March 5, 2025

Dear Honorable Members of the Durham County Commission:

As you do the difficult work to finalize a budget for the coming fiscal year, the People’s Alliance has several recommendations that we developed through a democratic approval process involving our membership which we share below. We urge you to adopt them together as a single set of proposals.

The People’s Alliance advances progressive issues and policies through research, organizing,  advocacy, and democratic engagement. We envision an inclusive Durham with fair social and economic conditions where. Each person and family will have the same rights and access to services that they need to thrive and Durham will lead the state and nation by partnering, energizing, and supporting progressive policy goals. 

Our County FY26 Budget Priorities include the following: 

Fully fund the Durham Board of Education Budget Request for FY 2026. The People's Alliance Education Team specifically supports the following priorities which, if not included in this year's BOE request should be included for consideration in the next fiscal year: 

• Provide funding for fully and faithfully implementing restorative practices within Durham Public Schools.
• Raise wages for DPS transportation staff to match Go Triangle. Adequately staff and support the DPS transportation department to ensure that all students who need bus service receive it.

Fund the newly formed 501(c)3 Carolina Parent Defenders in the amount of $250,000. The PA Child and Family Policy team supports an initial grant to the Carolina Parent Defenders (CPD) from the Board of Commissioners to help stabilize and reunify families in Durham County. CPD offers a holistic legal representation model combined with early defense to protect and stabilize families involved in the child welfare system and head off a family crisis if possible.

In addition, our board respectfully urges you to consider expanding the City’s HEART program to the County, and to pursue whatever budgetary, planning, and administrative activities may be necessary to accomplish this in partnership with the Sheriff.  

Thank you for your careful consideration of these recommendations. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you in greater detail and respond to any questions or concerns you have.

March 6, 2025

Dear Honorable Members of the Durham City Council:

As you do the difficult work to finalize a budget for the coming fiscal year, the People’s Alliance respectfully urges you to adopt several critical priorities, which we share below. As with last year the PA budget ideas were generated by our Action Teams and from suggestions by elected officials and our movement partners. 

The People’s Alliance advances progressive issues and policies through research, organizing, advocacy, and democratic engagement. We envision an inclusive Durham with fair social and economic conditions where each person and family will have the same rights and access to services that they need to thrive and Durham will lead the state and nation by partnering, energizing, and supporting progressive policy goals. 

Specifically, we urge you to adopt the following budget priorities for FY2026:

• Keep Fare Free for Durham buses ($1.5 million). This amount reflects the local cost to keep the bus fares in Durham free for anyone for this fiscal year. The direct impact on workers in Durham and those who need easy access to transportation of a re-instatement and possible fare increase is not the right path forward for Durham. We strongly recommend prioritizing this line item. 

• Remove barriers to fully spending down the $5.6 million balance currently in the Downpayment Assistance Program (DPAP) to support Durham residents in their efforts to buy homes.  Nearly six years have passed since Durham’s affordable housing bond, which called from the creation of DPAP. Significant funds still remain unspent in the fund. Through several simple changes to DPAP’s implementation process, the goals of the program can be achieved quickly. With these existing dollars, nearly 80 more Durham residents can achieve the dream of owning a home and the city can be proud that the dollars approved by voters have been spent to achieve those ends.

• Fund key initiatives to support economic justice. This includes the following: 

1. Include all part-time, seasonal staff in the city's living wage policy.
2. Make the guaranteed income program a permanent line in the City budget and fund with recurring dollars in current and future fiscal years.  

Thank you for your careful consideration of these recommendations. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you in greater detail and respond to any questions or concerns you have.

Sincerely, 

The Durham People’s Alliance 

Board and Membership