Last night we learned at the Town & Gown Tallahassee Best Practices forum that Durham, North Carolina has established incredible connections between the community and their universities – Duke and North Carolina Central.

You can take a look at our Tweets from last night to get a sense of the discussion, or check out the schedule with WCOT, City of Tallahassee’s station, which broadcast the program live. We’ll also have it up online at a later date.

Here are links to some of the programs referred to in last night’s program:

American Underground
http://www.americanunderground.com/
Supports small and medium start-up businesses with amenities and resources

Bull City Forward
http://bullcityforward.org/
Supports social entrepreneurship, economic development

Bull City Start-up Stampede
http://www.startupstampede.com/
Provide early-stage companies 60 days of free, cool space, a community of peers, and a chance to learn from successful startup founders.

Million Meals
http://durhamrotaryclub.org/2012/01/million-meals/
An MLK tradition sponsored by Duke, Durham Rotary & NCCU

Durham Giving Project
http://trinity.duke.edu/uploads/assets/DurhamGivingProject_05.pdf
The Durham Giving Project student-run house course that teaches Duke students about fund raising and grant making while raising money and offering grants to programs that address four social justice issues in Durham: affordable housing, at-risk youth, health care and education.

Southside Redevelopment Project
http://durhamnc.gov/ich/cb/cdd/Pages/Southside.aspx
Stabilize local neighborhood and offer affordable loans to low-income Duke Employees to purchase properties.