How do you do, fellow Durhamites?
Here Comes Duke
So, what did Dr. Jensen and his team do? They founded the Edgemont Community Center.
Sponsored by a part of the Duke University Church, the Center officially opened in the winter of 1941. It was housed in a cinder-block building (which burned down in 1943 and forced the Center to move nearby).
The by-laws of the Center stated its purpose:
- To study the needs of the community and to devise plans to meet those needs.
- To provide Duke students with a center to engage in social service.
- To provide the personnel, materials, and programming to accomplish (1) and (2).
Center Operations
In 1962, Duke secured funds to purchase 3 lots for a playground and outdoor recreation. This helped the Center expand its program for young children and teenagers: sports, crafts, outing trips, and school readiness.
But recreation wasn't its only purpose.
The Center wanted to provide social work services to families. But as one director remarked, "I'm always so busy trying to find a pair of shoes for a barefooted child that I never have time to find out why he is barefooted." In fact, there was an element of paternalism in the Center's mission. It operated on the premise that Edgemont's poor residents were lazy parents who didn't know how to cope with their families' issues.
With the exception of professional social-workers who ran it, the Edgemont Community Center relied on volunteer labor from Duke students and locals. Greek organizations took on "Big Sister" and "Big Brother" mentorships, individual volunteers organized summer outings (pool, picnic, etc.), and various churches took the children to ball games.
At the start of the 1960s, Edgemont quickly changed.