A New Day began serving students in October 2000. Start-up funds for the program came from a North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission grant with matching funds from Durham County Government. This funding lasted two years after which a grant extension from the Governor's Crime Commission and additional funding from Durham County and Durham's Juvenile Crime Prevention Council helped carry A New Day into its' third year. During the making of the film and more recently, A New Day has turned to a Federal Ear Mark grant, Medicaid, public and private donations, civic and faith-based groups and the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council to keep the program in operation.

A New Day is an example of a day reporting center which provides structure, interventions, and treatment for youth with a pattern of (often escalating) negative behaviors at home, school, and the community. Most students who attend day reporting centers are court-involved and suspended long-term or short-term from school.

During most school years, A New Day serves approximately twenty-two long-term and fifty-eight short-term suspended middle school students. Some students attending the program are court-involved but not suspended from school; yet they have a history of chronic school under-achievement, truancy, and multiple suspensions. Each year approximately forty-two students enroll in the Summer and Saturday Programs.

A New Day staff consists of a Program Manager and three Case Managers, all of whom are Durham County employees, and a teacher and teaching assistant who are employees of Durham Public Schools. Additional part-time support is provided by local artists, university students, and citizens in local civic and religious organizations.