the seven public schools that serve those neighborhoods. The partnership focuses on priorities identified by residents, including combating crime, increasing homeownership and providing educational and enrichment opportunities for children.
The State of Duke University
A House of Her Own
Carolyn Smith, who worked in housekeeping at Duke for 22 years, bought her home near East Campus through a Duke-supported affordable housing program. Over the past decade, the university's $4-million investment in the nonprofit Self-Help Community Development Corporation has created more than 100 affordable homes for low-income Durham residents. Duke's investment also helps Self-Help generate home loans for low-income home buyers across North Carolina.

Carolyn Smith spent most of her life in public housing. Today, the retired Duke housekeeper is only a white picket fence shy of the American dream. In 1998, Smith bought her first home in Walltown -- a historic African-American neighborhood close to the university's East Campus -- through an affordable housing program supported by Duke.

"I thought I was too old to buy a house," says Smith, taking a mug of coffee out to the front porch of her tidy, three-bedroom house to sit in a rocker, look at her potted flowers and listen to the birds. "But I've got a house, and I'm enjoying it."

Smith is among the 53 low-income families living in Walltown in houses renovated by Self-Help Community Development Corporation. About a third of the first-time homeowners are Duke employees; most are single mothers. Duke has invested $4 million in a loan to Self-Help, which allows the nonprofit organization to stabilize deteriorating neighborhoods in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership near campus by buying and renovating houses and arranging affordable financing for first-time homeowners.

On the state level, more than $1 million of Duke's investment supports Self-Help's Community Advantage Program (PDF), which has provided more than $1 billion in home loans to low-income home buyers throughout North Carolina.

Durham has the lowest percentage of home ownership of any of the state's largest cities. Duke's investment has allowed Self-Help to acquire a total of 65 dilapidated and abandoned properties in Walltown and 33 in Southwest Central Durham, says Martin Eakes, Self-Help's president. An additional $650,000 from The Duke Endowment to the university helps cover Self-Help's operational costs for the program.

"Duke has made an incredible commitment to improve struggling Durham neighborhoods and support affordable housing efforts across the state," Eakes says. "We believe that Walltown represents one of the largest neighborhood revitalization programs under way in the nation. It would not have been possible without Duke's support. I wish other universities would look at Duke's model for engaging its neighboring communities and copy its efforts."

Halifax County native Walter Shields, who works the second shift as a floor finisher at Duke, says he jumped at the chance to own a home in Walltown. He visited Self-Help the morning after he'd heard about the houses during a presentation at work. At the time, he was renting an apartment, and compared his rent to the monthly mortgage payment on the three-bedroom, two-bath Self-Help home. The difference came to $1.97.

"I look around me and see what I accomplished for $1.97," says Shields, who moved in on New Year's Day 2001. "I own a house, and the value keeps going up."
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© Copyright Duke University, 2004.