A Room for the People, by the People

How Duke and partners are supporting families across North Carolina through the Community Schools initiative

The opening of a new resource center in a local elementary school.
Fayetteville Street Elementary School Principal Quincey Farmer welcomes partners into the school’s new Family Resource Center. Photo by Brandy Luce, Student U

The following is a summary of a story that originally appeared on the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs website.

A local initiative driven in part by a Duke Bass Connections project has brought new support to students and families at Fayetteville Street Elementary School in Durham.

The school’s new Family Resource Center offers free food, diapers, clothing and other necessities – an effort driven by a group of community partners. The idea, said Principal Quincey Farmer, is to empower families and encourage them to lean on their community.

“[It is] a room for the people, made by the people, tailored to meet the real needs of our families,” he said at the center’s recent opening celebration. “This is what community looks like. This is what collective care looks like.”

Fayetteville Street Elementary is one of three “community schools” in Durham — and 23 statewide — supported by the North Carolina Community Schools Coalition (NCCSC). Community schools are public schools that serve as neighborhood hubs, connecting students and families with academic, health and social support.

For years, Duke has been a driving force behind the community schools movement, including through its Bass Connections project and through University‑Assisted Community Schools, which brings together students and faculty from Duke, North Carolina Central University, and Elizabeth City State University with local partners to expand and sustain community schools. Next year the project will also engage with Durham Technical Community College.

More than 100 Duke students from diverse disciplines have contributed to the Bass Connections project, organizing professional development activities and creating tools statewide to foster partnerships. 

“Community schools offer a more holistic approach to public schooling,” said Alec Greenwald, a lead on the Bass Connections Project.

In 2023, the Duke Clinical Research Institute and partners secured a five-year federal grant to expand the North Carolina Community Schools Framework, with the goal of serving 21,000 students in 42 schools across 22 districts this year. The family resource center concept that just opened at Fayetteville Elementary is one of the key components emphasized within the national framework.

To learn more, go to the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs website.