April 2012 Building Eff ective City-University Partnerships: Lessons from the Heartland By Henry Webber (Washington University, St. Louis)

I have spent a large percentage of units of the University were the my working life thinking about and Center for Continuing Studies, Henry Webber Henry Webber is Executive Vice Chancellor acting to strengthen the relationship which educated the public, for Administration at Washington between universities, communities, and the University of Chicago University in St. Louis where he is also a faculty member in Washington University’s and cities. For eleven years, I led Laboratory Schools, founded Schools of Architecture and Social Work. the University of Chicago’s efforts by John Dewey as a living He previously served as Vice President for Government and Community Aff airs and in this area. For the past four model of how to revolutionize Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago. years, I have been helping to shape American education. In the This Policy Brief is based on remarks he made as a panelist at an October 2011 Washington University in St. Louis’s 1930s, the Chicago school of symposium on “Reimagining the City- urban strategy. In this Policy Brief, I sociology established the fi eld University Connection” that was co- sponsored by the Rappaport Institute for describe the University of Chicago and of urban sociology by using the Greater Boston, the Radcliff e Institute for Advanced Study, and the City of Boston. Washington University experiences city of Chicago as a laboratory. More information about that symposium is and then offer ten propositions about And in the early 1980s William available online at http://www.reimagining- the-city-university-connection.com the characteristics of successful Julius Wilson, predominately © 2012 by the President and Fellows of university-city partnerships. based on research on a set Harvard College. The contents refl ect the of neighborhoods within a views of the author (who is responsible for the facts and accuracy of the research The University of Chicago few miles of the campus of herein) and do not represent the offi cial views or policies of the Rappaport Institute The University of Chicago has perhaps the University of Chicago, for Greater Boston, the Radcliff e Institute the longest history of intense attention defi ned the problem of urban for Advanced Studies, and the Boston Area Research Initiative. to urban issues of any major American neighborhood distress for a research university. There are three generation of scholars and Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston reasons for this: policy makers and set the Harvard Kennedy School 79 John F. Kennedy Street intellectual basis for the 1. A deep connection between Cambridge, MA 02138 growth of mixed income the University and its http://www.rappaportinstitute.org neighborhoods as a strategy for 617-495-5091 surrounding neighborhood. neighborhood revitalization. Radcliff e Institute for Advanced Study Unusual for an urban university, Academic Ventures 10 Garden Street the majority of the faculty of 3. Institutional need. In the early Cambridge, MA 02138 the University of Chicago lives 1950s, the city of Chicago http://www.radcliff e.edu in the immediate neighborhood. entered a sharp period of 617-384-6742 The neighborhood is the decline. There was rapid intellectual community of the demographic change in the University. neighborhoods around the University and throughout the 2. A history of deep intellectual South Side and West Side of engagement with the City Chicago and a vicious crime of Chicago and applied problem emerged. As a result, problems. Two of the fi rst four Building Eff ective City-University Partnerships

the university was forced to ask the attractive but a little boring. The great urbanist question: Can we continue as a world- Jane Jacobs was very critical of urban renewal class university if we are located in a sea in Hyde Park, arguing that it had imposed a of urban blight? suburban plan on an urban neighborhood. She The initial response to the crisis was urban was not, in my opinion, all wrong. renewal. In the late 1950s, the University of By the time I came to manage the University Chicago partnered with the City of Chicago of Chicago’s community agenda in the mid- to become one of the fi rst urban renewal 1990s, the world and neighborhood had seen neighborhoods in the country. Together they major changes. The University had won the undertook a dramatic program to preserve a battle for stability, but now wanted to make middle-class, mixed-race community in Hyde the neighborhood more vibrant. Chicago, Park. meanwhile, had completed its transition from a manufacturing and agricultural processing city The great urbanist Jane Jacobs to the gleaming service center we know today. was very critical of urban renewal Neighborhood diversity had become recognized in Hyde Park, arguing that it had as an asset and it was possible to imagine Hyde imposed a suburban plan on an Park, not as an island of relative prosperity in a urban neighborhood. She was not, sea of poverty, but as part of a newly revitalized in my opinion, all wrong. mid-South Side of the city of Chicago, fully connected to downtown Chicago. Finally, there were partners— governmental, community, The strategy involved the physical reshaping and foundations—ready to join the cause of of the neighborhood: removing vibrant but neighborhood improvement. run-down and crime-ridden commercial and In this milieu, the University, the city, and the residential properties, reducing neighborhood community pursued a multi-pronged agenda. density, building townhouses, and encouraging The University focused on improving public University expansion and other institutional education by a variety of means, including uses. In addition, there was a strong focus owning and operating four charter schools on neighborhood safety. The University in the neighborhoods around the University. of Chicago developed and still maintains The University sought to expand safety by a robust police presence in the Hyde Park extending the University’s police coverage neighborhood. to neighborhoods north and south of Hyde By many measures, urban renewal in Hyde Park. The University worked on improving Park was successful; far more successful than community amenities — particularly parks urban renewal most places in the country. The and arts options — through joint programs neighborhood has maintained itself for 50 with the City of Chicago and other public years as an attractive, truly integrated urban agencies. The University also supported real neighborhood. estate development, including the development of affordable housing, the growth of minority On the other hand, the displacement of a contractors, and business growth on the South considerable number of minority residents Side of Chicago. during urban renewal contributed to great estrangement between the University and Not all of these strategies were academic in its South Side neighbors and the physical content, but the University engaged faculty changes in the neighborhood left Hyde Park whenever possible and tried to build academic 2 Building Eff ective City-University Partnerships

