The School Year’s Ending—But Our Fight for Durham’s Public Schools Carries On.

Teacher interacting with students in Durham public school classroom

The school year might be winding down, but our work is far from over. With you at our side, we’ve made a powerful impact this year. Now, we need your help to keep the momentum going. Durham and our public school students, educators, staff, and families are counting on us—and you. 

💙 Together, We’ve Made a Powerful Impact This Year.

Thanks to your support, Durham’s public school students, educators, staff members, and families have felt the difference. Here’s what you helped make possible:

🌱 Deepening mental health support in WHOLE Schools by training 16 DPS educators to be Mental Health ambassadors who can give students the tools they need to thrive.

🗣️ Encouraging family advocacy and student engagement to embolden them to speak out on issues that matter to them the most.

✏️ Welcoming Durham nonprofit Crayons2Calculators into our organization, greatly expanding our services for educators throughout the entire school system. 

🤝 Strengthening community partnerships that drive real, lasting change for our students, educators, and entire DPS community.

This is what coming together as a Durham community looks like—and we’re just getting started.

📢 Looking Ahead: The Work Continues

With your continued support, we’re scaling up for even greater impact in the coming year, including:

  • Fostering and pursuing partnerships with community organizations that center equity and embrace diversity.

  • Strengthening our advocacy efforts to protect and advance public education by continuing to speak out and stand up for the rights of our entire DPS community.

  • ​​Partnering with our community to connect Durham educators to affordable housing options—an effort supported by state representatives and rooted in the belief that teachers should be able to live where they work.

  • Partnering with DPS to expand programs that will prepare students for in-demand careers and continued learning opportunities after graduation.

  • Continuing to bolster mental health services in schools, further enhancing an inclusive environment where all students and educators feel empowered and seen.

🚨 Your investment today fuels powerful initiatives tomorrow

Public schools are under increasing strain, including:

  • The looming push to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, which could disrupt critical funding and protections our students and DPS community rely on.

  • The federal government threatening to cut federal funding to schools that don’t comply with their anti-DEI mandates.  

  • A bill circulating in the North Carolina legislature to erase DEI in our K-12 schools (more of which we detail in this article). 

  • Ongoing budget shortfalls in Durham Public Schools and across North Carolina, which has historically failed our public school system.

We can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. We need to show up, stand up, and invest in what matters—our public schools. 

💥 Join Us and Be the Difference

Your donation isn’t just a gift. It’s a vote for public education, a show of support for our educators, our bus drivers, our librarians, our cafeteria workers, our maintenance technicians, and our front office staff members. And, most importantly, it’s a promise to our students that their futures are worth fighting for. 

Stephanie Turner