The Chronicle

Issue date: 7/8/08 Section: News
Last update: 7/3/08 at 11:55 AM EST

Media Credit: Maya Robinson The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership is emphasizing youth development and academic enrichment this summer in places like E.K. Powe Elementary School as part of its "Stepping Stones" program.

Since January, the city of Durham has had a seat at the table of the University's top administrators-a place occupied by Phail Wynn.

Wynn, former president of Durham Technical Community College, joined Duke seven months ago as vice president for Durham and regional affairs, a position charged with strengthening the relationship between the University and the Bull City.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell said the creation of Wynn's position conveys much about Duke's commitment to Durham.

"I think the fact that Duke has chosen to create the position is in itself a statement," Bell said. "It just remains to be seen how much progress can be made, but I'm hopeful."

Wynn began his term by evaluating the ways in which Duke currently reaches out to Durham, and he said he discovered that much of the work done by departments on campus was undocumented.

"Duke's impact on Durham was much greater than people suspected," Wynn said. "We're moving right along and I think that before long... I'll be able to better align our resources and better coordinate the efforts we have with the identified needs [in the community]."

From that initial assessment, Wynn has begun to embark on a number of projects of his own-many of which have a scholastic bent.

This year, under Wynn's guidance, the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership has placed an emphasis on academic enrichment and youth development. Thirty incoming kindergartners and 15 struggling first graders will develop critical learning skills this summer at E.K. Powe Elementary School as part of "Stepping Stones," a program sponsored by the partnership.

Wynn is also meeting with administrators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina Central University to address the causes of gang- and youth-related violence, the solution to which may be education, he said. Wynn acknowledged that the issue is timely in the wake of several highly publicized student murders, but emphasized that education is central to his overarching goal of improving community life.

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