2020 ANNUAL

REVIEW

Each year, University City District (UCD) invests in the vitality of our neighborhood. We cultivate civic infrastructure and activate dormant public spaces through placemaking efforts; we plan and execute signature local events; we foster clean, safe, and active streets; and we create an opportunity infrastructure which connects talented West Philadelphians to life-altering careers at our partner institutions. When faced with the challenges of 2020—businesses forced to closed, students sent home, public safety concerns, and so much more—UCD shifted our focus to make sure we were there for those who needed us most. Below are some of the ways we served the neighborhood during an incredibly challenging year.

Connecting Residents to Jobs at Scale, Despite Difficult Economic Conditions

The team at our West Philadelphia Skills Initiative pivoted to virtual and hybrid trainings in the spring, and has been busier than ever connecting talent to opportunity. Since the switch to hybrid trainings, graduates from our program have averaged $17.70 in starting wages, we've continued to reach job placement rates approaching 96%, we've expanded our services to alumni of the program, and we've put the final touches on a sleek new WPSI website. We have begun to replicate the WPSI model with partners beyond West Philadelphia, including a new collaboration with PIDC and the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. Below, hear from WPSI graduate Vanessa Dicks on her experience going through a virtual training for a position with Penn Medicine.

Reimagining Outdoor Spaces for Dining and Gathering

Please use the before and after comparison slider to see the change on the 3400 block of Sansom Street.

We at UCD are known for creating lively public venues designed to reactivate underutilized space, enhance community-building efforts, and spark interactions. 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. When the need for safe outdoor spaces to gather became critical to the survival of local restaurants, we lent our expertise and services to other organizations within our district and beyond. In 2020 we worked with business improvement districts in other neighborhoods to help the City of Philadelphia plan and regulate new outdoor dining options to spur business for restaurants struggling due to indoor dining limitations on capacity. We helped the City conceive and implement a new “Streeteries” initiative, which allow restaurants to expand their outdoor service into parking spots using temporary platforms and other innovative structures. The Streeteries were an evolution of UCD’s Parklets and proved wildly successful, with nearly 800 operating throughout Philadelphia. We also helped boost business for restaurants on the 3400 block of Sansom Street by working with the City to close the entire block to traffic on weekends in the fall, creating an outdoor dining oasis.

UCD launched our landscaping social venture, Green City Works (GCW), to seize on an opportunity to create quality jobs for local community residents. In the fourth full year of operation, GCW employs 16 local residents, our portfolio includes over 2.5 million square feet of green space, and we work with over 35 of University City’s largest institutions and businesses. GCW’s impact on the neighborhood continued in 2020, as we added projects with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the St. Agatha-St. James Parish, Exeter Property Group, the University of Pennsylvania, and the maintenance of five city parks to our portfolio. GCW helped transform the southern side of the 3700 block of Chestnut Street, turning a 10,000 square foot parking lot at St. Agatha-St. James Parish into a public/private amenity featuring a permeable paving system, concrete steps and seating walls, lawn, lighting, and multiple gardens. On the same block, GCW helped create a new public greenspace next to The Chestnut apartment building connecting Chestnut to Sansom and featuring lawn space, extensive perennial, shrub, and tree planting, and another permeable paving system. Thanks to funding from the William Penn Foundation, GCW took over mowing and maintenance of five West Philadelphia Parks. 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.

Through our Project Rehab, UCD helps strengthen our residential community by assisting property owners as they bring vacant or distressed real estate back to useful life, like a severely distressed property at 5001 Florence Avenue. First brought to our attention by a neighbor in 2014, Project Rehab helped guide the owner through options, and when the building was deemed imminently dangerous by L&I, we helped the owner obtain an engineering report, secure permitting and the placement of fencing to make the property safe, and then negotiate enough time to sell the property to a buyer with the means to repair the building. Eventually, the owner sold the property using a local real estate agent introduced to him by UCD. Most importantly, the collapsing rear wall and the mansard roof have been repaired without the community losing the historic nature of the building. Renovations were recently completed, transforming the vacant triplex into a single-family home that is currently for sale.

Please use the before and after comparison slider

Our FY20 Financial Results are available here.

Thank you to our funders and donors. Without their support our work would not be possible. We are looking forward to a dynamic 2021 filled with partnership, impact, and growth.