A Letter from Lindy

Hello Pilgrims,

I hope you join me in welcoming Ketty Thelemaque, Durham CAN’s lead organizer to Pilgrim this Sunday. We will be blessed by her presence and the word she will bring to engage and energize our community to press on to make Durham a more just community for all its residents. To prepare ourselves to participate in Sunday worship and subsequent listening session, let’s review some of the accomplishments of CAN’s actions over the years because of the support churches like Pilgrim offer.

Affordable Housing

  • 300 & 500 E Main St. lots owned by the County designated for the development of affordable housing

  • 82 projected units affordable to families at 60% AMI and below. 21 units are available to families with incomes below 30% AMI

  • $1.5m allocated to the Durham Community Land Trustees to rehab permanently affordable properties for low-income people in NE Durham

  • $2.5m private investment in affordable housing on Jackson St

  • $4.2m to repurchase Fayette Place from a private company that did not fulfill their commitment to build affordable housing for low-income NCCU students

  • 15% of all the hosing within ½ mile of each future transit station to be affordable to working families below 80% AMI

  • $2.1m allocated by the Penny for Housing Initiative

Food Security

  • More than 33,000 students in DPS benefit from Universal Free Breakfast

  • 3 additional bilingual interpreters and family facilitators for DPS

Criminal Justice

  • Implementation of mandatory use of written consent-to-search forms for all traffic stops

  • 30% decrease in traffic stops after written consent-to-serve was approved

  • This is in addition to the # of students that can now park in Durham Tech

Health Care

  • 2,000 low-income Durham residents receive free specialty medical service every year through Project Access, a collaboration between CAN and Duke Health System, the NC Specialty Hospital, Durham County Gov’t, and Lincoln Community Health Center.

Living Wage

  • Living wages to hundreds of local workers employed by the City of Durham, Durham county, DPS, Duke University and most recently Triangle Transit Authority.

Senior Citizens

  • CAN organized and secured parietal funding from Durham County Commissioners for a Community Resource Coordination system (CRC) which also serves as a hub for funding and services for the elderly and disabled.

  • Voter Engagement

    • 200 Durham residents marched to the polls at the 2016 Presidential Election in early voting

    The questions before Pilgrim are:

    1. What are the issues today, post-pandemic, that disquiet our hearts for our fellow Durhamites?

    2. Where do we continue to see inequity in our community that CAN’s presence and voice might begin to tip the scales toward justice?

    3. With whom are we being called to stand in solidarity to bear witness, so that together we might begin to alleviate their suffering?

    These are some of the questions we are being invited to speak into because as followers of Jesus, we covenant to usher in kin-dom in our midst. Through our participation in Durham CAN, we do not bear the burden of this responsibility alone, rather join in solidarity with a collective of other churches, associations and neighborhoods to bring forth on earth, God’s hope in heaven.

    I look forward to hearing from you all.
    Pastor Lindy (she/her)whypronouns matter

    Living and working on occupied Shakori land.
    If you'd like to learn more about the Indigenous people whose land you occupy,
    the information is just a text message away. Clickhereto learn more.

Melinda Keenan Wood