A successful merger for Partners for Youth Opportunity


Three months after the official merger of youth organizations Partners for Youth (PFY) and YO:Durham into Partners for Youth Opportunity (PYO), Executive Director Julie Wells is proud to call it a success.

During an instructional photo shoot for The Durham VOICE, mentor Carlton Koonce helps Natasha Graham with her shooting techniques. As a Partners for Youth Opportunity student, Graham earns an hourly wage for her help in producing the Durham VOICE.

During an instructional photo shoot for The Durham VOICE, mentor Carlton Koonce helps Natasha Graham with her shooting techniques. As a Partners for Youth Opportunity student, Graham earns an hourly wage for her help in producing the Durham VOICE. (Staff photo by Jessica Coates)

“We are part of the one percent of nonprofits who have successfully merged,” says Wells, “so we have a story to tell about setting aside your ego and putting the community first.”

When the discussions for the merger first began in January 2013, YO:Durham’s parent group, Durham Congregations in Action, had already spent a significant amount of time looking for collaborations.

“DCIA has had the role of funding provider and incubator for nonprofits in the community,” says DCIA’s Executive Director Spencer Bradford, “and YO:Durham was taking longer than anticipated to grow into an independent stage.”

“After several years of collaborating with youth programs in the community,” he continued, “we needed to explore the possibility of combining with another organization so that we could achieve as much as possible for Durham’s young people.”

Bradford and Wells were brought together because of their views on repetitive services offered within the nonprofit community.

“I noticed Julie at a meeting, when she was making comments regarding concerns about redundant services,” Bradford says. “It really got my attention, because part of our work at DCIA has always been preventing the duplication of resources.”

“Most donators want to see a large-scale impact,” Wells adds, “and since our service population was so small, we had trouble competing with other nonprofits. That’s why collaboration is a worthy goal, because, with so many different organizations in the community, our work often just turns into a battle for resources.”

Bradford contacted her in the weeks after the meeting, and detailed discussions continued until June 2013.

“We looked at everything within both of our organizations to make sure that we would be a good fit for each other,” Wells says. “Then we took January through June to decide on our new board and to agree upon what programs we would stick with moving forward.”

Part of their success, Wells continues, is shown in the fact that they haven’t had to compromise any of their programs.

“We’re still having kids from their eighth grade year to their first year of college,” Wells says, “but, in addition to the academic support and our mentors, we’re now able to offer training that will prepare our students for professional jobs, because that’s what YO:Durham focused on.”

The organization also now serves more than the Southwest Central Durham neighborhood, she adds, which will allow them to help more students and to attract more funding.

“We’re hoping to grow to 65 students by the end of the year,” Wells says. The merged organization began in July with 23 students carried over from PFY and has brought in 30 more since their start, she adds.

Partners for Youth Opportunity chooses their students based on whether they meet at least one of three criteria: qualifying for free or reduced lunch, being a first-generation immigrant, or having a family member who has been incarcerated.

“We care equally about all three aspects,” Wells says, “and they represent the inherent interests of both PFY and YO:Durham.”

Carlton Koonce, a mentor for both the Durham VOICE and PYO, elaborates on the organization’s progress in the most recent PYO newsletter.

“In keeping with a YO:Durham tradition, PYO is allowing students the chance to receive work experience through internships,” Koonce says. “The purpose is to allow students the chance to taste the working world as well as to continue developing workplace skills that will be vital to their future success.”

Looking towards the future of the organization, Bradford says that Durham’s youth will benefit from the merger.

“With the larger concentration of resources, we’re hoping to see an expansion of the students served in the community,” Bradford says. “There’s a lot of reasons to be very excited about what’s in store for PYO in the future.”