Duke announces $200 million community investment focused on hiring, housing

Duke University and the Duke University Health System are committing to a $203 million investment over three years across the Triangle.

The initiative, titled “HomeGrown,” has four pillars: employ, build, buy and invest.

Duke developed the initiative with community input from Durham and Wake County residents, community organizations and business owners and Duke employees.

A major goal of HomeGrown is to help everyone benefit from the growth and change in the Triangle region.

Duke hopes to impact economic mobility of all residents.

"It's well documented that our region's had a tremendous amount of economic growth, but it hasn't really reached everyone, particularly long-time residents,” explained Adam Klein, associate vice president for economic development. "Data from the United Way show that for a North Carolina native who's living in the Triangle, on average, they earn about $24,000 less than someone who's born out of state and lives in the Triangle."

“The Triangle is growing really fast, but our sense of it is that not all of us are benefitting from it,” said Ian Brown, Chief Community Health and Social Impact Officer at Duke. “HomeGrown is our opportunity to expand our opportunities for everyone in such a [way] that many more families can build lives here in the Triangle."

Brown says the initiative is a consolidation and a furthering of Duke’s ongoing efforts to improve life for residents in Wake, Durham, and Orange Counties.

Employ

As part of the “hire” pillar of HomeGrown, Duke will increase local resident hiring from 69% to 80% for entry-level roles. Those include patient service associates, facilities staff and administrative positions.

Klein says another initiative will be to offer more access to summer internships on campus.

“HomeGrown is going to expand that by 75 in partnership with the City's internship program,” Klein said. “We're excited about that because the literature and data show that students who get that early career exposure moment are more likely to go onto great careers, college access.”

In addition, the university and health system will increase the number of second chance employees, which are individuals with past criminal records.  That number will grow from 50 to 100.

Build

As part of the “build” pillar of HomeGrown, Duke will invest $120 million in Triangle area construction-related firms.

“We're one of the main economic engines in our region,” Klein said. “This is a really good opportunity for us to engage with more Triangle-based businesses to take on more Duke projects; they may not be working with Duke presently."

Klein says Duke will host a forum next month for members of the construction community to learn about upcoming projects and how to bid.

Buy

As part of the “buy” pillar, Duke will target a $45 million increase in spending at local businesses over the next three years.

“We know that in investing in local businesses we can get really amazing multiplier effects in the region. Small firms hire more people to meet the contracts, circulate more money in the mutual economy,” Klein said.

Invest

As part of the “invest” pillar of HomeGrown, Duke will increase it funding by $38 million to support affordable housing developments, including payment assistance and savings support for Duke employees working to buy a home for the first time.

Klein explained some of that funding will go to community development banks.

“They play such a critical role in spurring the creation of more affordable housing,” Klein said. “One of the things we hear from a lot of affordable housing developers is the need for attractive capital, capital that's lower cost that allows them to build these units, so the Duke dollars can be leveraged for that."

For Brown, the initiative is personal.

"I was at one time in my life homeless. I became homeless at 16 years old, and I lived in a shelter,” Brown said. “It's a recognition that any and all of us have experiences that could be able to benefit from something like this."

What’s next

Brown and Klein say the plan has been formed after listening to the community for years.

"it's a realization that we rise or fall together,” Brown said. “This is an opportunity for all of us to grow together."

"Economic mobility is really a long-term challenge, and so it requires long-term solutions,” Klein said. "I think this is a great moment for Duke, Durham, and the Triangle to strengthen its ties together."

Duke will publicly track its progress in the initiative, posting publicly at homegrown.duke.edu