Serving people...

DECI was founded in 1966 by the Durham Exchange Club and originally operated in an old schoolhouse...

... and businesses for over 50 years

DECI is dedicated to providing quality services to both our commercial customers and our clients.​

​DECI's mission is to help people with vocational disabilities achieve a sense of self-worth by optimizing their potential to earn their own wages through work.

​DECI is a private, nonprofit community-based rehabilitation program in Durham County, North Carolina, serving adults with disabilities.  A self-supporting industry, DECI provides superior services to commercial customers.  Many customers are located in or near the Research Triangle Park but our services extend nationally and internationally.  The revenues earned by DECI’s commercial services provide a host of job training and job placement for adults with disabilities, giving these individuals the opportunity to work either at DECI or in the community.

DECI’s idea was to provide a different approach, the best of both worlds: the support offered by a sheltered program, and the atmosphere, expectations and job tasks of a genuine industry.  Persons with disabilities in training, staff and subcontract jobs all continued to increase, so DECI purchased the current property with the organization’s earnings. 

DECI has been ISO 9001 certified for over 10 years.  Our commitment to the standard ensures our production, warehousing, and distribution services are top quality and continually improving to meet the demands of our changing world.

Our Story

​DECI was founded in 1966 by the Durham Exchange Club as a sheltered workshop that originally operated in an old schoolhouse.  Most workshops at the time provided craft activities rather than hands-on industrial training. ​

​Over the years, several large warehouses and loading docks have been added, along with more offices to support expanding operations.  We have also added a Job Center that places clients into community jobs.  Vocational counselors at the Job Center evaluate a client’s mental and physical capabilities, and then help the client adjust to general workplace conditions.  Each individual’s program is based on their strengths and preferences.   Programs are in place to bring about adjustment in attitudes, work habits and vocational skills.  Clients placed in community jobs continue to receive support from DECI staff.  Other clients remain at DECI, earning money through contracted work for our commercial customers.  Production jobs continue to increase in volume and technical level, offering client-workers a range of opportunities for testing their skills and learning new tasks.  Flexibility in accepting many different kinds of work has always been a key to the success of DECI’s operations.  DECI works with other community agencies as well, ensuring that client-workers can access all community resources for which they qualify.

DECI is CARF accredited. Our overall goal is to provide top quality service programs that enable people with disabilities​, and CARF accreditation demonstrates DECI's commitment to continually improving our services and serving our community.