Urban and metropolitan colleges and universities can play an important role in innovative, equitable community revitalization. This is especially true for universities that also function as anchor institutions; there is both a challenge and an opportunity for such urban anchors to conduct their work in a manner that engages the community proximate…

This research examines the significance of higher education institutions (HEIs) as anchors in their host cities and their community engagement strategies between 1980 and 2020. By examining four case studies of urban-based universities that are members of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) across diverse geographical and…

As poverty and inequality continue to plague American cities, universities and hospitals are looking for ways to leverage their role as community anchors to address these issues. Local procurement programs have emerged as one way for institutions to build local wealth and create jobs. In order to increase the impact of individual institutions,…

Higher education institutions face many competing priorities and are still expected to serve the public good. Faith-based institutions, in particular, aim to meet a faith-inspired calling and serve the communities in which they are situated while guiding students in their faith formation by integrating service and academic priorities. In this…

There was a time when universities located in cities set themselves apart from urban life, even, in some cases, building walls that isolated their campuses. As the Cold War and Space Race accelerated the demand for academic expertise, government funding for basic and applied research became a mainstay of higher education. With the end of the Cold…

Employers report struggles to find work-ready candidates who possess a desired combination of job-specific technical, general math and reading, and social and behavioral skills. Community colleges are ideally situated to address these shortages, delivering a trained local labor force and often collaborating directly with employers and regional…

Faith-based communities supporting diverse and underserved communities are increasingly being recognized by researchers as community "anchor institutions" and equitable partners in research engagement. Research suggests that faith-based organizations (FBOs) can promote health and well-being within congregations and throughout…

Universities are being asked to prepare our students to navigate successfully in a complex and interconnected world and to contribute to the solution of difficult problems at work and in the communities where they live. Our universities must do the same. We must adapt our approaches to education, scholarship and community involvement in order to…

Urban institutions are typically located in diverse and vibrant cities. This diversity has changed over the decades, thus requiring campuses to address the complexity that is seen as these new American cities evolve. In this article the city of Buffalo is discussed as a city that manifests a continuous change in population diversity with a…

As theater audiences decline society-wide, university theater programs have felt the impact, with many being cut back as institutions face difficult economic decisions. The Tacoma Theater Project at the University of Washington-Tacoma is an innovative effort to resist this trend. By working with professional theater groups in a partnership…

In this article, a layered conceptual framework for "place-based school reform" is presented as a way to link the concept of school reform and neighborhood development. Because many universities have been involved in community-school-university partnerships, the university community engagement literature will be connected to this…

Access to affordable fresh food is an ongoing challenge for underserved urban neighborhoods across the United States. Several are designated food deserts with no access to a full-service grocery store within a one-mile radius. The Urban Food Hubs of the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) of the…

Metropolitan universities in the United States are driven by the intertwined missions of broadening educational access and serving their surrounding communities. International education historically has been placed somewhat apart from such missions. This separation has little justification in these globalized times, however--a realization that…

The higher education context that our CUMU institutions must navigate is complex and begets challenges resulting from the distinct mission our institutions seek to uphold. The implications of these challenges give rise to impacts on everyone within the institution and consequently our constituents within the cities we seek to serve. Bringing…

One year ago, Baltimore citizens took to the streets to protest not only the death of Freddie Grey, but the structural inequalities and structural violence that systematically limit the opportunities for working-class African Americans in Baltimore. The protests, though, were not just confined to Baltimore City. Borne on sophisticated…