The Anchor Institution Movement

Learn more about the history of the anchor institution movement, including its origins, evolution, various frameworks, and the relationship to current practices in community and economic development and connects the dots to why affordable housing is an important topic for this work. 

Speaker

Tony Sorrentino, Associate Vice President, University of Pennsylvania Office of the Executive Vice President
Tony has had a leadership role in various anchor institution strategies including community and economic development. Mr. Sorrentino holds a Master of City Planning degree from Penn’s Weitzman School of Design and as a Fellow of the Penn Institute for Urban Research he developed an anchor institution summit that brought together leaders from peer universities to share best practices and challenges.

Key takeaways

• The five eras of the Anchor Institution Movement:
  • 1860s: creation of the land grant university
  • 1920s/30s: Industrial Urbanization
  •  1950s/60s: Urban Renewal
  • 1990s to today: University Community Partnerships
  • 2000s to today: Anchors and Revitalization 
• Anchor Institution Frameworks in Place:
  • Action Agenda: e.g. Initiative for Competitive Inner City, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities 
  • Anchor Mission: e.g Democracy Collaborative, Anchor Institution Task Force 
• What frameworks should Anchors incorporate into a strategy to increase the supply of affordable housing in their local community?

Reading material & resources

• The Anchor Institution Task Force https://www.margainc.com/initiatives/aitf
• The Netter Center for Communication Partnerships Anchor Institution Tool Kit https://www.nettercenter.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Anchor_Toolkit6_09.pdf
• Campus Compact https://compact.org
• Coalition for Urban and Metropolitan Universities https://www.cumuonline.org