INC NEWS - Durham Debuts "Adopt A Neighborhood" Program

[Blalock, Amy]

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

 

 

News Release

 

For Details, Contact:

Amy C. Blalock

Senior Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at durhamnc.gov <mailto:Amy.Blalock at durhamnc.gov> 

 

For Immediate Release:  October 19, 2007

 

City of Durham Debuts "Adopt A Neighborhood" Program

Program Connects Local Corporations with Disadvantaged Neighborhoods 

 

Durham, N.C. - Disadvantaged neighborhoods throughout the city of Durham
are now up for adoption by local corporations and universities, thanks
to an innovative, community-oriented program.

 

Adopt a Neighborhood for Development, Inc. (AND) is debuting in Durham
due to the collaborative efforts of Mayor William V. "Bill" Bell; Robert
A. Ingram, vice chairman of Pharmaceuticals with GlaxoSmithKline; Farad
Ali, vice president of North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic
Development; and the City of Durham's Departments of Neighborhood
Improvement Services and Community Development.  

 

"The objective of AND is to have every disadvantaged neighborhood in
Durham adopted by one or more corporations," Bell said.  "Adoption means
facilitating and encouraging a neighborhood's self-development efforts
through having corporations provide both financial and intellectual
resources to be used by the neighborhood in the manner they see fit."

 

AND is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to enlisting and
supporting corporately sponsored neighborhood self-development efforts.
Sponsoring corporations provide human and/or financial resources to the
communities they adopt in the manner those communities request them.
Bell states that it is important to note that this is not a charitable
program.  "This program is not directed at giving people what they need
or want, but at giving them the ability to get these things by their own
efforts," Bell said.  

 

According to Bell, the concept is that facilitation of development in
disadvantaged communities can improve the quality of life of citizens.
"Organizations, institutions and government agencies serve as
facilitators for development," Bell said.  "These entities work together
to pool resources - financial, human and equipment - to make them
available for development efforts.  The Durham initiative will operate
using this model."  

 

In Durham, the initiative will be led by the City's Departments of
Neighborhood Improvement Services and Community Development, who in turn
will work collaboratively with other City and County departments as well
as local universities and community organizations to identify distressed
neighborhoods and then to plan, organize and implement the initiative in
these communities.

 

According to Bell, the City will work with established and existing City
and County government programs and projects to create vital links and
enhance existing connectivity in these communities. "Our corporate
sponsors serve a vital role as the vehicle to connect our neighborhoods
with the tools and resources they need to help themselves solve their
neighborhood's problems."

 

Durham's program will be modeled after the successful program currently
underway in the Mantua neighborhood in Philadelphia.  Mantua's program
covers approximately 80 city blocks, which is home to more than 22,000
citizens.  "Our goal is to replicate this model in the inner-city
neighborhoods of Durham," Bell said.  "In my most recent 'State of the
City Address,' one of my goals is to focus on building public-private
partnerships to revitalize the neighborhoods around our downtown, which
is in the midst of its own revival.  By partnering with our local
corporations, we are using the public-private partnership model to delve
into our distressed communities to make a true impact on quality-of-life
issues."

 

For more information on this new program, contact Constance Stancil,
director of the City's Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services,
at (919) 560-4570, extension 247 or via e-mail at 
Constance.Stancil at durhamnc.gov.

 

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