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Former NFL Player Raising Money to Open Hotel and School In Harlem

By Gustavo Solis | December 9, 2014 2:59pm
  Duke Fergerson, a former NFL player, wants to open a hospitality and cuisine school where student work while they learn.
Harlem Hospitality Project
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HARLEM — A former NFL player and founder of the Harlem Hellfighters football team is swapping the gridiron for a steam iron.

Duke Fergerson has teamed up with Cornell University and NYU to create the Harlem Hospitality Project — a working hotel and restaurant that will be a school of hospitality and culinary arts.

Fergerson came up with the idea when he saw his former high school football players struggling to find jobs after college.

“We were getting our kids to college and they were very successful and graduating but I see them now and they are still struggling,” he said. “They don’t have a job, they don’t have a real career. It’s just not working for them and that’s frustrating. It’s tragic.”

The former Seattle Seahawks wide-receiver first approached Cornell University in 2009. A group of students from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration developed a feasibility study and business plan for the project.

He then reached out the educational reformer and teacher at Rhode Island's Wheeler School David Ahlborn, who had been researching alternative models of education including more hands-on practical learning.

“When I heard about Duke’s project, I thought that really lines up with what I want to do,” he said. “Too many of these kids are just trying to make their way through school I think we are really not taking advantage of what our young people can do.”

Fergerson and Ahlborn started a fundraising campaign to help develop the program and secure a location for the school. They have reached out to NYU to help them develop the program further. 

The university is "engaged in exploratory discussions," with Fergerson and Ahlbor, a spokeswoman said. 

Once funding is secured — their goal is to raise $60,000 — they will work to build the hotel and restaurant that will also serve as their school.

The plan is to have a hotel, retail spaces, a restaurant and classrooms all under one roof. It will be a two-year program and students will start working early on. The goal is to have them learn the skills to begin a career in the hospitality or culinary industries and earn a livable wage, Fergerson said.

Working while getting their education will also help them keep debt from student loans low, he added.

If successful, Fergerson and Ahlborn see this becoming a new model for education and would like to open similar spaces across the country.

“We are ready to go,” Fergerson said. “We have really done the development and are moving to the point of getting the curriculum and identifying potential students.”