Urban Universities and Inner City Economic Revitalization-- An Action Agenda for Leaders and Practitioners

Abstract

Universities and colleges may be this country's greatest untapped urban revitalization engine; consider the fact that urban university spending on salaries, goods, and services is nine times more than federal direct spending on urban business and job development each year. In this article, we offer a strategy for how colleges and universities can use their core activities to generate sustainable progress for lowincome communities and at the same time enhance their competitive advantage as educational institutions. Elected officials, business organizations, and community leaders concerned with economic development should put universities at the center of their urban policy efforts and should focus attention on these large and stable enterprises, as they do other businesses.