Giving Compass' Take:

• Cities are focusing on anchor institutions (schools and hospitals) in hopes of enhancing job growth and expanding opportunities for surrounding communities. 

• Not all local universities are responding to needs in their communities. What are some reasons why institutions would not want to act as anchors for their neighborhoods?

• Read about the role of infrastructure as an economic anchor in cities. 

Cities and metropolitan regions generate the overwhelming majority of economic activity in the United States. But since the 1980s, the federal government has reduced direct per-capita aid to local governments, according to the Urban Institute. The upshot is many towns and cities are left to fend for themselves. Anchor institutions — especially universities and hospitals — are increasingly being called on to play an outsized role to address the needs of surrounding communities. Many are responding at a time when others are retrenching.

For example, the University of Southern California implemented a program to increase employment from neighborhoods surrounding its campus. Duke University launched an affordable housing initiative to help low-income university employees buy a home near campus. The University of Chicago led efforts to redevelop a commercial corridor in Hyde Park with stores, restaurants, a hotel and an office building that hosts hundreds of university employees.

In Philadelphia, Drexel University employs 9,500 people and has an annual economic impact of $2.4 billion. The university contributes $68 million in tax revenues to city and state coffers. Even more valuable is Drexel’s commitment to its surrounding neighborhoods, which are part of a federal promise zone that the university helps lead, as well as significant investments Drexel is making in affordable housing, public education, job training and health care.

Read the full article about anchor institutions and economic development by John Fry at InsideSources.