Job Details

Position Summary:

Duke's Office of Durham and Community Affairs seeks a motivated Duke graduate student to support the 14 partner neighborhoods of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership (DDNP) in strengthening their access to grant funding. The DDNP was established in 1996 to connect and collaborate with neighborhoods adjacent to campus. Since then, it has been a vital forum for sharing ideas and resources and continues to serve as a strong network between the university and its surrounding communities. This internship has two connected goals: building out a resource of grant opportunities for neighborhood leaders and developing tools that help volunteer neighborhood leaders write competitive applications on their own. DDNP neighborhoods vary widely in grant-writing experience — some have leaders with relevant professional backgrounds, while others do not, and even where the skill exists, it often rests with one time-constrained volunteer. The intern's work should help close that gap, so capacity does not depend on any single person.

Time Commitment: Up to 10 hours per week across the academic year (flexible to accommodate work load schedule)  |  Location: Mostly remote, with occasional in-person meetings in Durham  |  Reports to: Senior Director of Community Development

Key Responsibilities:

• Grant Resource Research
  • Identify and compile a working list of grant opportunities beyond Duke's Employee Giving Campaign Doing Good — foundation, corporate, and government sources — relevant to DDNP's key priorities (e.g., housing justice, cultural heritage & preservation, environmental justice, neighborhood networking).
  • Screen prospects for fit with neighborhood association eligibility (e.g., fiscal sponsorship needs, 501(c)(3) requirements) and note application deadlines and cycles.
  • Organize findings into a living, easy-to-navigate database that DDNP staff and neighborhood leaders can search by focus area, funding amount, and deadline.
• Capacity-Building Tools & Templates
  • Develop reusable templates (e.g., letters of intent, needs statements, basic budgets) that lower the lift for volunteer leaders with less grant-writing experience.
  • Create short, plain-language guides or tip sheets on core grant-writing skills, so knowledge isn't concentrated in one person per neighborhood.
  • Pilot templates and guides with one or two neighborhoods and revise based on feedback before rolling out more broadly.
• Direct Application Support
  • Provide one-on-one or small-group support to neighborhood leaders drafting applications, from brainstorming through review of a near-final draft.
  • Help leaders identify which opportunities from the resource list are the best fit for their neighborhood's current priorities and readiness.
• Stakeholder Engagement
  • Build relationships with volunteer neighborhood leaders across a range of backgrounds and availability, and communicate in a way that respects their time.
  • Coordinate with DDNP staff on scheduling, outreach, and any relevant Duke community partners.
• Documentation & Recommendations
  • Track which resources and templates get used and gather informal feedback on what's helping.
  • Prepare a short end-of-year summary with recommendations for sustaining and expanding capacity-building support in future years.