Durham announces partnership with Duke orthopedics and Johnson & Johnson to fund barbershop outreach aimed at reducing youth gun violence

Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams announced a partnership with the Duke University Department of Orthopedics and a grant from Johnson & Johnson to fund barbershop-based outreach intended to reduce gun-violence injuries among young Black men.

“This alliance will focus on gathering resources and human assets to go to barbershops across the city to fund this program, this outreach,” Williams said. He described barber shops as informal counseling spaces for many young Black men and said the program will train and support barbers to engage at-risk clients and connect them to services.

Williams said the grant, provided in partnership with Duke Orthopedics and Johnson & Johnson, includes a city fund match; he did not announce a dollar amount during the meeting. The mayor described the initiative as a preventive, community-based approach that will pair outreach with other efforts from his office, including a “tour of financial education” tied to a personal-finance guide he referred to as a "book of financial rules." He said the aim is to create alternatives and supports that can alter the environment and reduce trajectories toward violence.

Williams framed the initiative as one component of a broader local response to ongoing homicide and firearm-injury trends: "We are losing so many young people — especially young Black men — to gun violence," he said, and added the city will “do more than talk.” The mayor thanked Duke’s orthopedics department and Johnson & Johnson for the partnership and said the city will provide matching funds; he asked city staff and community organizations to help implement outreach in barber shops and related venues.

Williams named a Duke orthopedics physician during the remarks (identified in the meeting transcript as "Dr. Malcolm" of Duke Orthopedics) and thanked Johnson & Johnson for the grant. He also said the program will work with barbers and barbershops across the city to offer one-on-one conversations and referral pathways, adding that the mayor’s office will coordinate complementary education and empowerment programming.

The council did not take a formal vote on the announcement during the meeting; the mayor presented it as a report of a recently received grant and an intended program rollout. No implementation ordinance, contract number, budget appropriation or timeline for hiring was announced in the public remarks. Williams said further details and next steps would be coordinated with city staff, Duke partners and funders.