University & Community Partnerships

The Nonprofit Leadership Institute is a resource center for nonprofit leadership. Founded in 1996 at the request of southwestern Pennsylvania's foundation community, the group is supported by Duquesne University, local foundations grants, and by registration fees from program participants. Read more about Nonprofit Leadership Institute, Duquesne University...

The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University aims to help build stronger, more knowledgeable nonprofits.  To do so, it provides education, consulting, coaching, and research, all focused on enhancing nonprofit management.  Since its establishment, the center has educated over 6,500 people and provided consulting services to over 1,000 clients, including human service, arts, faith-based, community development, environmental, and educational organizations with budgets ranging from $100,000 or less to more than $50,000,000.

The Center for Community Partnerships is the University of Pennsylvania's primary vehicle for community-oriented, real-world problem solving. Its work involves three key efforts: 1) Academically Based Community Service, which engages students and faculty in West Philadelphia public schools, communities of faith, and community organizations to address critical campus and community problems; 2) University-Assisted Community Schools, which tap University resources to help public schools become innovative institutions that educate, engage, empower and serve students, families and community members; and 3) Anchor Institution Strategy, which aims to engage the University in a democratic, sustained partnership with the community. The Center also supports the Anchor Institutions Task Force (AITF), which serves as an advocacy and movement building organization to create and advance democratic, mutually beneficial anchor institution-community partnerships.  Formed in 2009, the AITF has grown into a network of over 700 leaders.

Started in 2007, Columbia University’s Office of School and Community Partnerships (OSCP) at Teachers College (TC) is focused on creating networks and leveraging opportunities that best utilize the college's expertise and resources to benefit underserved youth in the city. The Office has partnerships with 32 public elementary, middle and high schools that serve students most at risk of dropping out and under-achieving, and in the last year alone, coordinated 19 programs that reached more than 15,000 students. Read more about Columbia University’s Office of School and Community Partnerships at Teachers College...

University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) aims to connect the resources of the University of Minnesota with the interests and needs of urban communities and the broader region.  To do so, CURA focuses on collaborating with communities and agencies to define and address their research and technical assistance needs, fostering and supporting applied research projects, disseminating research results, and convening public events to discuss key issues, explore policy alternatives, and identify new research opportunities.  It also runs several small grant programs, such as its Artist Neighborhood Partnership Initiative, which provides grants to artists working to foster more equitable communities in the Twin Cities.

Florida International University’s Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy aims to connect the University’s academics and research to the broader community.  Guided by a mission to improve the lives of working people and their families, the Institute focuses on three core activities:  1) Conducting non-partisan social science, law, and policy research on issues that impact low-wage, immigrant, marginalized, and middle income workers and their families; 2) Serving the research and support needs of social justice, community, and labor organizations; and 3) Building community collaboration to address issues facing working people.

In 1992, USC President Steven B. Sample started five initiatives that focused the University on improving the surrounding neighborhoods. Today, the USC invests $35 million annually to support community initiatives, which serve 40,000 area residents. Its efforts includes the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative, an intensive college prep program that sends 100 percent of its students to college with nearly half getting full-tuition scholarships to USC; the Family of Schools program, which supports 15 neighborhood elementary, middle and high schools; and business programs credited with helping 60 small business owners obtain $61 million dollars in capital, contracts and loans.  Moreover, its local hiring initiative is credited with funneling $5 million in annual salaries back into the neighborhood.

When the Texas Legislature authorized the construction of a hospital for cancer research and treatment somewhere in the state in 1941, the MD Anderson Foundation offered to match the appropriation if the hospital would be built in Houston. Today the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas is the largest of its kind in the world with significant economic benefits for the greater Houston-area of $13.5 billion in total expenditures, $6.7 billion in gross product, $4.5 billion in earnings and more than 82,400 permanent jobs. Read more about MD Anderson Cancer Center (University of Texas)...

Wayne State University's Labor Studies Center is a comprehensive labor education center committed to strengthening the capacity of organized labor to represent workers, while at the same time expanding the university's research and teaching on labor and workplace issues. The Center's work includes training local union leaders as well as researching labor-community coalitions, community benefit agreements, and regional power building strategies.  Since its establishment in 1966, the school has graduated over 4,000 union and community activists.