Dear AITF Members:

As we enter October, we are eagerly awaiting our Tenth Anniversary Conference on October 24 and 25 in New York City at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel. Here is the  frame of the conference program . The full conference program will be available a couple of days prior to the event.  

In honor of AITF’s Tenth Anniversary, we are making a special effort to highlight some of the ways in which AITF has been impact anchor collaborative initiatives at the local level in the U.S. and beyond.

During the first day of the conference, we will hold plenary sessions on Education and Economic Development.  Among others, on our Education plenary, we will hear from Sjur Bergan, Head, Education, The Council of Europe.  Sjur and the Council have been partnering with us to build a network on the local mission of higher education in Europe.  On our Economic Development plenary, we will hear from Jim Harris, President, University of San Diego and other partners in San Diego working to expand moderate income housing – an idea that emerged through an AITF Local Strategic Dialogue.

Some highlights on the second day of the conference include our keynote speech from Andrew Delbanco, President, the Teagle Foundation as well as our Anchor Institutions Community Partnership award to Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark.  Chancellor Cantor is the Co-Chair of the Newark Anchor Collaborative, which AITF has been advising recently.  We will hold a series of exciting concurrent sessions during the second day of the conference, which will highlight some important areas for growth in our field, such as the role of Community Development Financial Institutions in anchor partnerships.  One of the concurrent sessions, organized by AITF’s Economic Development Executives Subgroup addresses Equitable and Inclusive Hiring and Procurement.

Our luncheon plenary will include a discussion on the future of anchor and community leadership.  We will hear a range of perspectives during this discussion – a search firm, emerging leaders, and veteran leaders.  We plan to announce a major new initiative during this segment of the conference. The second day will also include our plenary session on Health, which will include, among others, a couple of members of AITF’s Health Professionals Subgroup – Brenda Battle, Vice President for Care Delivery Innovation and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, University of Chicago Medicine and David Perlstein, CEO, SBH Health System.  The subgroup, as indicated in the webinar announcement below, has been addressing how to apply a Social Determinants of Health lens to anchor institution-community partnerships.  The Subgroup recently held a webinar on this topic. If you are interested, here is the webinar recording:


At the end of the conference, as usual, we will hold concurrent thematic discussions on education, economic development, health, leadership, and global engagement.  One difference this year is that the discussion on Education will be the inaugural meeting of an  AITF Education Subgroup .  During this discussion, participants will shape the direction of this new Subgroup.  We are thrilled to have reached the point of creating this formation, which some of you have been requesting.  Anchor partnerships seeking to strengthen schools and educational opportunities for underserved young people are at the heart of the kind of work we have been addressing in AITF.  

Conference  registration remains open. You can still make hotel reservations at our  group rate . This rate will expire very soon.
 
Thanks very much to those of you who have already agreed to become a Sponsor, including the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation, Hahne and Company, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, the New World Foundation, Northern Trust, Pace University, Prudential Financial, RBH Group, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rutgers University-Newark, the Teagle Foundation, and the University of San Diego. Anyone interested in sponsoring should review our  sponsorship levels to see how you can support AITF and the conference and/or place an ad in the conference program. 


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Finally, here is one important announcement we would like to make right now. We would like to present to you AITF’s new Advisory Council.  This body will provide AITF ongoing guidance and help the field maintain healthy lines of communication with a number of relevant constituents.  Here are the members, most of whom will be present at the conference:

  • Brenda Battle, Vice President for Care Delivery Innovation and Chief Diversity and   Inclusion Officer,University of Chicago Medical 
  • Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark 
  • Monica Chavez-Silva, Assistant Vice President for Community Enhancement, Grinnell College 
  • Melvyn Colon, Executive Director, Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance 
  • Sheryl Davis, Executive Director, San Francisco Human Rights Commission
  • Colin Greer, President, New World Foundation 
  • Jim Harris, President, University of San Diego 
  • Amir Kirkwood, Chief Lending and Investment Officer, Opportunity Finance Network
  • José Luis Cruz, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, CUNY
  • Angela Mingo, Community Relations Director, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
  • David Perlstein, President/CEO, SBH Health System
  • John Schreiber, President and CEO, New Jersey Performing Arts Center 
  • Tony Sorrentino, Assistant Vice President, Office of the Executive Vice President, University of Pennsylvania



We are so appreciative that this stellar roster of leaders agreed to provide some time out of their demanding schedules to play a unique role in strengthening the anchor movement.  We look forward to welcoming the Council to their new role at the conference.


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Here are a few articles listed below.  If you have any articles our announcements you would like shared in a future message, please let me know.
  
Date : September 12, 2019
News Title :  How University City District, Philadelphia is defining and measuring ‘justice’ in public space
Summary :  The University City District (UCD)—a partnership of anchor institutions, small businesses, and residents in Philadelphia—have invested a few million of these dollars to create public spaces like The Porch at 30th Street Station, Trolley Portal Gardens, pedestrian plazas, and Parklet installations. These investments were inspired by a growing national recognition that public spaces help facilitate community connections, encourage civic engagement, and promote healthy outcomes for people and places.
 
Date : September 20, 2019
News Title :  City seeks more collaboration among anchor institutions
Summary : Seeking to harness the power of collaboration among important organizations in the community, the city Tacoma, WA has spent that past three years working on what they call the Tacoma Anchor Institutions Network. A meeting in August led to the formation of three teams, focusing on leadership, local hiring and local procurement. A memorandum of understanding and a set of goals will be established by the end of this year, with the network to launch in 2020.
 
Academic Journal Articles

Article Title : A Quadruple-Helix Model of Smart City Development? Understanding the Role of Public Libraries
Reference : Yerden, Xiaoyi, J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, Mila Gasco, G. Brian Burke, and Miguel Figueroa. "A Quadruple-Helix Model of Smart City Development? Understanding the Role of Public Libraries."  EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2019  (2019): 61.
Abstract : Local governments are exploring different strategies to build smart, inclusive and connected communities, from public-private partnership to the engagement of civil society. Some of them have recognized that government agencies need to collaborate with other local entities, including private companies, universities, and civil society. However, in many instances, some community actors are left out of the model for building smart cities. Public libraries currently play a very important role in building smart communities. This paper analyzes innovative practices in Chattanooga Public Libraries (CPL) and its role as an anchor institution in making Chattanooga smarter. We argue that together, these innovations represent a human-centric and quadruple-helix collaboration and these are important strategies for smart city development.

 
Article Title : Building healthier communities: the role of the NHS as an anchor institution
Reference : Reed, Sarah, Anya Göpfert, Suzanne Wood, Dominique Allwood, and Will Warburton. "Building healthier communities: the role of the NHS as an anchor institution." (2019).
Abstract : This report explores how NHS organisations in the UK act as anchor institutions. It gives examples of what anchor practices look like in a health care context, and how anchor institutions can maximise their influence on the wider determinants of health.
 
 
 
 
Best Regards,
 
David