How Duke and StepUp Durham Create Pathways from Barriers to Careers

From left to right: Ginger Murphy, Vaughn Jett and Alex Reeves have built lasting careers at Duke with help from StepUp Durham. Photos by Travis Stanley.

Published: February 25, 2026 | Credits: Stephen Schramm, Working@Duke Senior Writer

Through coaching, workforce training and support, 33 StepUp Durham participants since 2019 have found stable employment at Duke.

In January, roughly a week before her 30th birthday, Alex Reeves closed on her first home, a four-bedroom house in Clayton with a sunny kitchen, big bathtub and backyard where her two children, ages 11 and 1, will play.

A few years ago, she was homeless, a single mother searching for a stable job.

“I can’t believe it myself,” said Reeves, a Patient Service Associate at Duke Regional Hospital. “The things I said I was going to do, and have worked hard to do, are actually coming forth.”

While her own hard work and consistent financial savings powered Reeves’ home ownership, the support she received through a Duke and StepUp Durham partnership served as a catalyst that set her path in motion.

Launched in 2015 with Duke as an early sponsor, StepUp Durham supports Durham community members facing barriers to employment by providing training, resources and personal coaching to help them secure stable employment and grow personally.

Since StepUp Durham’s inception, Duke has been a dedicated partner, offering support and career opportunities to program participants. Since 2019, StepUp Durham has helped 33 participants secure jobs at Duke.

“What StepUp Durham does is extremely impressive. I love their model,” said Antwan Lofton, Vice President of Duke Human Resources. “Not only are they providing coaching and training to help people reenter the workforce, but they continue to support them once they start a job.”

StepUp Durham supports individuals facing significant hurdles to employment, including poverty, housing instability and prior involvement with the justice system. Among participants, 86% live below the poverty line, 49% are in transitional housing and 46% have justice system histories.

After completing workforce readiness training, StepUp Durham participants receive personalized coaching, savings match support and weekly evening gatherings where families share a meal and learn about budgeting, well-being and nutrition. Children also receive tutoring from volunteers, often Duke students, and can earn money to save by meeting academic goals and making positive choices.

In the past two years, StepUp Durham has helped 324 people land jobs in the Triangle and beyond.

“StepUp Durham is a community of people who genuinely care and want to see you win,” said StepUp Durham Partnership Coordinator Bill DeFulvio, who provided guidance and encouragement to Reeves while serving as her personal Success Coach. “The longer I do this work, the more I realize how important it is to have somebody in your corner during the hard seasons of life.”

Vaughn Jett has worked at Duke since 2020. Photo by Travis Stanley.

Finding a Good Fit

Duke University Hospital Sterile Processing Tech Vaughn Jett spends his days in constant motion, picking up used medical equipment and delivering sterilized supplies to units around the hospital. He often racks up around 20,000 steps in a day.

“I like seeing different departments and talking to different people,” said Jett, who has worked at Duke since 2020. “I’m not sitting in an office.”

For most of his adult life, Jett worked at a printing company and did odd jobs to make ends meet. But a few years ago, his printing job ended, and he needed stable work.

“I hadn’t really been job hunting for decades,” Jett said. “I felt like I didn’t know how to do it.”

In early 2020, Jett found StepUp Durham and got help a creating a resume, finding job openings and practicing job interviews. By the time Jett interviewed for a job at Duke as a patient transporter, he felt confident and ready.

Nearly six years later, Jett, who got his current role in 2024, has found a welcome dose of balance. Instead of scrambling to find side jobs, steady pay provides time for hiking, disc golf or, after darting around the hospital, simply sitting still.

“I’m happy here at Duke,” Jett said. “I don’t know what I’d be doing now if I hadn’t gotten involved in StepUp.”

Ginger Murphy joined the Duke Credit Union staff in 2016. Photo by Travis Stanley.

Writing Her Own Story

Ginger Murphy spent two decades working in a range of customer service roles at banks before family responsibilities pulled her out of the workforce. In her mid-40s, she stepped away from her career to help her mother through health challenges and support her sister with a new baby.

Upon turning 50 a few years later, Murphy wanted to get back to her own story. Her first step was finding work.

“That was really scary for me,” Murphy said. “I hadn’t been working for a while. And I thought ‘Who would want to hire a 50-year-old?’”

After completing StepUp Durham’s job training program, including support with professional clothing for her job search,  Murphy landed a job at Duke Credit Union, where she quickly felt at home among welcoming colleagues and friendly credit union members.

Not long after starting, a member set her up on a blind date with a friend. That date went well and, in 2019, Murphy and her now-husband were married.

Now in her 10th year with the Duke Credit Union team and as a wife and stepmother to two sons, Murphy has found a family of her own.

Jobs at Duke helped Alex Reeves purchase a home earlier this year. Photo by Travis Stanley.

Coming Home

Alex Reeves, the Patient Service Associate at Duke Regional Hospital, connected with StepUp Durham in 2022. She was 26 at the time and living with her 7-year-old daughter at Durham’s Families Moving Forward shelter after gun violence near where she had been living left her feeling unsafe.

In early meetings, her Success Coach, Bill DeFulvio, the StepUp Durham Partnership Coordinator, recalls Reeves joyful laughter and unassuming confidence despite her circumstances. With a background in customer facing roles, the two developed a resume and job interview strategy that brought forward her experience and personal warmth.

A StepUp Durham referral led Reeves to a Patient Service Associate role at Duke’s Primary Care Pickett Road clinic. She later worked at Duke Regional Hospital and the Duke Children’s Creekstone clinic.

Reeves quickly found safe, stable housing while weekly StepUp Durham gatherings provider her with budgeting and wellness guidance and a sense of community.

While at Duke, Reeves built her savings and enrolled in the USDA home loan program, which helped her to close on a home in Clayton in February.

“I wanted better for myself and my family, Duke gave me the opportunity and the income to do that,” Reeves said.

Last summer, Reeves transitioned to working part-time at Duke Regional Hospital and full-time with Wake County’s Office of Housing, Affordability and Community Revitalization, where she now helps those who, like her once, are without a stable place to call home.

“I want to help them see that, where you are right now isn’t your forever,” Reeves said.