The goal of this summer is to expand the Community Empowerment Fund's (www.communityempowermentfund.org) operations to Durham, North Carolina. CEF, a UNC-based student organization, aims to empower those that are homeless, or at-risk of being homeless, in the local community to lift themselves out of hardship and realize their dreams and aspirations. Adapted from the Grameen model of micro-finance, CEF's current operations include small business training courses, small business loans, financial literacy training, and savings opportunities.
Expanding to Durham involves 1) bringing together a team of Duke, NCCU, and Durham Tech students (who will lead the organization after the summer), develop community partnerships, and teach small business trainings. These small business trainings are as a starting point for implementing direct services in the area. Other services will be added over time as the Durham team develops its capacity and goals.
So far, the project has been very fast-paced and very productive. At this point, the Durham team consists of three committed Duke students who are very motivated and excited about the project. Just yesterday, we made major in-roads at Durham Tech. We met with a dean who is very supportive and is willing to partner with us to 1) find student leaders that will partner with the Duke students, 2) provide educational counseling for our clients 3) offer space to hold small business trainings and financial literacy training for Durham Tech students and 4) potentially integrate CEF into their new Service- Learning project. So so there will be a few more Durham Tech students joining the team. We are in conversation with NCCU, however they seem to downsize considerably in the summer. We will continue to try however.
Durham Tech's receptivity and willingness to partner is very representative of how easy it has been to create partnerships in Durham. Another productive partnership is with the Department of Social Services. The folks we have been working with there work with those that have been recently housed with federal funds and are receiving financial assistance for three months. However, these potential clients are in need of services like small business trainings and financial literacy trainings in order to find ways to sustain their ability to pay the rent and utilities after three months. Having this connection with DSS is really helpful in reaching out to potential clients. Maintaining this relationship will help to have a constant stream of referrals over the months to come.
The first two small business trainings are scheduled. We decided to have one of the three in Chapel Hill as a teacher's training ground for Chapel Hill volunteers who will be helping to staff the Durham trainings. Also, running a Durham training and Chapel Hill training side-by-side helps us to compare and contrast the needs of the two different communities. The first training begins Friday, June 25th, 1-3pm at Job Link on 503 Franklin St. (see website for more scheduling details- all are welcome to attend)
The second training will be in Durham beginning July 6th. (see website for more scheduling details). The Durham training will be held on the first floor of the Center for Responsible Lending building on Main St. The CRL is an affiliate of Self-Help Credit Union (www.self-help.org), where we are interning this summer. They have been incredibly helpful in providing mentorship, connecting us with community partners, providing meeting space, space for the trainings and organizational support. Individuals from all departments have reached out to us and expressed their interest and willingness to help.
In the next two weeks, we will be doing outreach in Chapel Hill and Durham to promote the small business trainings.
And great news! We received a grant from the NC Humanities Council to make a documentary of our small business training and some of the entrepreneurs. This will happen in early August.
The main challenge right now is prioritizing and staying focused on just the small business trainings in Chapel Hill and Durham. There are a lot of other program initiatives happening right now in CEF: a Latino Initiative (a Spanish-language small-business training in Chapel Hill/Carrboro) and a savings and financial literacy program that is being launched and piloted next week. At Self-Help, there are a variety of projects and learning opportunites we are involved in. It is really crucial that I stay focused on small business trainings and the Durham expansion in order that these projects are effective.
So far, this summer has proven to be as every bit as energizing and exciting as I had hoped. There is a lot of promise here. By the next update, I will be able to report on how the small business trainings are going. I look forward to it!
