West Philadelphia Skills Initiative and Green City Works Receive Over $2.5 Million in Philanthropic Funding
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We are pleased to share news about financial support we have received over the past few months to advance both our West Philadelphia Skills Initiative and Green City Works, our landscaping social venture. We are grateful to each of the funders for their support of the program and our ongoing mission to connect residents seeking opportunity to employers seeking talent.
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On Wednesday, December 4th,
JP Morgan Chase
announced details of a $1.5 million grant to UCD to support the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative,
in collaboration with
Temple University
and the
Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation
(PIDC). The partners represent communities experiencing significant economic growth – at West and North Philadelphia’s anchor institutions, and at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. In addition to deepening the Skills Initiative’s work in West Philadelphia, we will leverage its model to engage local employers, understand their hiring needs, and then work with partners to build talent pipelines in adjacent communities to advance workers into high quality jobs while addressing staffing challenges for organizations.
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On Thursday, November 14th, the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative program was the recipient of a $125,000 contribution from Citizens Bank through their
Citizens Charitable Foundation
. Citizens Bank Mid-Atlantic President Daniel K. Fitzpatrick presented a ceremonial check to University City District staff, Skills Initiative participants, and Craig Carnaroli, UCD Board President and Penn Executive Vice President. Dan Fitzpatrick and Craig Carnaroli then had an opportunity for a discussion with a cohort of participants completing training for positions on the University of Pennsylvania’s facilities staff. The gift from Citizens will aid our efforts to extend our reach to employer partners throughout the city, targeting positions that have strong starting wages and robust career paths.
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The Connelly Foundation
, a local philanthropic grant-making organization that supports Philadelphia nonprofits that strengthen resilience and help people to flourish, has awarded University City District a $450,000 grant to support growth strategies tied to the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative and Green City Works, UCD's landscaping social enterprise. The generous funds from the Connelly Foundation will be used to tackle the dual challenges of re-engaging a disconnected workforce and addressing impending talent shortages in critical job clusters using creativity and responsive approaches that serve both employers and communities.
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The William Penn Foundation
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The William Penn Foundation
has gifted UCD $445,000 to create The West Philadelphia Park Maintenance Pilot in partnership with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. The pilot program will noticeably improve the everyday conditions at five parks in West Philadelphia, benefiting thousands of park visitors through enhanced maintenance. Working through our social enterprise,
Green City Works
, the pilot will establish a new model for parks maintenance that grows living wage, growth-oriented jobs for neighborhood residents.
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In August of this year, the
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
gifted us with $45,000 to support the operations of the Skills Initiative. United Way has been a longtime ally in our work to connect talented West Philadelphians to life-changing jobs at University City institutions and across the city of Philadelphia, and we are grateful for their continued support of our work.
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Centre for Public Impact and Nowak Metro Finance Lab Release Comprehensive WPSI Case Study
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Last week, a new case study about the Skills Initiative prepared by Bruce Katz of the
Nowak Metro Finance Lab
and Megan Humes from the
Centre for Public Impact (CPI)
was released. The comprehensive report details findings from a three-month look into our unique workforce development model's positive impact on the neighborhood, and details key learnings that can be adopted by workforce development institutions in other cities. Crucial considerations from the case study include identifying strong anchor employers adjacent to underemployed populations, removing barriers to participation, and leveraging intermediary organizations.
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Here at the Skills Initiative, we take data very seriously. We
constantly
collect and analyze data and feedback in order to drive program improvements that better serve participants and employer partners. When benchmarking the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative against peer programs across the country, it becomes clear that our efforts to connect talent to opportunity have yielded transformational results for employers, jobseekers, and our community.
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“The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative is hands down the best experience I've ever had from a professional standpoint. It's more than just skills and job training, it's the life lessons that you learn from WPSI that helps you prepare for any situation possible. It's a life changing experience that I encourage anyone in need of one to pursue and complete. You'll be a better person because of it, guaranteed!
-Michael Clark, August 2019, Allied Universal Cohort
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Meet three graduates of University City District’s West Philadelphia Skills Initiative who are on the path to realizing their career dreams with Philadelphia employers:
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Matt Bergheiser
President, University City District
Caitlin Garozzo
Senior Manager, Learning and Development
Patrick Bayer
Manager, Continuous Improvement
Fontaine Gutierrez
Operations Coordinator
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Sarah Steltz
Vice President for Workforce Solutions
Joshua Park
Senior Manager, Employer Services
Tiffany Smith
Participant Services Coordinator
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UNIVERSITY CITY DISTRICT RESOURCES
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