Anchor Institutions

Fed Governor Raskin Talks Anchor Institutions, Evergreen

Speech highlights anchors' important role as local job creators
Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin gave a powerful keynote last Friday, March 22nd, in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s (NCRC) annual conference, emphasizing the role that private business must play — specifically, anchor institutions — to stabilize communities, create better jobs, and stimulate local economies.

Hospitals As Anchor Institutions: Linking Community Health and Wealth

This post originally appeared on the Commons Health Care Network blog.

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, discussions of healthcare policy in national politics and the mainstream media have overwhelmingly focused on the law’s impact on health insurance rather than public health. For example, the 2 percent of the population that will be affected by the individual mandate provision have received an inordinate level of attention. But a separate ACA provision should receive at least as much attention and energy, as it will have a significantly greater impact on the country, and open up new possibilities for how health systems and communities can work together to target pressing economic and health challenges.

Hospitals Building Healthier Communities: Embracing the Anchor Mission

David Zuckerman, with contributions from Holly Jo Sparks, Steve Dubb, and Ted Howard

The Democracy Collaborative’s latest report, Hospitals Building Healthier Communities, provides an in-depth look at six hospitals in five cities that are rethinking their economic and community engagement strategies. These hospitals have recognized that health is more than just treating the patients that come through their doors and are beginning to adopt an “anchor institution mission” that can help build not only more prosperous, but also healthier communities.

Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth: Community Forum

February 8th, 2013
MIT, Cambridge, MA

Release of MIT-University of Maryland Case Study on Cleveland’s University Hospitals Vision 2010 Program

Live stream here

Friday, February 8, 2013
2:00 - 4:00pm
Rm 7-429 (Long Lounge)

MIT School of Architecture + Planning
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 7-429
Cambridge, MA 02139 Read more about Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth: Community Forum...

Leveraging The Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth

Community forum at MIT to explore University Hospitals' innovative commitment to the anchor mission in Cleveland, Ohio (Rescheduled!)
The Anchor Mission

UPDATE: The Boston blizzard required rescheduling this event; it's back on for May 8th!

On May 8th, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will host a special event to mark the release of the report The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth, featuring a panel of distinguished scholars along with municipal and institutional leaders. 

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Netter Center 20th Anniversary

More than 500 people from over 70 universities and over two-dozen countries gathered at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss ways to better use university resources to build community wealth in neighborhoods and promote partnerships with public schools. Setting the tone of the conference, Ira Harkavy, Founder and Director of the Netter Center, opened by arguing that effective partnerships not only advance learning, but also strengthen democracy and improve the quality of life in cities around the world.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund is a national foundation based in Jacksonville that serves approximately 330 organizations, selected based on Mrs. DuPont’s will. Today, the foundation focuses on building the capacity of eligible organizations, expanding access and creating opportunity, and strengthening the nonprofit sector. The foundation, founded in 1977, now holds more than $281 million in assets, and, in 2010, it granted more than $12.5 million. Awarding over $200 million in grants since its founding, the foundation has contributed to a variety of place-based investments, including supporting LISC Jacksonville, by partnering with The Community Foundation, and investing an additional $750,000 in its comprehensive neighborhood revitalization initiative in Duval County. In 2011, the foundation also made a $2 million program-related investment to the Florida Community Loan Fund to increase the inventory of affordable rental housing and grow the capacity of organizations that provide affordable rental housing locally.

The Community Foundation in Jacksonville

Founded in 1964, The Community Foundation is the oldest and third-largest community foundation in the Florida. The Foundation holds more than $164 million in assets and has granted more than $166 million to organizations. The Foundation serves Jacksonville and the surrounding Northeast Florida and is home to 392 individual funds established by donors. In 2011, The Community Foundation committed to investing $150,000 over three years (2011-2013) in a LISC Jacksonville comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy in Duval County.

Greening the Bottom Line

Emily Flynn, Mark Orlowski and Dano Weisbord

Greening the Bottom Line, a report from the Sustainable Endowments Institute, highlights the role of green revolving funds — an energy-efficient financing mechanism that colleges, universities, and nonprofits have increasingly adopted as a means to fund sustainability initiatives in their buildings and operations. Authors Emily Flynn and Mark Orlowski show that the cost savings of these funds boost the bottom line for institutions while also replenishing the fund for investment in the next round of green retrofits, thus establishing a sustain­able funding cycle.

Unlocking Community Development: The Anchor Key

Leveraging Anchor Institution Resources for Community Benefit

Crossposted from Rooflines

Anchor institutions—a term used to describe public and nonprofit hospitals and universities—are today widely recognized for their role in community economic development. But they have the potential to do a lot more.

As Living Cities President Ben Hecht noted in a blog post this past January, “Today, the largest economic force in a huge number of America’s 100 largest cities is a university or hospital.” Yet, Hecht added: “Despite this reality, few, if any, regional economic development strategies are built around these stable and rooted ‘anchor’ institutions.”

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The seeds of a new economy

Green City Growers Cooperative plants first crop in new worker-owned urban greenhouse

Cleveland's Plain Dealer reports on the latest business in the Evergreen Cooperatives network:

Starting next month, you could have some Cleveland winter lettuce with that sandwich.

That's when Green City Growers Cooperative, a worker-owned business, expects to harvest its first crops from one of the largest urban greenhouses in the country, a 3 1/4-acre hydroponic operation off East 55th Street in the city's Central neighborhood.

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