AITF looks forward to a robust year of activity, building on existing work and advancing some new pursuits:

 

Anchor Fellows

Our third cohort of Anchor Fellows is beginning their experience of visiting and learning from anchor leaders from AITF’s membership. This is also the time of year when we release our Fellows Call for Applications for 2024 Cohort. We look forward to another compelling pool of applicants. Applications are due on May 12.

Anchor Partnerships

Last year, AITF bolstered its commitment to highlighting and strengthening multi-institutional anchor partnerships, which have emerged as powerful representations of the potential of anchor institutions to transform the communities in which they reside and themselves. We will continue to build on this work through the continuation of our Anchor Partnerships Subgroup and our ongoing research on these important formations. 

As demonstrated in our event last year, The Power and Potential of Anchor Partnerships, it is useful to feature examples of anchor partnerships/networks/collaboratives. Building on the comprehensive case study on the Newark Anchor Collaborative, our upcoming webinar will feature this compelling illustration of a city’s institutions joining together in a commitment to mutually transformative partnership.

The Newark Anchor Collaborative (NAC) is a unique cross-sector collaboration of anchor institutions committed to equitable economic growth with a racial equity lens in Newark. Join a panel presentation Newark Anchor Collaborative: Promoting Racial Equity and Equitable Growth, on Thursday, March 9 at 12 pm (Eastern) with representatives from various NAC anchors as they share the NAC story along with best practices and lessons learned in creating a cross-sector anchor collaborative. 

Panelists:

• Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark
• Diana Candelejo, AVP, Economic Inclusion, Social Impact and Community Investment, RWJBarnabas Health
• Shané Harris, Vice President, Social Responsivity and Partnerships and President, the Prudential Financial
• Linda Harrison, Director and CEO, The Newark Museum of Art
• Evan Weiss, President & CEO, Newark Alliance

Register

Policy

In the coming weeks, we will officially reconstitute AITF’s Policy Committee. This group was one of two committees initiated when AITF was launched in 2009. The work of recent years to engage elected officials around the role of anchor institutions in reimagining and rebuilding community will continue. This Committee will harness AITF’s network to strengthen the foundation that has been established recently. Stay tuned for additional information.

Leadership

Please also take note of the continued evolution of AITF’s work on leadership. Last year, we released the first of a series of publications on leadership. At the end of this year, we will release a follow-up publication that will feature the experiences and insights of particular anchor leaders through profiles. We are also considering a potential new effort to maximize the unique wisdom of anchor leaders.

These are just some of this year’s AITF activities as many other efforts, including our various subgroup meetings and projects, will continue. Stay tuned for further information on upcoming activities, and please continue to share ideas about how we can continue to be of value to our field.

Job Opportunity: School of Education, Loyola University Chicago, Assistant Professor in Teaching and Learning, Tenure Track

The School of Education (SOE) at Loyola University Chicago invites applications for a fulltime, tenure-track position as an assistant professor. Click here for more details.

Job Opportunity: Advanced Assistant/Associate Professor Community Schools

Binghamton University, a premier public, highly ranked research university, seeks an Advanced Assistant/Associate Professor (Tenure-Track/Tenured) to serve as a central member of our University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) efforts. Click here for more details.

Webinar Recording: Higher Education for More Just, Inclusive, Sustainable Communities?

The COVID-19 pandemic and other persistent health inequities have led to renewed investment in research partnerships between academic institutions and community-based organizations (CBOs). However, there is little formal guidance around the ethical engagement of CBOs in research. This roundtable discussion addressed common barriers to ethical partnerships with CBOs and explored principles and practices for increasing trustworthiness and reciprocity from both community and academic perspectives. Watch the webinar recording.

This Arts Nonprofit Mapped a Pre-Gentrified Santa Monica. With A New $3-Million grant, the Project is Going Statewide - from Los Angeles Times

January 19 - For the past eight years, the Santa Monica-based nonprofit 18th Street Arts Center has produced its Culture Mapping 90404 project. The community-led, interactive digital map highlights the cultural history of Santa Monica’s Pico neighborhood. The emphasis is on pre-gentrification, before the area was overrun with luxury homes and high-end grocery stores offering gourmet macrobiotic bowls. The project aims to highlight, interpret and archive past and present “cultural assets” — individuals, locations, organizations and events — that make up the area.

Economic Outlook and the Anchor Economy Initiative - from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

January 18 - "The Anchor Economy Initiative seeks to quantify the economic impact of higher education institutions and hospitals — eds and meds — that we call the anchor institutions in their communities. This is vital work. Anchor institutions are often the largest employers in regions, they’re the producers of talent that other businesses need, and they lay the foundation for durable economic growth," says Patrick T. Harker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lyons Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, University of Delaware.

‘Building Trust and Community’ Between a College and a Town - from Inside Higher Ed

January 17 - Colby College, together with local government and civic and business has made a plan to revitalize the city using $200 million in private and public funds. Phase one of the revitalization plan was completed with the opening of Paul J. Schupf Art Center in December 2022. It has strengthened Colby’s relationship with local community and contributed to labor and wage growth in Waterville, Maine. 

Local Community College Helping Combat Nursing Shortage through New Program - from WFMZ News

January 12 - With demand for nurses at an all-time high, Northampton Community College, in Allentown, PA, is offering a program designed to get former nurses back into the workforce. It's one of the few schools left in Pennsylvania working to recruit former nurses back into the field. "We are one of three programs left in the state. Harrisburg Area Community College, Montgomery Community College, and us," said Dr. Judith Rex, the Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Education at NCC.

Youth Community Center in Richmond, California, Becomes A ‘Resilience Hub’ - from Yale Climate Connections

January 11 - At RYSE Commons, a youth community center in Richmond, California, young people gather to make art, play basketball, take classes, and hang out. “We’re really thinking of resilience hubs as trusted, well-loved kind of anchor institutions in a neighborhood or a community that can be invested in to be this safe haven when a climate disaster emergency hits,” says Shina Robinson of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

Health Care's Many Roles In Raising The Bar For Equity - from Health Affairs

January 10 - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently asked the National Alliance to impact the Social Determinants of Health (NASDOH) to research approaches health care organizations can use to advance equity. The result, Raising the Bar: Healthcare’s Transforming Role, says the fourth principle recognizes that health care organizations have resources, influence, and power in service to the community. Health care organizations can exert considerable influence on broader social and economic policy if they use and share their power.

How An Important Group of Colleges and Universities Has Become ‘Invisible’ - from University Business

January 3 - There is a lack of data and research supporting the Regional Public Universities (RPUs), say the authors of “Identifying, Defining, and Supporting Regional Public Universities and Colleges” by the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges at Appalachian State University. RPUs are anchor institutions for their communities and for the nation, and their continued ability to serve in these roles hinges on improved policy, research, understanding, and funding,” the report concluded.