U. selected for community outreach grant

$400,000 Housing and Urban Development grant to fund Penn/W. Phila. partnerships The University has received a $400,000 Department of Housing and Urban Development grant to fund its community improvement and outreach programs in West Philadelphia. Temple University received a similar grant, making Philadelphia the only city with two recipients. HUD Senior Policy Analyst Jane Karadbil explained that Penn was one of only 15 universities -- and the only Ivy League recipient -- selected to receive the three-year grant, for which 104 schools applied. Penn received the maximum grant allowance. Joann Weeks, director of the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps' Replication Project, said the grant provides funding for the establishment of a Community Outreach Partnership Center that will "link Penn's research and teaching capabilities with the surrounding community." The new center -- targeting the area from 36th to 54th streets and from Market Street to Parkside Avenue -- will coordinate interdisciplinary University programs aimed at promoting community economic development, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, education and job training. Faculty, staff and students from the School of Arts and Sciences, Wharton School of Business, Graduate School of Education, School of Social Work and Graduate School of Fine Arts will take part in the new center's programs, which cover an area that includes all of the West Philadelphia Empowerment Zone. The University's Center for Community Partnerships will coordinate the effort. Some of the program's specific goals include working with the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center to promote minority entrepreneurship and creating an effective school-to-work program to provide area high-school students with work-based learning and internships. In addition, the program will develop a water retention strategy to combat flooding and sewer runoff in the Mill Creek area, a stream that flows under West Philadelphia. The new center will also focus on the problems posed by two local "brownfields" -- vacant lots potentially full of toxic chemicals. Fine Arts Professor John Keene is one of three University professors studying the brownfields. "West Philadelphia, unfortunately, has many of these sites, which can kill a neighborhood if they're left alone," Keene said. "We're hoping that this project will help improve our area." He explained that the program will attempt to determine the condition of the sites, consult with empowerment zone leadership on remediation strategies and develop an environmental education program at University City High School. Keene added, however, that the new program is only the first of many steps needed to effect large-scale change. "It will take hundreds of similar efforts to move the system in a different direction," he said. "But this is the right way to go." Karadbil said the grant should help the University "raise the awareness level of the entire campus on the need for outreach." "I know Penn has been doing a lot in the neighborhood, but this will take their programs up a notch," Karadbil said. Weeks said the grant also represents an important contribution to the future of West Philadelphia. "It's a significant amount of money, especially keeping in mind HUD's budget constraints," she said. "This grant shows a real investment in the community on the part of the federal government."