Although 2021 presented another year full of challenges, University City District never wavered in its commitment to changing places and changing lives.
Our investments in the vitality of our neighborhood continued unabated in 2021, beginning with our foundational efforts to foster clean, safe, and active streets. We brought back signature events during the summer months to inspire safe outdoor gatherings and support local businesses and community groups. We expanded the reach of our West Philadelphia Skills Initiative model, transforming growth into opportunity in new areas of Philadelphia, and began work to replicate our success in other parts of the country. We launched a new campaign aimed at bringing visitors to our amazing restaurants, performance venues, and public spaces. We focused intensively on the tragedy of homelessness, creating a new outreach effort to bring support and shelter to many. And when help was needed—from neighbors, small businesses, or partners—we answered the call with new initiatives geared toward recovery, renewal, and growth, including dispersing over $400,000 in aid directly to small businesses and community groups since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are some of the highlights from our work over the past year.
132,000 Hours of Neighborhood Stewardship
In 2021 our clean and safe teams doubled down on their essential efforts to serve the community during the pandemic, and we restarted community clean-ups, safety fairs, and neighborhood gatherings. Our Public Space Maintenance team devoted over 32,000 total hours to cleaning the neighborhood through machine street sweeping, dustpan and broom cleaning, collecting bags of trash, graffiti removal, and more. Ambassadors provided nearly 100,000 hours of safety coverage in the neighborhood, including over 20,000 checks on businesses, nearly 1,000 walking escorts, and over 900 vehicle jumpstarts and lock-out services. Over the past year, Ambassadors and our newly minted Outreach Ambassador Specialist made 1,382 well-being checks with homeless individuals and 102 successful outreach placements with Project Home as part of an increased focus on offering compassionate services. We extend our gratitude to the hardworking women and men who serve our neighborhood through the most challenging of times.
“I just wanted to give a big thank you to you all for coming out and assisting with the clean up! It was a great turnout and we really breathed some fresh air into this area. It felt great to work with you all and I look forward to more community events as the year progresses.”
Connecting Talent to Opportunity, Transforming Lives and Workplaces
In 2021, our nationally-recognized job training subsidiary - the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI) - earned praise and delivered results by continuing to connect unemployed Philadelphians to job opportunities, while also expanding our reach and impact. As a national conversation grew around supposed labor shortages, WPSI expanded its work with employer partners to develop access to well-paying, career-ladder positions. In addition to our signature work with West Philadelphia, we expanded substantially, including through our first three programs with the Philadelphia Navy Yard in partnership with Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), and worked with organizations outside our region on efforts to replicate our successful model in other cities. To extend the talent pipeline and create possibilities for Philadelphians to earn thriving wages in excess of $50,000 per year, we developed a program to focus on incumbent workers through a partnership with Penn Medicine. We set a new high for average starting wages for graduates of our program at $17.73. And we shared the remarkable WPSI story widely through the launch of a new participant-friendly website and repeated press coverage of our work, including a virtual panel for The Inquirer on the future of work featuring WPSI graduates. Since WPSI’s formation in 2011, our career-driven program has served over 1,400 local residents, connecting talented individuals to high-quality opportunities with the city’s premier employers for total combined earnings of over $65 million.
