Durham is putting real money on the table for Hayti. On Thursday, city leaders got a fresh briefing on a $10 million plan to revive the Fayetteville Street corridor in the historic neighborhood, with a new community development group called Hayti Promise tapped to steer the work. The plan aims to channel federal ARPA dollars into building repairs, business incubation and cultural preservation. Neighbors and organizers say they are glad to see long-awaited investment, but they are equally clear that they will be watching closely to make sure the new money does not shove out longtime residents and businesses.
What's in the $10M plan
According to the City of Durham, the council signed off in May 2024 on a $10 million ARPA grant and assigned it to Hayti Promise to carry out improvements along the Fayetteville Street corridor. The first $1.75 million is already spoken for, earmarked for repairs and services at eligible residential and commercial properties, ABC11 reported. As of January, more than $853,000 had been spent on early work, according to documents included in the meeting agenda and reporting by WRAL.
History and residents' concerns
For people who have lived in Hayti for decades, this is not just another streetscape project. They point to years of disinvestment that many trace back to the construction of the Durham Freeway and say any so-called revival has to protect local housing and small businesses, not price them out. That tension has already surfaced in recent development battles, most notably when developer Sterling Bay pulled its rezoning request for the Heritage Square site after heavy community pushback. Coverage of that fight and other debates along the corridor shows that neighbors want local ownership, jobs and cultural safeguards baked into any new deal, as reported by IndyWeek.
Management and timeline
Hayti Promise, a nonprofit formed to steward the effort, will manage the multi-year project with a volunteer board and a city staff liaison in the mix, and procurement materials for the work are already posted online. Those solicitation documents note that ARPA funds must be expended during the grant period and state that the bulk of the $10 million is expected to be spent before July 2026, according to an addendum to the city's solicitations. City staff and Hayti Promise leaders plan to bring regular updates to council work sessions as planning shifts into active construction phases, WRAL reported.
What residents want
Community advocates say the money is a meaningful start, but they are blunt that the real test is who benefits. Contracts, jobs and ownership stakes, they argue, need to land in the neighborhood, not just in distant investors' portfolios. Anita Scott Neville of Hayti Reborn told ABC11 that alongside the dollars, what Hayti needs most is "trust." The Hayti Heritage Center and other neighborhood groups, which are partners in the Hayti Promise effort, say they will be watching procurement decisions and hiring closely as the city moves into hands-on repairs and business support, community leaders noted on the center's site and in public briefings (Hayti Heritage Center).
