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Campaign Progress

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$5 million

Campaign Goal

$0

Gifts Received

Campaign News

first responder squats on ground and touches drone
First responders participate in Durham Tech, Public Safety UAS Institute drone class
instructor shows student how to use a drill
Durham Tech, Durham Public Schools skilled trades program officially launches
student playing piano
Music recording classes teach valuable skills to more than aspiring music professionals
More News

Campaign Goals

$3 million

Talent Development for Tomorrow's Workforce

$2 million

Economic Opportunity for Students

$5 million

Our Goal

“Durham Tech is an important resource for local talent and training. Recommending Matt for a Durham Tech scholarship goes to one of our core values: treating each other like family. Helping our students succeed helps our community succeed.”
Marc Pons | President, Chapel Hill Tire
Scholarship Donor

Expand Student Support

Most students work at least one job while at Durham Tech, and many are caring for families, too. Scholarships, stipends, and grants keep our future workforce in the classroom and focused on success – creating a better future for themselves, their family, and our community.

Your support for the Forge Great Futures campaign relieves financial barriers and funds experiential opportunities to help students pursue their dreams through:

  • Scholarships and awards to keep education affordable
    Help keep the rising cost of tuition, fees, and textbooks affordable. Your support will help students reduce work hours and graduate faster, with fewer obstacles.
  • Stipends for work-based learning
    Provide students with resources to secure industry-specific internships in positions that would otherwise be unpaid.
  • Academic and research opportunities for high-achieving students
    Our students are contenders in local, state, and national competitions. They participate in honors and research opportunities. Private funding is essential to their ability to participate.
  • Leadership and employability skills training
    Special cohort-based leadership initiatives will engage students in their own development. Employability training will educate students in effective communications and work habits.
“Durham Tech prepares well-trained employees who want to remain in our community to work and live. Great communities start with great community colleges.”
Deborah Page | Chief HR Officer
Duke University Health System
#1
in graduate wages among NC community colleges
89%
of graduates stay in NC

Forge Tomorrow's Workforce

Durham Tech students need real-world learning experiences in cutting-edge technical labs and collaborative workspaces. High-quality training and technology that mirror industry environments prepare graduates for success as tomorrow’s workforce.

Our goal is to equip students with skills, experiences, and inspiration. With your support, Durham Tech students will have resources to:

  • Pursue careers in high-demand industries

    Students will be fully skilled in fields that need workers now—through installation of a modern hybrid vehicle bay, an advanced plumbing lab, virtual welders, HVAC trainers, and more.

  • Gain experience with the latest technologies

    Students across STEM and industrial programs will access state-of-the-art software in our new integrated technology labs.

  • Collaborate with new makerspace tools

  • Develop skills needed by industry partners

    As Durham Tech develops new programs in high-growth areas with industry partners, students will graduate with ready-to-work skills for careers in industry.

Your gift can make a difference today

To make a contribution or to request additional information, please contact:

Melissa Chappell
Executive Director
Durham Tech Foundation
919-536-7251
foundation@durhamtech.edu

Give Now

Ways to Give

One-Time-Gift

of cash, stocks, or property.

Multi-year Gifts

provide ongoing contributions to the designation of your choice.

Matching Gifts

from your employer or your spouse’s employer.

Planned Gifts

through a bequest, charitable trust, or naming the Foundation as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

Endowed Gifts

ensure that a scholarship or program will continue in perpetuity.

Forge Great Futures

Chances are, Durham Tech has touched your life or the life of someone you care about.

Our students are expertly trained in a wide range of fields, from healthcare to childcare, from high-tech to biotech, from public safety to occupational safety. Our graduates get great jobs and most stay right here to serve our community.

For more than 55 years, Durham Technical Community College has been an economic driver in the Triangle, dedicated to innovation and to meeting our region’s needs for a smart, reliable, and versatile workforce.

The Forge Great Futures campaign is raising $5 million to ensure our students can fulfill their dreams of a better future. Through this campaign, tomorrow’s workforce will learn in cutting-edge technical labs, collaborate in innovative workspaces, and develop ready-to-work skills for careers in industry. Students will get the support they need – scholarships, internships, leadership – to stay focused on success while enrolled in school.

Throughout our history, we have forged strong relationships with our visionary public and private partners. In November 2016, Durham County voters approved a $20 million bond to create a new Industrial and Engineering Technologies Center on our Durham campus. The Forge Great Futures campaign will also provide the private support needed to bring this center to life: new academic programs, technologies and equipment, and industry partnerships.

We need your support to create the next wave of technology pioneers and industrial workers. State and county funds alone cannot cover the expenses associated with the technology, tools, and rising tuition costs of higher education today. Your support will provide vital resources for those students who want to forge change in their own lives, and for our communities in Durham and Orange counties to prosper.

Thank you for investing in your community college.

William G. Ingram
President

“Durham Tech has impacted my life greatly by affording me the opportunity through educational resources to actually be great. It taught me a lot about hurdles, time management, and planning.”

Carmen Williams | 2017 Graduate
Architectural Technology

“Quality education means hands-on learning. DurhamTech instructors bring industry experience and they provide outside-the-box teaching that helps us learn what we need to succeed in our careers. Durham Tech changes with the times – and with changing technology needs.”

Robert Grayson | Current Student
Information Technology

“Durham Tech has been an absolute life changer. Going from college dropout to potential NASA engineer – the real-world experience I’ve had here has helped me make that change. I am deeply grateful and deeply fortunate to have these opportunities.”

Jimmy Acevedo | 2016 Graduate
Associate in Science
Current Student at North Carolina Central University