Case Study

Between 1996 and 2003, the University of Pennsylvania tripled the dollar amount of goods and services purchased from West Philadelphia businesses through their Economic Inclusion Initiative. They continue to focus on local purchasing and aim to award 20 percent of all construction contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. The University has also made great investments in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods by adding 3,800 new street trees and 850 new pedestrian street lights to residential and commercial streets. Penn supports public education by contributing over $800,000 to the neighboring Sadie Alexander Mossell Elementary School and providing landscaping services and security & expertise from Penn’s Graduate School of Education. Penn supports a variety of programs towards preparing Philadelphia’s future workforce, including training minorities to apprentice with local building trade unions and investing in the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative to align unemployed West Philadelphians with opportunities in local anchor institutions. The University funds forgivable loans enabling 1,000 participants to homes in the neighborhood near the school. By investing $150 million in retail development, Penn attracted approximately $1 billion in private investment from the real estate sector. This investment has established vibrant, pedestrian-friendly retail corridors consisting of 450,000 square feet of large and small businesses and created connections between the campus and neighborhood. 

Links to relevant articles:

  1. The Role of Anchor Institutions in Supporting Local Communities
  2. University Of Pennsylvania: Powering Philadelphia And Pennsylvania

Case Study

The University of Chicago and IFF, a CDFI with a history of lending to the child care sector, have worked together on multiple initiatives to create more childcare and education opportunities for Chicago’s communities. First, a shortage in affordable, high quality child care in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Hospitals paved the way for a partnership between the University and IFF to bridge this gap. In 2006, the University and IFF deployed $1 million in capital grants, program enhancement grants, and an income guarantee to improve and increase capacity of home-based and center-based child care providers, ultimately creating 60 new spots for infants and toddlers in the community. Next, IFF helped the University identify a building location on campus and select a builder to build its own childcare facility. Finally, IFF and the University teamed up to develop a charter school. IFF assisted the University in finding a location for the school and providing financing for the project. The University of Chicago Charter School now has four locations around the city for students from pre-kindergarten to high school. 

Links to relevant articles:

  1. Partnerships for Community Impact: Higher Education and CDFIs Working Together

Case Study

RU-N has invested many resources to bettering Newark including: 

  • The Cornwall Center facilitating the Newark City of Learning Collaborative, a cross-sector partnership to significantly raise postsecondary educational attainment in Greater Newark.
  • The creation, under the leadership of Chancellor Diner, of the Office of University Community Partnerships, embodies RU-N’s first institutionalized efforts to broker connections between the university and Greater Newark communities, addressing critical needs across the age spectrum from early literacy to teen parenting to healthy aging, among others. 
  • Faculty from supply chain management collaborating with local industries and agencies as well as the Brookings Institution to document the robustness and still untapped potential in Newark’s manufacturing sector. 
  • Criminal justice and policing experts working with law enforcement at all levels to improve safety and security in Newark. 
  • Law faculty and students advocating for local families struggling to assure that their children with disabilities have access to the supports needed for them to succeed in school. 
  • Faculty, staff, and students working on the Promise Neighborhood project with community-based organizations to build comprehensive support networks for families in Newark’s most challenged neighborhoods. 
  • Scholars of urban entrepreneurship advising local startups to launch, revitalizing downtown. 

The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED) at RU-N is one of the first centers of its kind to integrate scholarly works with private capital, government, and non-profit sectors to develop citywide resources and bring renewed economic growth and vitality through urban entrepreneurship. The center promotes and fosters a new generation of urban entrepreneurs who actively seek a “socially conscious urban renaissance.” Their mission is to build a world-class research-driven, teaching and practitioner-oriented urban entrepreneurship and economic development program that will transform the economy of the City of Newark, New Jersey, and other urban centers; create wealth in urban communities; and be a model for all urban universities.

Links to relevant articles:

  1. More universities and colleges reach out to boost their home communities – The Hechinger Report
  2. https://www.newark.rutgers.edu/anchor-institution
  3. The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED)
  4. RU-N Strategic Plan

Case Study

Working through Campus Partners, a nonprofit community development corporation, Ohio State invested $28 million of its endowment funds into the “South Campus Gateway” complex. This project included the renovation of over 1,300 units of housing and the building of a 500,000 square-foot shopping center, as well as an on-going commitment to improving community schools through service learning. The University leveraged an additional $100 million in external funds to support the project, including a $35 million New Market Tax Credit allocation.

Links to relevant articles: