History
Training for Success was founded in January of 1997,the brainchild of Martina “Coach D” Dunford. Around 1997 – 1998, the Durham City decided to merge its two Durham County School System and Durham City School System into one Durham School Public System. In the process, all of the inner city students were bused out to county schools and mingled together with unfamiliar faces, with people who did not think like them, look like them or act like them.
This culture difference introduced a whole lot of challenges which students have to overcome in order to fit in to their new environment and not all of them were able to deal with these challenges effectively. Those who were not able to adjust to this new environment were inevitably forced out of school system. An example of this unfortunate situation happened at one of the middle schools that was designated for the community in which “Coach D” was working where one of her young people was suspended for an entire year for allegations of sexual harassment. The kid was playing with his next door neighbor (a female) and because she was only acting like little girls do when they are interested in a little boy, she perceived his flirting with her as sexual harassment. The thirteen year old was sent home for the remainder of the academic year with no work, no counseling, and no place to go for six months. This kind of hopeless abandonment often leads teenagers to move far and far away from the law, experimenting with drugs and joining criminal gangs which in turn terrorize our communities.
It was this realization that inspired “Coach D” to try to start some kind of program that will prevent this from happening, a program that would take these kids abondoned by the Public School System and give them a second chance to make things right rather than let them out onto the streets. So “Coach D” started “Project I Am Somebody” in 1997 to serve this purpose and this later on evolved into the non-profit organization Training for Success. And New Horizons(A Place of High Expectations) is the current and signature program being run by Training for Success.
Since our founding we have been able to accomplish many of our goals and to witness the fruit of our labor. Our New Horizons program has for long been serving as a bridge from failure to success for many a young man. Over the past five years alone, we have witnessed eighteen young people, people whom otherwise would have never had a second chance to prusue their dreams, receive their high school diplomas. We couldn’t have achieved what we did without the help and cooperation of many other outside partners to which we are very grateful. These partners include the following organizations, institutions and departments: