The content of AITF’s November event in New York City and virtually, Local Solutions in Divided Times is taking shape. Three substantive panels featuring teams of presenters from different locations will fill the bulk of the day. The event will be held from 10am to 3pm ET on Thursday, November 7 at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice located at 320 E 43rd St, New York, NY 10017.

The first panel will feature the role of Arts and Culture in promoting intercultural dialogue, understanding and action. Historically, anchor institutions have been able to navigate difference in their communities through arts and cultural. Cultural anchor institutions have a particular role to play in this regard alongside other partners in their localities and regions.

The second panel on Education, Community and Democracy will continue AITF’s ongoing emphasis on the significance on collaborative initiatives involving schools at the community level, including the unique position of community schools as anchor institutions. This panel will bring together teams from various localities representing cross sector community-based strategies centering schools.

The third panel, History, Justice, and Opportunity, will feature a variety of local collaborative strategies including anchor institutions, which take on challenging priorities that require historical review and dialogue. Partnerships represented on this panel will discuss how they are forging justice and expanding opportunities regarding inequities that have been deeply shaped by historical circumstances.

Together, these mutually reinforcing panel presentations and the discussions around them will help our thinking and action regarding strategies toward local solutions amidst divisions and difference. This event will be recorded, and hopefully become a valuable tool to help anchor institutions and their partners refine and strengthen their local efforts, especially in areas where they may be encountering obstacles to progress.

You can register (in-person or online) for this event here: AITF Presents - Local Solutions in Divided Times.

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During the event, we will also hear from the current cohort of Anchor Fellows. It is not too late to nominate someone for this important program which immerses Fellows in the internal and external priority considerations in anchor institution community partnerships. Follow the link for more information on the program: 2025 AITF Anchor Fellows.

Hartford, CT Anchor Institutions Lean on Decades of Collaboration

The Anchor Institutions Task Force has a strategic priority to ‘promote and support the power and potential of multi-institutional, cross sector partnerships.’ AITF engages anchor partnerships in various ways including through the Anchor Partnership Subgroup.

The Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance has been working to promote quality livelihoods through innovative place-based engagement for over 40 years. Hartford is one of a number of cities that experienced a severe economic downturn with the decline of the manufacturing sector as a core economic driver. This shift, alongside ‘white flight’ from central urban areas and housing segregation, had a significant impact on the levels of investment and overall wellbeing in Hartford. Major institutions rooted in the community began to take action when representatives from Hartford Hospital, the Institute for Living, and Trinity College convened in 1977 to explore avenues to address these realities. The following year these institutions incorporated as the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, and two decades after its establishment, SINA would welcome Connecticut Children’s Medical Center as a new member in the partnership.

Since its inception SINA has taken the approach of leveraging the resources and capacity of its member institutions to benefit local communities. As indicated by its name, SINA focuses on the Southside of Hartford where communities have been particularly affected by disinvestment. In 1997, Anchor representatives collaborated with the City of Hartford and community leaders to create a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan for a plot of land situated between two major traffic arteries. SINA member anchors provided $10 million as initial capitalization for this new Learning Corridor, exemplifying the group's unique contributions to south Hartford over the years. The Learning Corridor has emerged as a hub for education and community activity.

Today, SINA anchors are driving forward a number of important projects. Connecting local residents to quality jobs is a priority for SINA. Its member institutions coordinate alongside civic partners to provide avenues to gainful employment, often at the anchors themselves. The ongoing Cityscape program aims to expand safe, affordable housing options for local residents. This is achieved primarily by providing affordable homeownership opportunities though the rehabilitation of abandoned, vacant housing structures and the construction of new homes, and by providing employees at the SINA institutions financial incentives to buy homes in the southside neighborhoods.

Arts & cultural production is another priority for SINA and the communities it serves. The Hartford Public Library recently announced the recipients of the 2024 REACH Young Authors Awards. Fifteen Hartford Public Schools students were among the winners of the competition held in partnership with SINA. Additionally, SINA has helped facilitate a community-driven project to create murals honoring venerated figures of Hartford. These important initiatives are part of a larger community strengthening effort to work with residents to identify priority projects to improve the quality of life in their communities. Other elements of this strategy include large-scale neighborhood cleanups, and the creation of neighborhood playgrounds and community “art” gardens. SINA looks ahead to opportunities to expand these and other efforts around local procurement and economic development.

SINA is a longstanding member of AITF’s Anchor Partnerships Subgroup. Representatives from SINA’s member institutions have also featured at past AITF Annual Events.

AITF Anchor Fellows 2025

AITF is currently accepting application for the 2025 Class of AITF Fellows, an annual fellowship program designed for emerging anchor leaders. More information on the AITF Fellows Program is also available here.



2024 Place-Based Justice Network's Summer Institute (Event)

July 22-24, 2024

Gonzaga University



The Civic Engagement Administrators Conference (CEAC) is a gathering for the folks who do the work on the ground every day to develop, promote, and sustain community and civic engagement. CEAC 2024 will include reflection, networking, and facilitated conversations to help encourage and support community engagement professionals.

Multimedia Case Study: Building the Rural Work Force

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published a multimedia case study illuminating some of the unique challenges and opportunities that emerge in rural workforce development, and how higher education institutions are playing a strategic role. A virtual forum was held to discuss key learnings from the case study.



Fostering inclusive and sustainable agricultural innovation in California’s Central Valley (Report)



This case study by the Brookings Institution focuses on agricultural innovation in an area of California where the sector is a key economic driving force.  Local investment by anchor institutions has been cited as a major catalyst for technological advancement in the region.

Restoring the Public Purpose of America’s Urban Universities

The Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania has published a white paper calling on higher education to increase its contributions to the public good. The publication features case studies of urban universities across the country embracing an anchor mission through place-based engagement.



Armley Community Anchor Network launches cost of living support guide - from West Leeds Dispatch

June 11 - The Armley Community Anchor Network has published a resource guide for local residents as they navigate a cost-of-living crisis in Armley and New Wortley. The new tool is a product of sustained collaboration among eight local organizations. “We wanted to build upon the great partnership work that took place across Armley during the pandemic, so our overall mission is to ensure our communities have more equity, influence, and ownership of the neighbourhoods they live in,” said Andrea Edwards, CEO of New Wortley Community Association.

Envisioning a bigger and better Sebastopol library - from Sebastopol Times

May 18 - The Ad Hoc Library Committee for the Sebastopol Public Library has announced an initial plan to expand the facility in order to better meet community needs. The library, considered a civic anchor institution,  provides opportunities for educational and professional development as well as a gathering place for community members. The redevelopment plan envisions the library also serving as a hub for social services.

UMSL hosts Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities’ Anchor Learning Network Action Summit - from USML Daily

June 10 - Representatives from 22 higher education institutions convened on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus for the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities’ two-day Anchor Learning Network Action Summit. The St. Louis Anchor Action Network took the opportunity to showcase some of the ways that anchors are working to promote local prosperity.

Oakland will be home to a new affordable housing community for LGBTQ+ older adults - from Pittwire

May 30 - The Oakland neighborhood in Pittsburgh, PA will be home to a new affordable housing community for LGBTQ+ older adults. The University of Pittsburgh is working with partners Presbyterian SeniorCare Network and Affirmative Investments on the housing project named “Mosaic” by residents through a participatory process. Funding for the project comes from a combination of public and private sources.

WNY delegation announces over $1.37 million for local arts sector - from Niagara Frontier Publications

June 10 - The Western New York delegation to the State Legislature returned with news of major investment for the local arts sector. Allocating over $1.37m, New York State is providing a critical lifeline for arts organizations. Shea’s Performing Arts Center and other cultural anchors institutions are eager to leverage this investment to serve their communities.

SACE and Partners Announce Electric Black Futures - from Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

May 21 - For six months representatives of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has been engaging stakeholders three Georgia cities around a new project aimed at supporting and empowering Black communities through the energy transition. Electric Black Futures brings together anchor institutions and other local partners in a community-driven process involving participatory research, co-design, and workforce development.

Chicago Mayor Signs Executive Order to Launch Black Reparations Task Force - from Time Magazine

June 17 - An executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago paves the way to establish the Black Reparations Co-Governance Task Force that "will conduct a comprehensive study and examination of all policies that have harmed Black Chicagoans from the slavery era to present day," and then make recommendations based on its findings. Recommendations would require further executive or legislative action to take effect.