As a result of home revaluations in 2015, the average increase in home property values across Durham County was around 12% in 2016. In Black & Brown working class neighborhoods that have been rapidly gentrifying, property taxes doubled and even more than tripled.

Fund Our Homes was Durham for All’s first campaign, an advocacy campaign where we began by:

• Knocking on hundreds of doors to educate Northeast Central Durham (NECD) residents on the impact of the Property Tax Revaluation and availability of existing tax relief resources for homeowners
• Working with residents and city officials to advocate for a revamp of Durham’s minor home repairs program as a way to provide tax relief for homeowners and to protect the cost of housing for renters

In the summer of 2016, we formed an organizing team to lead base building in Durham’s Precinct 14 in NECD and:

• Continued to knock on hundreds of more doors, talking with folks in English and Spanish to learn about the issues they care about most, share our vision of political power, and invite them to get involved
• Connected with leaders and groups in NECD
• Held community conversations about political power building with community members
• Hosted our inaugural Block Party at East Durham Park, where hundreds came out to party and learn about Durham for All
• Partnered with BYP 100 Durham in late October to lead a March to the Polls event from East Durham Park
• Participated in the first Assembly of Latino Organizations in NC with Latin@ community members we met through door knocking

As a new organization with new leaders, we invested in leadership development throughout 2016 by:

• Expanding our team and participating in a collective study & practice process with new members
• Sending team members to an 8-day leadership course called Transformation in Action by Generative Somatics and a three-day alternative economies conference in Buffalo, New York, called CommonBound
• building the leadership of Black & Brown residents in working class neighborhoods through trainings and shared practice in door knocking, event mobilization, public speaking, relationship building, and more!