Hey everyone, I'm Harsh and, for the past two weeks, I've been working at City of Durham Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Yeah, it's quite the mouthful. I still end up leaving out part of the title every time I answer the phone! As a Duke student going into my sophomore year, I've spent about a year of life in Durham now. However, as I progress more and more into this program, I've come to realize how limited my interaction has been with the actual city of Durham. From driving throughout downtown Durham to taking tours of Washington Duke's own homestead, I've come to realize there are some many levels of Durham that don't become apparent unless you go out and explore them yourself. It's gone from being a city in the background of my Duke education to a city with a rich and expressive history and future that is becoming more and more apparent as I progress with the program.
One of the greatest ways that I've been able to learn about Durham has been working and engaging everyday citizens of the Bull City through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. The OEWD (thank goodness I won't have to type the whole thing again!) has several goals, all having to do with facilitating progress by engaging Durham's citizens. To do this, the office focuses on several groups, ranging from the youth, adults, and businesses located in Durham. When it comes to youth, the OEWD ensures that young members of the community are educated and prepared to enter the workforce and contribute to Durham's thriving economy. For older members of the community, the office acts a place for adults to seek new opportunities and diversify their skills for Durham's ever-expanding industries. Finally, the OEWD directly encourages economic growth by working closely with businesses and attracting them to move to Durham.
Over these first two weeks, we've focused on working with Durham's youth. We started out working on the Durham Youth Internship Program, which offered students the ability to connect with jobs in the area and begin contributing to the workforce and getting valuable experience at an earlier age. Our work consisted of organizing applications based on different factors, coordinating with other groups in the Durham community, and, finally, ensuring that all chosen candidates had been notified and were prepared to start their internship. In the following weeks, we'll be helping with pre-employment training for the candidates and mitigating any issues that arise throughout the start of the program.
On the Durham side of things, we visited the Farmer's Market yesterday morning. Despite the sweltering heat, I was a really fun time. We started off taking a "Preservation Durham" tour, which took us throughout downtown Durham. Throughout the tour, we got to see several sites with really interesting historical significance to Durham's past. We got to see several former tobacco factories, a majority of which had been transformed into modern apartments and other consumer areas, and learned about their roles in Durham's growth. Going into the tour, I had never payed attention to subtle architectural details in buildings in Durham, but after several of them being out, I began to see more similar details in other buildings in Durham. I'm really looking forward to the other ways that I'll be exploring Durham throughout the next four weeks!
One of the greatest ways that I've been able to learn about Durham has been working and engaging everyday citizens of the Bull City through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. The OEWD (thank goodness I won't have to type the whole thing again!) has several goals, all having to do with facilitating progress by engaging Durham's citizens. To do this, the office focuses on several groups, ranging from the youth, adults, and businesses located in Durham. When it comes to youth, the OEWD ensures that young members of the community are educated and prepared to enter the workforce and contribute to Durham's thriving economy. For older members of the community, the office acts a place for adults to seek new opportunities and diversify their skills for Durham's ever-expanding industries. Finally, the OEWD directly encourages economic growth by working closely with businesses and attracting them to move to Durham.
Over these first two weeks, we've focused on working with Durham's youth. We started out working on the Durham Youth Internship Program, which offered students the ability to connect with jobs in the area and begin contributing to the workforce and getting valuable experience at an earlier age. Our work consisted of organizing applications based on different factors, coordinating with other groups in the Durham community, and, finally, ensuring that all chosen candidates had been notified and were prepared to start their internship. In the following weeks, we'll be helping with pre-employment training for the candidates and mitigating any issues that arise throughout the start of the program.
On the Durham side of things, we visited the Farmer's Market yesterday morning. Despite the sweltering heat, I was a really fun time. We started off taking a "Preservation Durham" tour, which took us throughout downtown Durham. Throughout the tour, we got to see several sites with really interesting historical significance to Durham's past. We got to see several former tobacco factories, a majority of which had been transformed into modern apartments and other consumer areas, and learned about their roles in Durham's growth. Going into the tour, I had never payed attention to subtle architectural details in buildings in Durham, but after several of them being out, I began to see more similar details in other buildings in Durham. I'm really looking forward to the other ways that I'll be exploring Durham throughout the next four weeks!