This year's conference theme, All In: The Urban Mission, is perfect for Philadelphia. Our local member institutions are national leaders in fully adopting and integrating the urban mission. To highlight this work, we are offering community experiences and deep dive workshops that showcase the people, neighborhoods, and programs where our Philly-based members are engaged.

NOTE: Each deep dive workshop and community experience will take place Monday, October 21, 8 a.m.–12 p.m. before the opening luncheon plenary begins. Seating is limited. These are offered at no additional cost to conference attendees. Registration is limited to one per person and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Click here to view the full conference schedule.

Deep Dive Workshops

What Anchor Institutions Need to Know about Real Estate: Insights and Best Practices for Creating a Real Estate Plan

Presented by Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania

Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania are leading anchor institutions in Philadelphia, with deep experience in leveraging commercial real estate development to enhance urbanism, quality of life, economic development and place making on their campuses and in the communities they serve. With a mix of case studies and interactive breakout groups, you will gain deep insights and best practices from top professionals in the anchor institution real estate field.

Learn from leaders who have been at the forefront at transforming colleges and universities, and their communities, and get one-of-kind insights into how Philadelphia's University City has become a national model.

Measuring Community Capacity and Hyperlocal Community Engagement

Presented by CUMU and University of Pittsburgh

Across the United States and Canada, CUMU member institutions are committed to place-based engagements (Yamamura & Koth, 2018) and value them as a powerful way to connect the resources of the campus to the communities they serve to foster mutually-beneficial impacts. A growing number of institutions are developing hyperlocal engagements (Dostilio, 2017)—instances in which community engagement efforts are focused on a bounded area within a larger city or metropolitan region, often supported by some form of built infrastructure such as a community engagement center. The communities hosting these higher education engagements have a wealth of assets that enable them to sustain people as they live, work, and play. Such assets might include social capital, collective efficacy, sense of community, and readiness for change, among others (Ohmer, Coulton, Freedman, Sobeck, & Booth, 2019). Recognizing a community’s innate assets and aligning engagements with them can position a campus to be a valued partner that is as interested in a community’s long-term capacity as it is achieving the campus engagement strategy. Documenting and assessing a community’s existing capacities may also inform strategies for impact evaluation.

Community Experiences

Netter Center for Community Partnerships and the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Hosted by University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania’s evolving, unified approach as an anchor institution involves the engagement of the full range of intellectual and institutional resources of the University in democratic, sustained partnership with its local community of West Philadelphia.

Since the mid-1980s, Penn, through its Netter Center for Community Partnerships, has developed Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses involving collaborative real-world problem-solving that is rooted in and connected to research, teaching, learning, practice, and service.

Penn and the Netter Center have enjoyed a particularly robust partnership with The Paul Robeson House and West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (WPCA). A cornerstone of the collaboration is the relationships built between Penn students, faculty, and West Philadelphia community members through ABCS courses. In addition, in collaboration with the Netter Center’s University-Assisted Community Schools programming, Paul Robeson House and WPCA have partnered with Sayre, West Philadelphia High School, and Paul Robeson High School for Human Services, including hosting high school interns.

The site of the CUMU community tour, the Paul Robeson House and Museum, honors the legacy of Paul Leroy Robeson (1898–1976), an actor, orator, athlete, lawyer, singer, author, scholar, activist and linguist. The Robeson House is owned and operated by the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. It has been named a historical landmark by the Pennsylvania Historical and Commission and is listed on the National Register for Historic Places.

The tour will include hearing from executive director of the Paul Robeson House/WPCA, Vernoca L. Michael, who is also a member of the Netter Center’s Community Advisory Board; members of the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; Penn faculty who teach ABCS courses; and staff of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. The tour will also include a musical performance by the Robeson High School choir.

Camden Rising: A Symbol of Promise

Hosted by Rutgers University–Camden

In 2015, President Barack Obama visited Camden and said, "I've come here to Camden to do something that might have been unthinkable just a few years ago and that is to hold you up as a symbol of promise to the nation."

Camden, NJ is a city in the midst of a resurgence, and Rutgers University–Camden is a prime partner in Camden Rising, a multifaceted approach to revitalizing the city and promoting its’ growth and progress. At its height, the city of Camden was a powerful economic driver, home to Campbell Soup, NY Shipyard and RCA/Victor, but like many former industrial cities, Camden has faced considerable challenges over the years with high crime, low-achieving schools, unemployment and economic disinvestment.

However, through a concerted effort several years ago, that strategically focused on simultaneously addressing public safety, education, and redevelopment through public-private partnerships, Camden is transforming. Crime is at an all-time low, high school graduation rates are at an all-time high, unemployment is dropping, “eds and meds” are expanding, and businesses and organizations like Subaru, American Water, and the Philadelphia 76ers have come to Camden, to be a part of the movement.

In this experience, you will travel the city of Camden and learn the role that Rutgers-Camden is playing in Camden Rising. You will see the redevelopment of the expanded eds and meds corridor, meet a broad range of stakeholders—from residents, community partners, and Rutgers faculty, staff and students—and hear about the range of civic engagement initiatives taking place across the city, and visit organizations focused on community and youth development, hunger and homelessness, health and wellness, housing and K12 education.

Community/University Partnerships: Collective Impact on Workforce Development in North Philadelphia

Hosted by Temple University

This North Philadelphia community experience will take participants up Broad Street, which is the main north/south thoroughfare of the City. Starting at Temple University’s main campus, which is less than two miles from City Hall, participants will learn more about the North Philadelphia community, about the university’s comprehensive workforce development plans and programs, and about strategic partnerships with local stakeholders.

From Temple University, participants will travel less than a mile to the Sharswood Community, where Philadelphia Housing Authority recently relocated its main headquarters. Participants will tour Vaux Big Picture High School, which houses a HUD designated EnVision Center, and where the College of Public Health has co-located a community clinic operated by a nurse practitioner and supported by nursing students. Presenters will share information examples of how anchor institutions, such as Temple and PHA, are transforming neighborhoods for the benefit of local residents.

Next, participants will travel through neighborhoods a mile north, and closer to Temple University Hospital. Information about two programs will be highlighted: (1) Cure Violence Philadelphia that uses violence interrupters to stop community violence, and (2) Community Health Workers who are frontline public health workers and who are trusted members of the community.

The Dornsife Center: From Idea to National Model for Local Partnerships

Hosted by Drexel University

Now celebrating its 5th year, the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships is the physical manifestation of President John Fry’s mission for Drexel University to be the most civically engage collegiate institution in the country. The center sits directly between the two neighborhoods closest to the university, Mantua and Powelton Village, and seeks to engage the University with community residents in creative collaboration to address matters of shared importance. A recently-purchased 50,000+ square-foot building, which has been a community anchor for the last 30+ years, will now be an extension of the Dornsife Center. Our team has engaged the local neighborhoods in a nine-month conversation to understand their vision for the space, and we are excited about the possibilities.

Participants will learn the history of how the Dornsife Center came to be and what the challenges have been along the way. We will reflect on the business model that allows the team to take community and university interest from ideas to engaging programs and events. With the Dornsife Center team, the Dornsife Community Advisory Council, engaged university faculty, and students, participants will discuss what an ambitious project looks like on the ground.

*You must be registered for the conference to register for a community experience or deep dive workshop.*

2019 CUMU Community Experiences & Deep Dive Workshops