650 leaders connected with Durham CAN met with elected leaders form the Durham City Council, the President of Durham Technical Community College, the Chair of the Board of the Durham Housing Authority and Executives from Duke to start addressing the persistent unemployment and underemployment in local communities of color. 

During the public meeting, the Durham Housing Authority agreed that all jobs required for the redevelopment of 2,000+ properties downtown will go up from  $12.69 to $15 in the next two years. 

DHA promised to prioritize the recruitment, training, and hiring of its own residents by working in partnership with the Technical Community College. All contractors used for DHA re-development will be required to pay their workers $15 per hour.

Mayor Steve Schewel promised that all jobs generated by the proposed $95M bond referendum, and the $17.5M construction of the Durham Belt Line Project will pay wages of $15 per hour.  Furthermore, the Mayor promised to collaborate with Durham Technical Community College to identify, recruit and hire local returning citizens for those jobs.

During the meeting, the Mayor and his entire Council promised to double the size of the summer youth employment program. 

Duke University Executives announced that they will pay a living wage of $15. In addition to that, Duke has stopped asking job applicants to disclose their past criminal convictions and will make local workforce development a priority. Duke executives will travel to Baltimore to learn from Turn Around Tuesday about their public collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in hiring residents from distressed zip codes.