Projects
ELI Incubator Projects
The ELI Incubator seeks to accelerate the development of student-led social initiatives. ELI provides project coaching, development grants, and other resources to help undergraduates to help take their credible, passion-based ideas, to the next level.
ASPIRE | SAT Smart Start | Splash-Droplets | IGNITE
Peer For You | Financial Empowerment | FAM | Campus Commons
Course-based Projects
Most ELI courses involve some form of action-learning, group project experience. Some courses involve a class project, while others are grounded in semester-long projects in small teams.
Click here to read about our most recent student course-based projects
Alumni Venture Creation
Many of our former students have been 'enterprising' after college by developing and leading their own commercial and social ventures. Some ventures were created outside of Duke but have since hosted student-team projects or student interns. Many received coaching from ELI leadership in their early stages of development.
Examples of ELI support for alumni ventures | List of ventures created by ELI Alumni
Through ELI's social entrepreneurship class, students have produced 58 social entrepreneurship projects intended to address important community and University needs and to provide students significant personal educational experiences. Below are stories and descriptions of a selection of projects that produced significant community impact in terms of breadth, depth and duration. Not all social entrepreneurship projects become success stories. Out of the 58 projects, 29% are still active today.
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IGNITE
A mentoring initiative at Hillside High School in Durham that pairs high school upperclassmen with freshman students in order to help these newcomers successfully transition to their new high school homes.
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Campus Commons
Seeks to increase student-administrator collaboration by enhancing democratic (online) dialogue between students and administrators on the most important and timely topics.
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FAM: First Year Agency Movement
Mission is to impact Duke students on both a personal and cultural level, so that Duke becomes a safer and more accepting place and so that students can pursue their endeavors with a greater understanding of the complexities that come in engaging differences between human beings.
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Financial Empowerment
Exists to create an awareness of the importance of personal financial literacy and to educate and enable Duke undergraduate students to make sound financial decisions and experience reduced anxiety and stress related to financial security.
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Peer For You
A student-run website that will help students overcome situations that challenge their mental and physical wellness by directing them to appropriate on-campus resources and providing them with online, individualized feedback from trained peers.
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VoraciTee
VoraciTee creates logo and t-shirt design to represent student groups and nonprofit organizations that support under-represented social justice issues. VoraciTee aims to change how people represent who they are and the causes they support while providing student designers with an outlet for exercising and developing their skills with an explicit focus on social impact.
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Splash - Droplets
Droplets is an initiative of the Duke Splash program. Droplets gives Duke undergraduates the opportunity to develop and exercise teaching skills while supplying high school after-school programs with engaging student teachers. Students lead courses on one of their personal passions, which serves to ignite their passion and also expose local high school students to new and alternative topics. Droplets is an ELI Incubator Project.
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Food For Thought
A weekly nutrition education program in partnership with the Durham Nativity School. Food for Thought provides fun, health-oriented workshops that combine cooking skills and nutrition education to middle-school boys.
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SAT Smart Start
A collaborative pilot project between Kaplan Test Preparation and two local non-profit organizations. Currently in large-scale pilot phase, through this program Duke and UNC students teach SAT skills to under-resourced but academically promising high school students. SAT Smart Start is an ELI Incubator Project.
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PACT
A Women's Center Initiative to reduce the prevalence of sexual assaults on Duke's campus. The program, currently in pilot phase, provides both men and women with the education and skills necessary to intervene and prevent sexual assault. PACT is an ELI Incubator Project.
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ASPIRE
An 8-week curriculum and volunteer program that helps elementary students address social issues relevant to them and develop positive behavioral skills while having fun after school. Since their spring 2011 pilot program, ASPIRE has continued to brings Duke students to volunteer each week at E.K. Powe Elementary and Lyon Park Community Center in Durham. ASPIRE is an ELI Incubator Project.
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2011
2010
2007
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Student U
Awarded nonprofit of the year by the Durham Chamber of Commerce in 2010, Studnt U uses an innovative students-teaching-students model to inspire middle school students to take their education into their own hands. Student U also motivates high school and college students to pursue careers in public education.
2006
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Rival Magazine
A joint initiative between UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University to foster interaction for the mutual benefit of service, athletic, academic, cultural and artistic pursuits. This quarterly publication focuses on undergraduate life and stimulates social contact and intellectual collaboration.
2005
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Small Town Records
A student-run label and recording studio. Promotes music at Duke, offers free recording time and space to student musicians, including bands and a cappella groups, and provides and distributes an annual compilation album.
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Crayons 2 Calculators
C2C-The Durham Teacher Warehouse Corporations began as a student initiative and is now a nonprofit organization in Durham, dedicated to serving the educational and creative needs of students in the Durham Public Schools by providing free school supplies to classroom teachers.
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2004
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FIELDS
FIELDS was a student-run program launched in 2000 to equip and coach downtown Durham Little League teams. In 2004, PPS144s students Adam Grossman, Jared Weinstein, and Brian McGinnis raised $250,000 in gifts and grants for uniforms, equipment and field renovations. The field dedication ceremony was held on May 1, 2004.
2003
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The Girls Club
The Girl’s Club is a social outlet and supportive group for at-risk girls, ages 11-15 who live in predominantly minority Durham communities. The club meets in community centers, is led by Duke women, and provides seminars, mentoring, and field trips. The Duke program was initiated as part of PPS144s in fall 2003.
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2002
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The Durham Giving Project
The Durham Giving Project is a 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.
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Duke University Greening Initiative
Duke ‘05 graduates Justin Segall and Anthony Vitarelli started the Duke University Greening Initiative (DUGI) in 2002 as part of ELI class PPS144s - Enterprising Leadership. Their campaign culminated in a presentation to the Board of Trustees, and has been recognized by The Duke Chronicle as having contributed to Duke University’s current commitment to green building, with over 33 LEED certified buildings built to date.
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Center for Race Relations
The Center for Race Relations (CRR) is a student-run organization dedicated to changing the face of race relations at Duke University. With the unique combination of the Center’s four departments, the CRR seeks to maximize the diversity of the student body. Common Ground is the entirely student-led and facilitated annual race relations retreat for undergraduates.
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