What began as a conversation after a neighborhood meeting became an unexpected partnership between the Grant Street Community and Duke University's Edible Atlas Lab—and just four months later, that collaboration was featured in The New York Times. This is the story behind the headlines, and why our neighbors' decades-long vision for a grocery store in the historic Hayti District remains at the center of it all.

National attention was never the goal. Our hope is that this moment helps amplify what residents have been advocating for all along: healthy food access, equitable investment, and a future shaped by the people who have faithfully called Hayti home for generations.

Some stories take generations to come together. This is the story of how Kendall and Erin Dooley's journey of tracing their family's Great Migration history led them to Durham's historic Hayti District, where they met the Grant Street Ladies and Monument of Faith Church—neighbors whose stories, commitment, and love for place have shaped a shared vision for the future.