KIP continues efforts to keep grads in town

The Knowledge Industry Partnership has begun churning out initiatives this year to achieve a triad of goals -- getting college students first to arrive, then to explore and finally to achieve in Philadelphia. And many agree that Penn and the city have much to gain from the project's anticipated success.

University President Judith Rodin is chairing the project which was kick-started last April.

"It has great potential to elevate Philadelphia as a college town," she said. "We have a strong interest in wanting students to have a great Philadelphia experience."

Now that the city and its colleges are "in the throes of back to school," the organization is heading up the Philadelphia College Festival, occurring this week, project manager Annette Mattei said.

The idea is to "get students off campus right away" so that they "start to explore the region."

KIP is working to attract a diverse group of students by "gearing up an international student recruitment campaign," which entails rolling out four new brochures to be printed in Korean, Chinese, Spanish and English, Mattei said.

Another of KIP's efforts to get students to establish an attachment to the city is the Campus Philly Discount Program. The Philadelphia Arts Student Sampler -- or PASS --is a $50 package which parents can buy for their student, intended to "encourage students to get off campus and explore arts and culture."

On the "Achieve" end of the project, www.careerphilly.com -- a new Web site --is being launched. KIP is "attempting to populate the site with opportunities that are specifically for the college graduate," Mattei said.

"In the end, after they've fallen in love with Philadelphia, we have to seal the deal with a job," she continued.

And it seems as though the city may be closing in.

If the issue is increasing the proportion of graduates who stay in Philadelphia -- and thus alleviating the city's chronic brain drain -- KIP must promote several specific aspects of Philadelphia, Penn Professor of Social Welfare Policy Dennis Culhane said.

"Our location, first and foremost, being between New York and Washington... is very advantageous," Culhane said.

He also noted that housing prices in this area are lower than those in other northeastern cities, while it maintains the "cultural opportunities... sports and nightlife" one expects in a big city.

By capitalizing on the positives within Philadelphia, the city will retain "bright people who might otherwise choose to settle elsewhere" and people who will go on to start their own businesses, Culhane said.

This is all "in the long-term interest of the region," he continued.

However, Walter Palmer, an adjunct School of Social Work professor and director of the Palmer Foundation, noted that "the idea of college graduates staying in Philadelphia is worthwhile, but I think what happens is that so many of our students graduate without any understanding of what the University should be as a helper."

If the point is "to hold them here for them to... get jobs... what does that do to the larger population? You wind up having to face reality that the University has for the most part created a detachment from the larger community."

One key issue in the long-term interest of Philadelphia is the chance to improve its school system.

"Anytime you've got an educated base it really helps the... city," Neighbors Against McPenntrification member Larry Falcon said.

If graduates stay in Philadelphia, there would be a "higher tax base," he said. "How could you not benefit from people" who are highly educated?

Palmer noted, though, that "the people... in the surrounding community don't really" reap the benefits.

A potential downfall is if there is a "huge concentration going into a low-income neighborhood," leading to displacement, Falcon added.

Still, retaining graduates would lead to greater "stability within the local neighborhoods," Treasurer of Spruce Hill Community Association Jim Lilly said. "If people would stay here and invest their time and money in housing and creating local businesses, in general, it would uplift the whole economic community."

While the outlook is hopeful and enthusiastic, it is too soon to quantify KIP's impact on Philadelphia and the city's universities.

Additionally, there are minor obstacles to overcome, according to Mattei.

"The college population is very tricky to reach out to," she said. "They don't necessarily respond to a traditional form of advertising."

But it's "not a difficulty that we can't overcome," she added.

"We're very well resourced, and there's a lot of enthusiasm," Rodin said.

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