It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood this past week as Penn tied for first place, with the University of Southern California, in a Savior of Our Cities survey looking at town-gown relations nationwide.
Penn was cited in particular for its community partnerships, led largely by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, which coordinates students, community members and organizations in solving real-world problems in the West Philadelphia neighborhoods.
This recognition is gratifying. Penn and Penn students have made concerted efforts over the past several years to reach out to the community, and the numbers of students who do substantive work in the community has steadily increased over time. Although the students, professors and staff working with the community are not in it for the accolades, this pat on the back is certainly a good show of appreciation.
Editorial Follow up
A 101-day marathon later, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania finally ratified a state budget last week. Now, schools and other social services across the state can finally receive funds that had been withheld for weeks as lawmakers hashed out the budget. The economy and the state’s fiscal shape required the budget to be a bit taped together — it depletes the entirety of the state’s Rainy Day Fund — but, at this point, we’re just grateful that this long statewide nightmare is over.