programs that had a community focus as through partnerships with others and also to well as scholarly interest, most notably the public discussion of key issues by serving as a University’s Urban Education Initiative and its center for policy discussion. Urban Health Initiative. While there is much The University also seeks to apply its academic left to do, the strategy was successful, and the strengths to key regional issues, notably in mid-South Side of Chicago is a much more the areas of public health, public education, vibrant place now than it was 20 years ago. and growing entrepreneurship and innovation, which it encourages in many ways, including a large investment in a research park. In Cities need services for each area, the University is implementing an vulnerable populations and aggressive agenda. smart public policies. Academic institutions need to educate Ten Propositions about City-University students and produce research. Partnerships The challenge is not to change This work leads me to offer the following either party, but to fi nd projects propositions about the nature of effective city- that serve both parties. university partnerships. 1. Sustainable partnerships are based on mutual self-interest and have clear Washington University in St. Louis rules of engagement. Cities need In 2007, I moved to Washington University services for vulnerable populations in St. Louis. The context was very different and smart public policies. Academic and the University faced different challenges. institutions need to educate students and Most neighborhoods surrounding Washington produce research. The challenge is not to University are strong; some are among the change either party but to fi nd projects most attractive neighborhoods in the St. Louis that serve both parties. Furthermore, metropolitan area. However, as a city, St. Louis academic research on urban issues of is challenged. It is the epitome of an older interest to cities usually involves access industrial city (albeit an older industrial city to public data sets such as school records with a great baseball team). The region is not or crime statistics. It is critical that the growing much and has not grown quickly for a provider of the data and the academics long time. It is not good for a global university doing research work out the inevitable to be in a stagnant region. issues of exactly what will be done with the data, how it will be released, and To the extent there are pockets of success in the whether the public agency will have the region, the success of the University itself must ability to comment on results prior to be noted. Washington University added 3,000 publication. To fail to work these issues jobs in the past decade and now has 13,000 in advance is to invite confl ict. employees, making it the third largest private employer in the St. Louis region. In total, it has 2. Many of the strongest partnerships a $5.2 million impact on the regional economy between universities and cities are each year. based on academic programs that combine service with research and In this context, Washington University seeks human capital development. The model to contribute to regional economic growth for such partnerships is the work of 3 Building Eff ective City-University Partnerships

