Philadelphia Inclusive Prosperity Engagement Strategy — Resetting How Growth Reaches Neighborhoods

THE CHALLENGE

Philadelphia’s #innovation corridor—anchored by Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University City Science Center—stood at a crossroads. While the area had become a national model for research and entrepreneurship, regional leaders recognized that much of the city’s growth was not being equitably shared across neighborhoods and populations. The challenge was to create a unifying vision for inclusive prosperity—one that connected the innovation economy to opportunity for all Philadelphians.

THE CIVIC SOLUTION

In collaboration with Richard Florida and the Creative Class Group, CivicSol Partner Steven Pedigo led the design of an Inclusive Prosperity Engagement Strategy for Philadelphia’s major anchor institutions. Drawing on extensive data analysis, peer-city benchmarking, and facilitated stakeholder engagement, the team worked closely with university presidents, civic leaders, and private-sector partners to define actionable priorities for advancing shared growth.

The engagement brought together voices from across the city’s innovation ecosystem—research institutions, health-care systems, entrepreneurs, and neighborhood organizations—to identify how anchor investment, workforce pathways, and place-based development could reinforce one another. The resulting framework outlined strategies to:

• Expand inclusive hiring and procurement within anchor institutions;
• Strengthen entrepreneurship programs serving women- and minority-owned firms;
• Connect university research and technology transfer with local workforce pipelines; and
• Target neighborhood reinvestment around transit and innovation nodes.

This initiative was documented in The Philadelphia Next Challenge, a comprehensive report that served as a playbook for advancing equitable growth and positioning Philadelphia as a national model for inclusive innovation.

THE IMPACT

The engagement established a shared prosperity agenda that redefined how Philadelphia’s anchors collaborate with civic and community partners. It laid the groundwork for continued investment in inclusive innovation districts and helped inform subsequent strategies around workforce development, neighborhood revitalization, and small-business inclusion. Today, the lessons from this effort continue to shape how Philadelphia’s public, private, and institutional leaders pursue economic competitiveness that is both inclusive and sustainable.

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