Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) is a Durham-based non-profit organization committed to fostering collaboration and understanding between students and farmworkers in order to promote justice in agricultural systems and equitable, safe, and dignified working conditions for farmworkers.…
Community Organizing
El Centro Hispano (ECH) was founded in 1992 to advocate for and address the needs of Durham’s growing Latinx and Hispanic community. By 1997, ECH became an independent nonprofit, and in 2000, it was a partner in the opening of the first Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU) in the state. ECH has grown…
Village of Wisdom (VOW) is a Durham community organization that seeks to uplift Black youth by closing the academic opportunity gap between students of different races and cultivating a positive racial self-concept for Black children. To eliminate racial injustice in education, VOW develops resources and…
Durham’s LGBTQ community used political activism to propel their fight for liberation into the public eye in the early 1980s. They were moved to action by two hate crimes: the murders of the Greensboro Five at a Communist Workers Party anti-Klan demonstration in 1979, and the anti-gay assault and murder of…
Throughout the 1960s, the East-West Durham Expressway came charging into Durham to make the city a hub of urban renewal. As the highway forged its path through the Bull City, planners were unaware of a major roadblock ahead. The center of Durham’s 200-household Crest Street community was the New Bethel…
"It takes a village to build a village and sometimes it takes a village to build an individual house" [Philip Azar]
To many in the Durham community, the Quality of Life Project and their efforts to create affordable housing options has been a source of hope and inspiration. Philip Azar has worked closely with the Quality of LIfe Project…