academic medical centers. The Urban the program is trying to solve. Research Education Initiative at the University is not consulting. By its nature, it often of Chicago replicates this model in exposes fl aws. A key question for all another arena. Let me be clear: it is before engaging in academic research on good when a medical school sponsors a policy initiative is what will be done a free Saturday clinic where medical with the results of the analysis. students and faculty volunteer their time. 5. Universities and their civic partners It is far better when a medical school are likely to value the components of offers a primary care medicine program their partnerships differently. Issues of that combines partnerships with local limited interest to the academy, such as community health centers with training accurate reviews of trends over time, are resident physicians to serve as future often of great interest to public agencies. providers in such clinics, and builds a The Consortium on Chicago School research program in community health. Research, for example, has produced The closer University service efforts many groundbreaking studies done with are to teaching and research the more great methodological sophistication by sustainable they are. well-known faculty. Many in the Chicago A key question for all before Public School system have told me that engaging in academic research the most valuable report the Consortium on a policy initiative is what does is its annual report, prepared by a junior analyst at the Consortium, on the will be done with the results of drop-out rate in Chicago Public Schools. the analysis. 6. University-city partnerships have high transaction costs and require staff 3. In most cases, academic institutions with skills at “bridge-building.” Staff can only be helpful in solving public who have experience on both sides problems in areas of pre-existing of the fence are critical to successful academic strengths. As broad and partnerships. impressive as great universities are, they do not have strength in all areas. 7. Neighborhood change is diffi cult to It would be very good for St. Louis, for achieve and inevitably is confl ictual. example, if Washington University had a Neighborhoods change slowly over strong regional economics program. We long periods of time. Even at best, those do not and hence need to contribute in changes do not benefi t all. There are other ways to the challenges facing our always winners and losers. Therefore, region. universities that seek neighborhood change must expect confl ict. 4. Academic analysis of key public initiatives is risky for all. The 8. Contributing to regional economic hallmark of academic research is the growth is both expected of universities independence of the investigator. That in much of the country and diffi cult to means the investigator may well fi nd achieve. Universities are not economic out that the most cherished program of growth machines. They select faculty the city partner — or even the university because of their contributions to itself — has little impact on the problem knowledge creation and teaching ability, not because faculty are marvels at job 4 Building Eff ective City-University Partnerships

or fi rm creation. At the same time, the Concluding Thoughts decline of other industries in many cities, Partnerships between universities and cities along with the growth of university are inherently challenging. The two sides have budgets and the examples of Route 128 different goals and different priorities. At the and the Silicon Valley, inevitably turn same time, such partnerships have the potential public attention to universities as tools for great value. Cities have no better potential for economic growth. Getting better partner than those large universities that have at company formation and technology increasingly become the economic, as well transfer is a virtual requirement as educational, leaders in their communities. for universities, particularly public Cities need the ideas, energy and outside view universities, over the next decade. represented by universities, their faculty and 9. There is great value in universities students. Universities are in the business of developing operating programs that contributing to solutions for the most important test new ideas. The best bridge between and pressing problems in our society. There are theory and practice is the development no more important problems than preventing of models of progress. Such programs crime, reversing neighborhood decay, and force academics to deal with real improving the performance of large urban world implementation problems and, if school systems. Working through the inevitable successful, provide proof on the ground challenges to build sustainable partnerships of success. Charter schools, community between universities and cities is work well health clinics, and early childhood worth doing. education centers are examples of model program areas. Praxis is a good thing.

Partnerships between universities and cities are inherently challenging. The two sides have diff erent goals and diff erent priorities. At the same time, such partnerships have the potential for great value.

10. Universities can and should serve as forums for regional discussions of key issues. Universities are appropriate forums of thoughtful discussion, analysis and refl ection on the most important challenges facing regions. They are places where diverse people within and outside the academy gather for serious work, in public or private and in large or small groups. Few universities have adopted this role as well as they might. 5 BOSTON AREA RESEARCH INITIATIVE BOSTON AREA RESEARCH INITIATIVE POLICY BRIEFS WORKING PAPERS

“Building Effective City-University “Custodians and Custodianship in Urban Partnerships: Lessons from the Heartland” by Neighborhoods: Patterns in Requesting Henry Webber (Washington University, St. Louis) Government Services for Public Issues,” by April 2012. Daniel Tumminelli O’Brien (Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University) Forthcoming.

Boston Area Research Initiative The Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) is a collaborative effort to spur original research in the greater Boston area that is on the cutting edge of social science and public policy. A research partnership among the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and key agencies in Boston, BARI also seeks to forge active and mutually benefi cial relationships among university researchers and policymakers.

RAPPAPORT INSTITUTE for Greater Boston

Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston is a university-wide entity that aims to improve governance of Greater Boston by fostering better connections between scholars, policy makers, and civic leaders. The Institute was founded and funded by The Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation, which promotes emerging leaders. More information about the Institute is available at www.hks.harvard.edu/rappaport.

Radcliff e Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University is dedicated to creating and sharing transformative ideas across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The Institute’s Academic Ventures program fosters collaborative research projects and brings together faculty from across Harvard University to develop innovative academic programming across a wide range of disciplines. Conferences and lectures also provide opportunities for the public to engage with scholars, challenge assumptions, explore emerging ideas, and study timely issues of public policy. Learn more about the people and programs of the Radcliffe Institute, including the Fellowship Program and the Schlesinger Library, at www.radcliffe. harvard.edu. 6