This article documents how an MSW student in an introductory community practice course took her class assignment and over the course of two years revitalized, democratized, and transformed a sclerotic, corporate-run Home Owners Association (HOA). While the community analysis assignment required the student to interview six of her neighbors, the…

Why are many urban universities' relationships with their surrounding communities fraught despite university efforts at community engagement? Relationships between the factors underlying university-driven neighborhood change remain largely unexplored. In this article, I take the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) as a case study and examine the…

There is broad recognition that anchor institutions--universities, hospitals, and other locally embedded organizations--can leverage their economic and human resources to revitalize and empower distressed neighborhoods. In Milwaukee, five anchor institutions, including Marquette University, collaborated with residents, city officials, and other…

Urban policymakers, city officials, and community residents utilize neighborhood revitalization initiatives to establish safe and empowered neighborhoods. In 2016, leaders in Columbus, Ohio, launched a neighborhood revitalization effort designed to improve safety, access to opportunities, and economic development in the historically underserved…