WPSI Continues to Make Headlines:
Investing in the Public Realm to Offer a Lifeline to Small Businesses
At UCD, we are a nationally recognized leader in data-driven placemaking, and have extensive experience creating both temporary, seasonal spaces and larger, permanent public spaces that attract visitors, generate economic activity, and foster community. 2021 provided us with opportunities to bring back programming, food, and community partnerships at public spaces like The Porch at 30th Street Station and Trolley Portal Gardens, and to assist a new public space - the Lawn at uCity Square - begin to welcome new visitors. We worked with business improvement districts and with the City of Philadelphia to influence planning and regulations on outdoor dining efforts aimed at spurring business for restaurants struggling due to limitations on capacity. Our work with the City on the “Streeteries” initiative, which allows restaurants to expand their outdoor service into parking spots using temporary platforms and other innovative structures, helped shape legislation aimed at making them permanent fixtures in our restaurant scene, which will be voted on in summer of 2022. We also worked side-by-side with restaurants to maximize their outdoor space and helped boost business for restaurants on the 3400 block of Sansom Street by working with the City to close the entire block to traffic, creating an outdoor dining oasis
“The University City Arts League loves what UCD brings to our community. Our relationship goes further than just partnering for special events in University City. UCD has supported our learning community through their walking escort program. When we have big ideas UCD has been there to give us advice and support our programs. UCD has provided our organization with bike racks, sculptures, and opportunities that we never thought we would have. From the 40th Street Portal location being spotlighted on the Today Show to the West Philadelphia Children’s Jamboree, UCD has been an amazing neighbor, partner, and dedicated member of our community. ”
Where Changing Places Meets Changing Lives: The Impact of our Landscaping Social Venture
Newman Center hardscaping
Building the CHOP Karabots garden pavilion
UCD launched our landscaping social enterprise, Green City Works (GCW), to seize on an opportunity to create quality jobs for community residents. GCW employs 15 local residents at an average wage of more than $19 per hour, year-round with full benefits. Our portfolio includes over 2.5 million square feet of green space, and we provide landscaping, construction, and other services to more than 35 of University City’s largest institutions and businesses. GCW’s impact on the neighborhood grew in 2021, as we added projects including a new pavilion and garden at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Karabots Pediatric Care Center; the installation of cooling infrastructure in Hunting Park, one of Philadelphia’s warmest neighborhoods; and the completion of a new plaza and courtyard at the Newman Center at St. Agatha-St. James Parish located at 38th and Chestnut. Unlike many social ventures launched with the mission of providing job opportunities for individuals who have faced barriers to employment, Green City Works has been on a rapid growth trajectory, which we believe points to the potential for additional enterprises fueled by anchor institution spending.
A Strategic Return to Outdoor Events
Each year UCD partners with local performers, businesses, and organizations to help bring neighbors, visitors, and businesses together. We approached an event season in 2021 with a commitment to making our events as safe and inclusive as possible, focusing primarily on outdoor programming during warmer months. We brought performances back to The Porch at 30th Street Station and Trolley Portal Gardens, collaborated with other organizations to present a summer of outdoor events at Clark Park culminating with the return of our Movies in Clark Park series, and presented a reimagined version of our popular Baltimore Avenue Stroll. We also collaborated with restaurants to present our University City Dining Days restaurant promotion, and built West Philly Favorites, an entirely new e-commerce venture to sell curated packs of themed items offered by and benefiting beloved local businesses.
Live music at Trolley Portal Gardens
Movies in Clark Park
Live Music at The Porch
“It was a great pleasure getting to work with UCD to present up and coming West Philly based musicians at the 40th Street Trolley Portal. Bringing the music of our neighborhood to people as the warmth of summer first let us emerge from isolation was a healing boon for audiences and musicians alike. With the space and funding from UCD, I was able to present artists that represent the diversity of people and sounds of West Philly in a great, central neighborhood venue. As a musician and curator, I deeply appreciate working with collaborators such as UCD, and to do it in my home neighborhood was very special and empowering.”
Continued Efforts to Lift Up Local Businesses and Community Organizations
Each year, UCD partners with local organizations, businesses, arts groups, and others to bring publicity and visitors to experience our neighborhood. In addition to the events we programmed in 2021, we also developed new efforts to provide aid, inspire community giving, and forge new partnerships. We worked to solve labor issues with partners by promoting job openings and running a job fair using our experience in workforce development to help local restaurants connect with jobseekers. We welcomed performers and arts organizations to our own public spaces including The Porch at 30th Street Station and Trolley Portal Gardens. We launched a new tourism marketing website called Rediscover West Philly to spur increased visitations and local spending. Finally, we shared resources and offered guidance to businesses and organizations seeking help through grants, and worked with our community group partners to give funds to directly support local establishments. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve worked to raise and distribute over $400,000 in aid directly to small businesses and community groups.
