Duke Service-Learning and Community-Engaged (SLCE) courses are built on relationships with a wide range of community-based organizations, including schools, nonprofits, healthcare providers, advocacy groups, and grassroots initiatives. These collaborations are guided by shared goals and mutual respect, with faculty working closely with partners to align student learning with community-identified priorities.
We are deeply grateful to the many organizations who open their doors to Duke students each year — sharing their time, expertise, and trust. The map below shows a sampling of community partners we've worked with across Durham and the surrounding region.
Explore Our Community Partnerships
The map below shows a sampling of local organizations we've partnered with through SLCE courses. Click here to open the map in a new window.
Stories of Collaboration
Each partnership is unique — shaped by local needs, faculty vision, and the strengths of students and community members alike. Below are just a few recent examples of how service-learning courses have partnered with local organizations:
- Drawing New Connections: Comics, Community, and Recovery — In a partnership between Duke students and residents of TROSA, comics became a tool for healing and human connection — turning recovery journeys into visual stories of strength and transformation.
- A Decade of Connection: Learning, Language, and Community — For over ten years, Duke professor Yan Liu and Durham Academy’s Bonnie Wang have cultivated a partnership that bridges Chinese language learning, identity exploration, and cross-generational mentorship. Their collaboration has empowered students, responded to moments of crisis, and grown into a model of mutual trust and transformation.
- Building Resilience Through Stories of Nature and Community — At the Duke Marine Lab, students partner with local schools and youth programs to co-create fables, plays, and puppetry that help young people navigate climate anxiety through storytelling and science. What began as storm recovery evolved into Ready, Set, Resilience — a model for community healing through creativity, nature, and connection.
- In Their Own Words: Creating Inclusive STEM Spaces — Through the InventHERs Institute, Duke faculty Whitney McCoy and Shaundra Daily are reshaping how girls—especially girls of color—experience STEM. Partnering with schools and caregivers, their course Engineering Equity builds belonging through multigenerational mentoring, creative problem-solving, and identity-affirming projects that connect STEM to students’ everyday lives.
- Rigorous Delight: How Hip-Hop Pedagogy Combines Academic Depth with Genuine Joy — In The Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop, Professor Kisha Daniels partners with Durham's Jordan High School to explore music, identity, and academic rigor through a community lens. Duke and high school students collaborate on lyric analysis, co-write original songs, and end the semester with a shared Kendrick Lamar concert—proving that education rooted in joy, culture, and connection can be as rigorous as it is revolutionary.
Looking Ahead
We’re working on building stronger systems for staying in touch with our community partners. If you’re a past or current partner and would like to update your contact info or share feedback, please feel free to reach out to servicelearning@duke.edu.
Starting Fall 2025, we’ll begin sharing a once-a-semester community partner spotlight that centers the voices of a local organization, a faculty member, and a student working together through a service-learning course. If you have an idea for a spotlight, please contact us at servicelearning@duke.edu