District-wide CEP
March 22, 2024
Ketty Thelemaque, Lead Organizer
Let’s Celebrate!
Today we are celebrating the hard work of our Poverty team around District-wide CEP (Universal Free Lunch and Breakfast for all DPS students regardless of income or status) over the last 15 months.
Last night (March 21) the Board of Education voted 5-0 to move forward with implementing the CEP program for all 56 schools in Durham! This is a huge win for Durham CAN and its allies. The implementation of district-wide CEP will also unlock $1.5 million for Durham Public Schools to use towards improving nutrition and the quality of the meals.
This win utilized several of our organizing principles:
1) We began with a strong power analysis
2) Our research action team continued to organize persistently and consistently
3) Through our Relational meetings, we developed allies who helped build our base of supporters.
There is so much more work to do in Durham. My hope is that you are encouraged that, although the work can take time, in the end, it’s worth it.
Some key moments during this organizing cycle were:
1) Meeting with leadership in Durham Public Schools and identifying the false narrative that was being projected
2) Partnering with our allies, that helped expand the base of supporters.
3) The hard work around numbers done by Dave Irish, which enabled us to present the facts with each and every Board of Education member and Durham county commissioner.
4) Our biggest supporter was the interim superintendent, Catty Moore, who was determined to make this happen.
5) Finally, the media that propelled our story which sealed our relevance and power.
DurhamCAN People Power Progress
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