“We chose to have our grand opening on the day of UCD’s famous Baltimore Stroll, which drew a major crowd! Since then, in just our first five months of operation, UCD has given us near-monthly opportunities to promote our business to the neighborhood. We are grateful for UCD’s support and look forward to continuing the partnership! ”
Ethiopian Community Association of Greater Philadelphia construction
Ice Cave Shaved Ice
Spruce Hill Provisions
Dodo’s Bagels
Helping Homeowners, Neighborhood Groups, and Small Businesses Thrive
Through our Project Rehab and small businesses services, UCD helps strengthen our residential community by assisting property and business owners. Through our Project Rehab initiative, we assisted local homeowners, non-profit organizations, community groups, and churches with various permitting, fundraising, tax, refinancing, and conservatorship matters. As the local economy has continued to be impacted by issues related to COVID19, labor shortages, hurricanes, and more, we served as a liaison between City agencies and local businesses, aiding businesses applying to grants and available loans, providing marketing support and logistical expertise, and organizing events and initiatives to drive local spending. Highlights from 2021 include helping restaurants navigate permitting for outdoor dining, assisting multiple local businesses including Dodo's Bagels, Ice Cave, and Spruce Hill Provisions work through the leasing process, and offering grants to our community group connections to support local businesses. We also assisted the Ethiopian Community Association of Greater Philadelphia in completing crucial structural repairs to their headquarters at 4400 Chestnut Street after a partial collapse, helping to save this impactful organization from an even more calamitous outcome.
UCD Impact Map
See our impact throughout the neighborhood!
“Please accept my appreciation for all the advice and continuous support you provided us during our community building renovation project last year. We are very grateful to have you as one our advisers that very quickly understood our project needs early in the renovation…and your dedication to work with as a volunteered consultant in finding new ways of achieving our goal. We are very grateful to all these valuable times...reviewing and evaluating our project plan. Wonderful to know you and have you as part of our community activities.”
UCD FY21 Financial Operating Statement of Activities
FY21 Sources: $11,236,515
FY21 Uses: $11,157,532
Our FY21 Financial Results are available here.
Fun and games in Clark Park
Thank you to our funders and donors. Without their support our work would not be possible. We are looking forward to a dynamic 2022 filled with partnership, impact, and growth.
Thank you to our donors:
$500,000 and above
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Drexel University
$100,001 - $500,000
Barry Grossbach and Mike Hardy
Brandywine Realty Trust
Campus Apartments
Connelly Foundation
JP Morgan Chase Foundation
Lenfest Foundation
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
University City Associates
University City Science Center
University of the Sciences
William Penn Foundation
$25,001 - $100,000
Bank of America
Campus Apartments
Citizens Bank Foundation
FMC Corporation
HCP Medical Office Properties
INTECH Construction
Lincoln Financial Foundation
National Board of Medical Examiners
Turks Head Health Services Inc.
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
$5,001 - $25,000
Central City Toyota
HOW Properties Management
International House
Mark and Nancy Mendenhall
Miller Investment Management, LP
Neighborhood Preservation and Development Fund
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House
The Restaurant School
The Wistar Institute
$1,001 - $5,000
American Law Institute
C.L. Presser
Coleman Foundation
Univest Bank Corporation of Pennsylvania
$250 - $1,000
Andrew and Kathy Wheeler
Arthur Staddon and Marica Robb
Charles Haub
CIC Philadelphia
Common Gorund Realtors
Gabriel Ledger
Geoffrey Mills
George Poulin
Hester van Heemstra
Joseph and Vonda Trainor
Lauren Soss
Leah and Brian Finnegan
Linford Martin and Marcella Zimmerman
Marilyn Sanborne
Michael and Daphne Hawkins-Parker
Michael Lampson and Min-Young Kim
Michael Parker and Daphne Hawkins-Parker
New Age Realty
Philadelphia Federal Credit Union
Redblock Realty, Inc.
Richard Guffanti and Theresa Tsai
Solomon Hunter
William and Lorraine McKenna